I have no idea...but, thank you for spelling “brake” correctly.
I am at heart a terrible person, and it’s all I can do to keep from making a smart-aleck remark about busted barrels every time I see a “muzzle break” post...
I never was sure what they were called. On a powder burner they are called a brake, but on the break barrel springer, it's the thing you slap to break the barrel open. Maybe that's where the confusion started. ?
Funny you remember that trade! Soon as I saw the brake I knew it was the same that I had traded for you, but I could not recall the maker. At first I wanted to say it was 'Tim' someone who waaay back in the day made a name for himself on the old TOG by making bits for AF guns. Seems I recall he started out making brakes such as these, but I could be mistaken. I just cant remember his name and havent seen or heard from him in years and years now.
Ugh, what was his name! That same guy made me a shroud for my Beeman LE R9. The cool thing was that he made it so I didn’t have to file the dovetail being it’s a LE. He disappeared a little while after he made my shroud. I wanted another one but he never answered, or returned my calls. Then his website went down. If I remember right, the air gun stuff was when he had time for it, and the phone number was actually his wife’s cell phone. I think he actually raised sheep, or some other kind of animals with his family.
At first I wanted to say it was 'Tim' someone who waaay back in the day made a name for himself on the old TOG by making bits for AF guns. Seems I recall he started out making brakes such as these, but I could be mistaken. I just cant remember his name and havent seen or heard from him in years and years now.
Tim Wilson perhaps.
Theoben Eliminator ( source) with a Tim Wilson muzzle brake..
Wayback archive of his site: https://web.archive.org/web/20080319104641/http://www.custombrakz.com/
Thank you everyone who replied to this thread! Yes, the mystery is now solved that it is Tim Wilson. I wanted to find out if the crown of the barrel needs to be flush with the inside wall, or it needs to be an inch away internally like a JM brake. Will call and email Tim on the matter, unless somebody here knows. BTW, I bought that eliminator from Jerry back in the day. Still have it in storage somewhere.
Tim Wilson made some springer tuning parts for me and a couple of muzzle brakes for my customers several years ago. He also told me stories about his work on certain models of the AF rifles and some parts he made for them, although personally I wasn't into PCP's. I think the Condor was one of them, but since it didn't affect what I was doing, it really didn't register a permanent place in my memory.
We talked on the phone back then more than once. He said he often got barraged by a lot of questions from a lot of quarters, many of them like the ones I got regarding spring guns--a lot of theoretical stuff that never amounted to sales, and worse.
He was definitely a highly-skilled craftsman, as is obvious from that muzzle brake alone. Based on the quality of what he produced for me, I'd be the first one to recommend his work. But at least for a time he said the air gun related work wore him out. In fact, I don't know what he's doing these days, but at one point he finally told me that while we were still on good terms, I was welcome to talk to him about any subject whatsoever as long as it was NOT air guns, period. He sort of laughed but I could tell he was also serious. It sounded like something akin to 'burn-out' to me--(my words, not his). I think that was the last time we spoke.
To be clear, I don't know his current status regarding air gun work. I certainly don't want to hurt his business by this post if he's taken to doing the air gun work again. If he's back at it, I'm sure he'd do a fine job on anything you wanted done. Some of the parts he made for me had to be basically-perfect to work right, and work right they did. I would surely describe them as being of the finest quality and made to true craftsman-like standards.
Talked to Tim Wilson tonight. He wants everyone to know he is making brakes again on a limited basis! This time around he is making aluminum brakes, not steel ones like the one you see in the picture. Previously, lead time on bluing took too long.
He said you install the brake with the crown flush to the internal stopping point, not an inch or so away like in the JM brake. He can anodize per your specifications. You install the brake with the flutes in the horizontal position, like on a Barrett .50
He also could not believe the custombrakz page is still up. Has not paid on it in forever. I found texting is the best way to contact, as he has spotty cell coverage.
http://www.airgunartisans.com/AACustomBrakz.htm
