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It’s the spring of 2021, and R&D Workshop has just started a Federal Firearms License (FFL) as a manufacturer in League City, TX. As we are a product development company, and we like to make new stuff, I thought a dragon muzzle brake would be cool. Why a dragon? Well, dragons have been associated with firearms going way back. In 1790 canons were the ‘super weapons’ of the day, meant to intimidate as much as destroy your opponents. They could be ornately decorated, and sometimes they were made to look like a fire-spitting dragon.
With that background, I asked Alison to ‘model me up’ a dragon head. Fortunately for me, Alison is a video game artist, with the experience and tools to pull off such a task in a day or two. We had a few specs we wanted to meet. It had to fit ½”-28 threads, 5/8”-24 will come later. Because you need to tighten it onto a barrel, it needs something to put a wrench on. We didn’t want some wrench flats messing up the look, so we specified a 5/16 hex wrench, right down the middle. We needed smoke and fire from between the teeth, and out the nostrils, but beyond that, Alison had carte blanche.
Since the Burmese cannon inspired the whole thing, and the Asian dragon look seemed to work better than the European-style dragons, she went far East.
With a solid model completed, but still virtual, it was time to see what this ‘dragon head’ would really look like. 3-D printing of various iterations gave us an idea of size, and how accurate the threads and hex wrench dimensions would turn out.
This took some time to do. Far more than generating the exterior dragon head shape. It took about a dozen 3-D prints to get an overall size that we liked, with threads that could be chased with a tap so it could be firearm-mounted. We also needed a name. Since ‘Naga’ is the Burmese word for dragon, Naga was an easy choice.
With a finalized design, we needed a way to make these, and we wanted them out of bronze, the material the cannons were made of. We also need to replicate the intricate detail that the model has. This means we need investment casting. Investment casting is used by jewelers to produce small items in fine detail, using metals like gold, silver, and yes, bronze.
Investment casting is a complex process, also called ‘lost wax’ casting. You first start with a wax model of the item to be cast. The wax needs to have all the detail of the finished product. The wax is then cast into a block of plaster-like material, with fill channels added. The plaster/wax combination is then put in an oven to fully dry out the plaster and melt out the wax (hence ‘lost wax’ process). The plaster is now a mold into which molten bronze is poured. To get real fine detail, you can pull a vacuum on the plaster mold during a pour. The vacuum draws out air in any nooks and crannies, to maximize the detail of the mold. The final step is to destroy the plaster mold (so shouldn’t it be ‘lost wax and lost mold” process?), remove the cast bronze dragon, and remove the excess material in the channels used for the pouring.
With the manufacturing process finalized, material chosen, we just need finishing touches to make ‘Naga’ a real product.
We have decided to add a black ‘wash’ to each piece. This highlights the detail in the casting. We then needed to package this little beast in a manner befitting its cost and quality. Wrapping it in tissue paper and sticking it in a cardboard box just would not do.
So, we sought out some options, and bought rectangular metal tins, round metal tins, and 2 different bamboo boxes, one round, one square. The bamboo just went better with whole Asian motif, and the square boxes allow for an easy tie-wrap attachment of the dragons, without the need for custom foam. That was it. A neat, clean presentation, in a box we could easily customize with our CO2 laser. Our product is now complete, and ready for promotion and sale.
Final result
R&D’s ‘Naga’ dragon muzzle brake is a unique piece of hardware that really stands out at the range, or even on display at home. Fire will belch from the sides of the mouth, and through the nose. A fireball will fly downrange. The bronze dragon head is hand-painted with a black wash to accentuate the scales and textures of the casting. Because of the hand-made nature of these muzzle brakes, each one will be individually serialized.
Naga is available for 5.56 caliber rifles with ½”-28 threaded barrels, and installs with a 5/16” allen wrench. Each Naga brake is individually numbered, comes in a bamboo box, and has a crush washer included.
Take it to the range and ENJOY!
