Muzzle brake-- yah or nah

I've owned one rifle with a muzzle brake and it was a 300WM. Shooting at my range, which is covered, the noise was extremely loud, even with ear plug and muffs. It did reduce felt recoil and when behind the rifle there was no adverse affects. To anyone else beside me, it was a different story. Standing beside my rifle when someone else was shooting it, the concussion hit so hard it's hard not to jump. If I had the option to remove the brake I might have kept it as I see the benefits to it. So if your going to have it on for target and off for hunting I would say go for it, other wise Id leave it the way it is.
 
guntech said:
My experience has been different than yours...

I won't argue a brake isn't louder to others, but shooting circumstances vary and not all brakes increase the sound level to the shooter, IF the shooter is out in the open and not under a roof or beside a building.

And a correctly installed brake may increase the accuracy level of that particular shooter... less recoil does often equate to better accuracy. I am not talking about making a bad barrel shoot better, I am talking about the shooter actually shooting better...

There are many thousands of hunters/varminters shooting braked rifles and they are quite happy with them.

There is no reason not to use the newer electronic ear muffs which actually allow you to hear better and the shooting noise is completely/safely blocked.
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Exactly. I used mine while bear hunting this spring.
Worked great. Cut the shot sound, hear ambient better.
 
yes if its on a target rifle. i have one on my savage scout and i could def do with out it because thats a hunting rifle not a target rifle. you will also need to wear hearing protection or esle you ear drums will be blown out if you shoot for long periods of time.
 
Dogleg said:
I've got brakes on four rifles. Their purpose is to enable me to see the hits on long range plates and rocks and other things. Long range shooting gets boring in a hurry if you have to ask someone whether you hit or not. How long would you shoot gophers if you didn't know a hit from a miss? The brakes give me that on cartridges that are burning 80 to 130 grains of powder at a time. Sometimes those rifles go hunting.
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+++++!!!
 
When I coyote hunt some of the bigger farms alone, I use the brake and wear electronic, hearing enhanced muffs with auto cut off.
I remove the brake and replace it with a thread protector if I hunt with a spotter.
 
Do you notice a different load may be required for best accuracy, and does the point of impact change? Many rifles do.
 
For my purpose, quick follow up shots are a must, so staying on target is critical.
Second, I need to see where the first round hit, in order to determine if a second shot it required.
Yes they are much noisier, but im not concerned with noise.
 
"Many rifle matches forbid muzzle brakes."
Thread Protector are easy to make and can be purchase from brownells, Usually brake are thread on anyway, and if you need to take it off, Thread protector go on and off to the match.
 
I love mine. I likely won't own many rifles without one again, like you have read ten times already hearing protection is a must. Here is the best part they are totally removable! So if you don't feel lie it be day anymore, just take it off. Perfect solution.
 
I put a Badger Ordinance threaded break on my Remignton 700 300 RUM. It tamed it right down. Before it kicked quite violently and did suffer from accuracy issues due to flinching. Now it kicks less than my Winchester model 70 308 featherweight and is very accurate. It also doesn't jump much. The gunsmith warned me to never shoot it without hearing protection and I have obeyed. I have not noticed excessive noise change from behind the gun. For me it was money well spent because it wasn't fun to shoot.
 
hawk223 said:
I put a Badger Ordinance threaded break on my Remignton 700 300 RUM. It tamed it right down. Before it kicked quite violently and did suffer from accuracy issues due to flinching. Now it kicks less than my Winchester model 70 308 featherweight and is very accurate. It also doesn't jump much. The gunsmith warned me to never shoot it without hearing protection and I have obeyed. I have not noticed excessive noise change from behind the gun. For me it was money well spent because it wasn't fun to shoot.
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I totally agreed, few buddies have the Badger ordinance brakes on their HS RDR, and they let me fired it, it is in .308 but it felt like in .223!!! and it look totally pro. You get what you pay for!!! unlike some guy sold me some home made linar brakes and I threaded on to one of mine .308, what a gunk! totally wasted mine money! and when I asked for a refund, he said this and that!. Now if I need some muzzle brakes on mine high power long range rifles, I personally will spend the money and only considered using Surefire, badger, AAC Blackout and brand name brakes on the market only and also beware of most muzzle brakes on the market only required 20 to 30 inch LB to install which shown in the manul, if exceed it may cost damaged to the rifle too!!!
 
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Do you notice any major POI between on/off. I've read some conflicting reports on the interwebz on this.

skypilot said:
When I coyote hunt some of the bigger farms alone, I use the brake and wear electronic, hearing enhanced muffs with auto cut off.
I remove the brake and replace it with a thread protector if I hunt with a spotter.
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I have rifles with brakes and I feel they are warranted. I wouldn't even pretend to shoot my 50BMG without one.
I have a heavy barreled 300 Win Mag that used to be without a brake and with a heavy stock it wasn't so bad on recoil.
Eventually I put a brake on it and the recoil is so tame.

When hunting I only usually need to shoot one round. I am so focused that the last thing on my mind is recoil. I wouldn't even need it.
Right now my main hunting rifle is a 7mm Rem Mag with no brake.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
Has anyone EVER felt the recoil when shooting at an animal? Just one shot, doubt that will be the same as multiple strings at the range.

You will NEVER see me wearing hearing protection hunting, using a brake on a hunting rifle it would be required.

You can't hear your surroundings which doesn't allow you to hear game animals but most importantly it does not allow you to hear approaching hunters.
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get a good pair of electronic earmuffs. they amplify the surrounding sounds and block out the firearm blast. even my cheap coldwell electronic muffs (when they worked) i could be 50 feet or more away from people and could hear them better than without them on. was a little disturbing actually.
 
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