Muzzle Brakes

Brakes reduce recoil but do not noticeably effect ballistics.However they increase the noise to the shooter so much that you must never fire a braked rifle without hearing protection.Even a single shot will often make your ears ring for a considerable time.
 
l have no problems with muzzle breaks.....have them on three of my rifles and find they serve a definite purpose. If anything, l find my accuracy (not the rifles capabilities) is improved using them on the bigger boomers. As mentioned, for all practical purposes they have no affect on the dynamics of the bullet. Alot of people point to the added noise which is some what true, but l am willing to live with it for the "taming" effect they have on some of the bigger magnums calibers.
Welcome to Gunnutz:D .........
 
If you need a brake on you r hunting gun, you need to

a) learn to manage recoil better
b) use a smaller cartridge!

;)

I hate them, they are ignorantly loud...
 
I have installed hundreds of muzzle brakes since 1968.

Brakes reduce recoil a lot. Some people say they are much louder but if you are behind the muzzle and not under a roof or close to something that will deflect the noise back to you, as a shooter I find them no louder than the bare muzzle. If you are beside the shooter it will be louder for sure.

That being said, anytime you are shooting you should be wearing ear protection and eye protection. The noise from a firearm does permanent damage to your hearing on each shot and it gets progressively worse.

I have found accuracy can increase in most cases, it would be rare that it would decrease... possibly a load tweaking would correct that.

Velocity should not change if the barrel length has not been changed.

Dennis
 
I have hunted without hearing protection for over 30 years and according to my annual hearing tests at work,my hearing has not degraded significantly over the last 25 years.That was also true of a fellow club member until he had a muzzle brake installed on his 300 win mag.He used it at the range with hearing protection and really didn't notice much difference in noise.He then went on an elk hunt and fired one shot at an elk without hearing protection.He did get the elk but his ears rang for several hours.When they did stop ringing it seemed as though he was not hearing quite as well.His next hearing test showed a noticeable hearing loss that hasn't changed in several years.In other words over 25 years of hunting without a brake or hearing protection showed no noticeable hearing loss,yet one single shot with a muzzle brake without hearing protection resulted in a measureable hearing loss.Draw your own conclusions.
 
They are great and make a rifle that is almost not shootable for most people a pussy cat..it is only loud if you are the guy standing beside the shooter or are on the next bench over.....
if you are hunting by yourself you will not notice much diference...

my friend has one on his ultra mag....it shoots like a 22-250....I would let my GF shoot it....they work simpile as that.....:)
 
extremely loud, even with plugs AND muffs

I wouldnt ever consider owning a braked rifle. if the thing kicks too much, its time to take a hero gut check and step down a cartridge or two in power...
 
I have had a few over the years. Sold them all on eBay for ridiculous prices! :D

Just got one recently on a 338 Win Mag. It's going the same route unless someone here wants it for a less than ridicuous price.

Ted
 
I use them alot. I like them for the recoil reduction and letting me spot my own shots at LR. Wear hearing protection..period. The increased concussion/noise WILL cause hearing damage.

I don't walkabout hunt with rifles that wear a muzzle brake. You just never know when you will take a quick shot and not have time to get your muffs on - bad idea.

However, I do quite a bit of hunting from 'stand'. No problem putting on muffs then. These rifles are usually there to take a longer poke anyways so the brake helps with spotting the shot. These rifles also tend to be in bigger cartridges so recoil is severe without a brake.

Brakes are what brakes are. They work. They have their downsides.

Jerry

PS there are no such thing as quiet brakes...
 
mysticplayer said:
PS there are no such thing as quiet brakes...
Click to expand...

I have a customer who has done extensive testing of several brakes using a decibel meter.

He found some aftermarket and custom brakes are considerably quieter than most factory brakes.

No brakes are quieter than a bare muzzle. That would classify it as a prohibited supressor.
 
james said:
..it is only loud if you are the guy standing beside the shooter or are on the next bench over.....
if you are hunting by yourself you will not notice much diference...
Click to expand...

This year I had a very tough shot to make on a ram.

I was crunched onto a little chimney sort of rock feature. When I touched off my UNBRAKED rifle, I almost blew out my right ear.

The reason? There was arock face to the right of where I was shooting, and all the sound was blasted back at me.

If I had been using abrake with no hearing protection in that circumstance, I bet I woudl have really damaged my ear.

Just aword of caution, you can get noise reflected back at you...;)
 
A Muzzle Break is usefull under many circumstances... and some are very loud... some are significantly less loud... they are not all the same!
Behind the barrel shooting prone off a bipod my .270WSM is not much louder, if any, than it was before the muzzle break. It definitely does allow for quicker second shots and I can now see my bullet strikes through the scope. This is very useful for shooting multiple coyotes, or running coyotes especially at long range!
Common sense should prevail when using a Muzzle Break at a range or around other hunters/shooters.
 
I agree with 416 and Guntech. I have the "on and off" selection on my Savage. Now I shoot it with no brake, sure it recoils a bit more but now I am used to it, and it doesnt bother me anymore. But like they said, the grouping for me tightened up alot when I had the brake on. Now I reload and my groups are tighter than both combined so who cares.
 
I have four rifles fitted with brakes. Two of them are my everyday hunting rifles, 338 Lapua and a 300 WSM. For each I have the brake and a thread protector cap that I use while hunting. The sound difference is distinct to say the least, actually down right painfull. I don't wear hearing protection while hunting, and recoil is not an issue in the field. Now the other two are my varmit guns a 6br and a 22br. The brakes on these are strictly for the entertainment value. You get to see the bullet impact in your scope.:D Brakes are useful but a pain in the butt while in the field hunting big game.

IMHO
Don
 
If muzzle brakes have a place, it's not on hunting rifles!!! Two of my pals have brakes on their rifles (.375 and .458) and claim to like them, but the fellow with the .375 nearly went deaf after he fired 2 rounds unprotected along the side of his house at a polar bear...he didn't hear the second shot. I don't know what the big deal about recoil is, if you can't handle it get a smaller gun. My test for a hunting rifle is to fire 3 shots prone, if I can't do it the guns is too much fort me. Thus far the .375 H&H, .375 Ultra, .416 Remington, .416 Rigby, and .458 Winchester has not been a problem, I can't say the same for the 7.62X54R Moisen Naigant - that thing pounded me.

Muzzle blast is bad enough without brakes, although I will grudgingly conceed that custom brakes maybe somewhat less damaging than factory ones. The worst I've experienced is standing directly behind a .30-378 Weatherby, and my pal's .375 is second.

Even without brakes, shooting close to a barrier or into the wind can increase the discomfort from muzzle blast.
 
Muzzel brakes have there uses but I don't use them on hunting rifles. They, at least the ones I've tried, are just too nasty on the ears. On the other hand, I like them on a target rifle as they help keep the rifle steady and on target so taht I can see my own impacts and trace as I shoot. If if was not against DCRA rules I'd put one on my 308 sniper rig for this reason.
 
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