Muzzle Breaks

ceriksson

ceriksson

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I have a couple of questions regarding muzzle breaks on rifles.

Who here has one? Benefits? Drawbacks?

I know generally that they reduce recoil but up the noise, but do they affect precision?

Also can they be bought seperately and applied to a standard rifle. I am getting a rifle whose barrel isn't threaded. Can I get it threaded or should I get a new barrel for it?

Or should I bother at all?

the rifle is .308.

Thanks.
 
It's muzzle brake - not breaks..

Posted and argued many times:

some swear they would never have one
other swear they love them

simple facts are:
They are noisier to anyone beside the rifle, and noisier to the shooter if it is being reflected back, but extremely effective for reducing recoil. Installed correctly they will not harm accuracy and in some cases increase accuracy. The best ones are precision threaded to the individual barrel.
 
haha yea I've seen it both break and brake all over the place. Brake makes more sense, but I guess break works too as it gives the shooter one.

Anyways. What is the best way to apply one? to thread the barrel?
 
Unless the barrel is precision threaded for center, accuracy is near zero. So the proper way to instal a brake is to either thread the barrel to match the threads of the brake, or machine the barrel down enough to precisely sleeve the brake on and then sweat it in place. Threads are easiest and most common.
Some brakes are far more obnoxious in sound and concuusiveness to the shooter. Others are better designed so as to reflect the blast away from the shooter, and spotters.
A properly installed brake does not alter the rifles accuracy, but will change the point of impact
 
I have a couple of questions regarding muzzle breaks on rifles.

Who here has one? Benefits? Drawbacks?
I have one,, and have shot many rifles that have had them installed.
- Benefits are many.
- Drawbacks are none.

I know generally that they reduce recoil but up the noise, but do they affect precision?
- Yep,, they reduce recoil and they enhance precision because of this.
- The noise thing is mostly horse hockey,, I don't notice any difference either shooting the rifle or by being next to a shooter that uses them.

Also can they be bought seperately and applied to a standard rifle. I am getting a rifle whose barrel isn't threaded. Can I get it threaded or should I get a new barrel for it?
- Yes,, bought separately. They must be installed by a gunsmith as the barrel needs to be threaded and the brake tuned and aligned.
- No,, you don't need a new barrel. Pretty well any barrell can be threaded and fitted with a muzzle brake.

Or should I bother at all?
- Yes. It is something to look at, particularly if you do a lot of shooting.

the rifle is .308.
- Even a .308 can benefit from reduced recoil.
 
I love my muzzle BRAKE/ BREAK/ COMP /COMPENSATOR /DUHICKEY/ It works like a dream, no recoil great precision. :p :D :)


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guntech said:
It's muzzle brake - not breaks..
Click to expand...


Dennis are you still bringing in Vais Brakes and if so, what is a typical installed cost? Blued/stainless

Regards,
Joe
 
### International said:
Dennis are you still bringing in Vais Brakes and if so, what is a typical installed cost? Blued/stainless

Regards,
Joe
Click to expand...

Yes I am the Canadian Distributor for Vais. I also do a brake of my own design. I will send you a PM, I am not supposed to submit prices on the open forum.

Dennis
 
I had a homemade muzzle brake on a 338-06, it was great at first didn't effect accuracy at all. After about 300 rounds, accuracy suddenly went awry. I checked the barrel for unseen copper fouling with a bore scope, nothing, throat didn't look nitrited. So took off the muzzle brake, other than change of point of impact, right back to sub moa groups/100yds. On inspection of the brake, it was obvious that the metal on the inside of the outlet lip had melted or maybe been impacted by unburned powder particles to create a rough lip all the way around the inside diameter of the muzzle, causeing erratic accuracy by reduceing the inside diameter enough to actually touch the bullet as it went by. Machined the lip clear again and replaced on the rifles muzzle, accuracy was still very good. I don't know if this would happen with other after market brakes or not, the homemade brake was made out of a piece of bbl left over from a Gaillard barrel. bearhunter
 
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Bearhunter Problem was most likely the steel you used. On the brakes I make I use same steel as barrel steel, either 416r stainless or 4150 chrome moly and the last as long as the barrels do or longer. Steels that are not as tolerant of gas cutting would not last well and would cause the problem you experienced. On some of my brakes that are going onto real bore burners I have them hardened .
 
bearhunter said:
I had a homemade muzzle brake on a 338-06, it was great at first didn't effect accuracy at all. After about 300 rounds, accuracy suddenly went awry. I checked the barrel for unseen copper fouling with a bore scope, nothing, throat didn't look nitrited. So took off the muzzle brake, other than change of point of impact, right back to sub moa groups/100yds. On inspection of the brake, it was obvious that the metal on the inside of the outlet lip had melted or maybe been impacted by unburned powder particles to create a rough lip all the way around the inside diameter of the muzzle, causeing erratic accuracy by reduceing the inside diameter enough to actually touch the bullet as it went by. Machined the lip clear again and replaced on the rifles muzzle, accuracy was still very good. I don't know if this would happen with other after market brakes or not, the homemade brake was made out of a piece of bbl left over from a Gaillard barrel. bearhunter
Click to expand...

I am assuming you cleaned your barrel during the firing of 300 rounds..... you should have cleaned your brake as well... I think you just had a buildup of powder residue.. a stiff brush and some solvent would have corrected it. I recently had a rifle come in where the barrel was really copper fouled and I noticed the brake had a dark residue build up at the exit. After cleaning the barrel I checked the clearances with a spud and it was dragging a bit in the brake on this hard residue ... I cleaned the brake and then the spud moved freely.
 
bearhunter, very common problem where the exit hole is a bit tight and the brake gets fouled.

Just clean your brake regularly. Most make the exit holes 20thou larger then bullet diameter. This usually keeps fouling issues in check yet still allows the brake to work.

Avoid using a hole larger then 45thou over bullet diameter as you will have blowby which can negatively affect accuracy at worse, reduce affectiveness of brake at best.

The effectiveness of a brake is proportional to how 'loud' it is. All a brake does is redirect exhaust gases from going forward. The more that is diverted, the louder the preceived sound and concussion.

In design, a brakes effectiveness can be improved with the use of chambers or fish gills. There are commonly seen on Micaluk, and Holland brakes amoungst others. Each chamber acts as a sail which uses the exhaust gases to drive the rifle forward. Adds a measureable increase in recoil reduction over a single port (KDF style).

The most effective (arguably the ugliest) is the AR50 design. Huge brake, with massive chambers that vent backwards.

So effective that it can pull a rifle forward. Shooter experiences a push-pull type of recoil. Brutal on scopes but keeps shoulders from being hammered especially when shooting 50BMG's.

These brakes come with a warning to keep people and gear out of the muzzle blast zone. Will hurt you...

Jerry
 
Any high velocity caliber will have some recoil reduced by a brake, 22 however does not benefit as much as 30 cal or bigger. I would recommend shooting the rifle 1st then see what recoil characteristics prevail, if the barrel does still lift more than you desire a particular brake can help eliminate this
 
I am guessing you mean some benchrest plinking as competing with this cartridge is not ideal. Also, many ranges will not let you shoot a brake while competing.

So do a little more research before deciding. A brake will always reduce recoil and will have benefits to reducing shooter fatigue. If you plan to shoot a lot at a time, anything to reduce recoil will help.

There are a number of high volume PD shooters that brake a heavy barreled rifle in 223. Recoil is zip but when you shoot several hundred rds a day, why have any discomfort at all. Plus it let's you watch the show...

Jerry
 
The only real downside is that most forms of competition don't allow them. If you want to participate in any events think about whether you need it. I've got one on my .338LM and 50BMG, but not on my 7WSM or 260Rem.
 
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