Why the muzzle brake hatred?

I have a Browning A bolt in 30.06 with a BOSS , With full power hunting loads 180gr. the gun will put six shots into a tooney at 100yds. Yes I will use it for hunting,Accuracy is more important than sound. How ever it seems to change the muzzle blast more to a short loud pop than a long blast that carries through the woods, this being said at the range I do consider other shooters and shoot in an area that doesn't affect them.
 
Huhhhh, this again...

I'll answer this in the spirit I'm assuming the OP intended not how a couple of teenagers did with, "If they don't like it F____ Em."

If we look at muzzle brakes - not muzzle breaks" - rifle muzzles do not take coffee breaks, they have BRAKEs, their intent is to redirect the gases to reduce felt recoil. This is to facilitate using a larger cartridge by making the recoil more manageable.

Discussion point #1 - With todays bullet construction quality is it necessary to go larger?

I would say no in most cases. I offer for thought that one can cleanly and efficiently take anything in North America with a 3006 or less. This suggests the obvious thought, "If you can't handle the recoil on your ultra mag buy a softer shooting cartridge and shoot better without the flinch."

Discussion point #2 - Even with hearing protection muzzle brakes can still cause hearing damage.

This is a think on my part not a know. I was reading one of these brake - no brake threads awhile ago and someone cited a bunch of stats on decibel levels of braked rifles. If what they said is true you are doing hearing damage even with ear plugs and good muffs.

Discussion point #3 - A bit of range courtesy goes a long way.

Last time I checked this was a free country. So if you are shooting a braked rifle good for you but please be considerate of others. The majority of the people I run into at my range are courteous and accomodating. If they are shooting a braked rifle they often tend to choose an area not as populated.

Muzzle brakes are VERY LOUD. I can clearly feel a pressure wave from most. I find it distracting and the sheer noise unpleasant.


Now onto some observations and generalizations.

I shoot rifles from .22's to a .416 Rigby with no brakes. I shoot tighter groups off a bench with my Rigby than the young man I saw at the range last weekend with this his full camo Savage .300wm, with the giant muzzle brake, and the bipod mounted on the stock, and the cheap 19" long tasco scope with enormous turrets and an illuminated mil dot reticle that he has no idea how to use. In fact he couldn't touch the paper at 100 yards. Having said that he wasn't an ass and a few of us helped get the thing printing.

Many of us have been there and over the years we evolve to what works for us. I didn't use the run on sentence to ridicule the young man, rather it was to recognize he was in a different place than most of the people at the range and he was helped not alienated.

When I listen to dogleg I get where he is coming from and I would tend to avoid the range when is there. And no, that is not resentment it is preference.

Hunting with those earmuffs that cut the blast out is fine if you truck hunt or stand hunt as I tend to walk a lot any muffs are sweaty and uncomfortable. But each to their own.
 
I like brakes, even though my ear has been ringing (permanent damage) for year from one shot, with out ear protection.
 
I have a Browning A bolt in 30.06 with a BOSS , With full power hunting loads 180gr. the gun will put six shots into a tooney at 100yds.
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My 300RUM loads are much more powerful than any 30-06 load, and in my unbraked rifles, they will do considerably better than that. I wouldn't own any hunting rifle that doesn't do better.
 
I have removed the brake from my 6.8 XCR barrel. I will be removing them from my 223 and 7.62x39 barrels. $15 at the gunsmith.

I am going to try the ATRS flash hider on the 6.8. It is supposed to direct the noise straight ahead from what I understand.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
Does it not change POI as well as accuracy??
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Can't say, the muzzle brake on my rifle is permanently attached. But I think any prudent shooter would check POI before and after removing his brake.

My brake does not affect accuracy at all. And to answer your previous question - no, I don't feel the recoil when I shoot a deer.
 
There is a dog at the range that always barks as you're shooting. It was annoying at first, but you begin to not even notice the dog barking anymore. Same goes for a guy shooting a gun with a muzzle break. Doesn't bother me one bit.
 
On the big guns, they are just too loud. They can damage your hearing even with hearing protection. I do have guns with breaks, i.e.: CZ858's, but I always wear hearing protection when shooting them and when hunting with them, I keep hearing protection handy to throw in before talking a shot.
 
Awesome posts on this one, I gotta chime in. I fired a .338 once and I nearly dropped the rifle, not from the recoil but from the blast. I was expecting a mushroom cloud to follow. Bloody ears rang for weeks after. Life lesson in 3...2...1....KABOOM!!!!
 
This thread is interesting. I hardly ever frequent this forum but noticed this thread title and jumped in. From the sounds of it, I wouldn't be very popular at a lot of your ranges. Some days I've tested two or three different muzzle brakes through hundreds of rounds, through 10" Ar's or 12" VZ's.

Proper hearing protection and thicker skin is in order for a lot of you. It's a gun range not a knitting club!
 
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