Muzzle brake Q?

[Bug]

I have a question about a new-to-me Remington 700 in 300 Rem ultra mag. It doesn't appear to have been fired much at all. I decided to clean the barrel before doing any shooting, and it cleaned up quickly. I had removed the brake before cleaning, and it was sitting there on the bench while I was loading. I don't know what posessed me, but I decided to drop a bullet through the brake just to see if I could get a feel for how much clearance it had. Imagine my surprise when a bullet wouldn't fall through it! Finally, with some jiggling and tapping, it went through. I tried a few more bullets, and none would just fall through. I whipped out my cordless drill and spun a brush soaked with solvent through it. Now, a bullet will fall through, but only if you hit it near perfect. Otherwise, you have to go back to jiggling & tapping.
Just how much clearance does a brake need? Or, how much is usual? Is this condition normal?
I might add this is a very light contour factory barrel and the break (I'm guessing) is a factory slimline.
Inquiring minds just wanna know! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[lovdasnow]

hmmm interesting...

i have a holland brake on my 300 ultra, and the bullets will slide in and out no problem. seems a little tight to me, but I am interested what the smiths on here say.??

 

[Black Diamond 408]

minimum .020 clearance on my brakes. Some major companies are .030 seems to tight for my blood.

 

[J E Custom]

BUG

BAD NEWS /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

You were lucky to find this problem.

Clearance should be .030 thousand minimum over
bore dia.

If you are a do it yourself person you can buy a
Muzzle brake reamer from brownells made by CLYMER
for your bore dia. for about $50.00.

Or see a local Gun Smith and have him FIX IT.

Probably Someone Used/Installed The wrong brake and you were lucky it wasn,t two sizes to small.

Good Luck and Good Shooting

J E CUSTOM

 

[Bug]

I thought I'd post a follow-up.
Took the rifle to the range today. Preliminary testing with 98-100gr Retumbo (1/2gr steps) gave groups in the 1/2 to 1" range. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif No attempt was made to tune loads, just looking for velocity vs pressure signs. No problems at all. And, with those groups, I don't <u>think</u> I wanna go putzing with anything. Velocity ran up to 3350fps with Hornady 180gr SP FB at 100gr.
As an aside, I fired the first two 98gr shots w/o the brake. Both times the Nikon Buckmaster scope came back and just kissed my brow. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif No problems with that when the brake is installed, though. Looks like I'm gonna be using the brake regularly! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Think it would mess anything up if I opened it up a thousandth or two? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[James Jones]

I would open it up to at least .020" over bullet diameter leaning to the .030" measurement.

You could do it easly with a 21/64" reamer or a 11/32" reamer. Trueth be known that a 5/16" reamer would probably work fine it is just a little to close for my comfort.

I don't think that you would notice any effecientcy loss till you got the bore opened up realy wide like maybe .060" over bullet diameter , then I still doubt that you would be able to "feel" any differance

 

[keithcandler]

Amen Mr. Jones!

I use the same brake on 22caliber to 7mm, it is very effecitve at 7mm and the hole is .350. I compared this brake on the same gun with a brake that was made for 22 caliber...could not tell the difference in recoil. It is nuts to even think that you can tell the difference in 50% reduction and 40% reduction on anything smaller than cartridges in the size of the 300 Win Mag.

Yes, I do have one of the Answer Brakes and it is a very good brake indeed.

I have invested a lot of money in brakes. I have 8 different kinds. Some are very expensive and came with the claims that they were the best in the world...lots of BS there for sure!

I even payed one guy $250 for a custom made brake that was supposed to be the cats meow. It reduced recoil just fine, but not anymore than one of Brownell's...and they have many different kinds.

When it gets down to where you have to have scientific equipment to measure the difference in muzzle breaks because you can not feel the difference in recoil, you know that all the brakes are very effective. The worst in my experience is the Browning brake that is on the end of the Boss.

I had one gunsmith that swore that the dia in the brake had to be no more than 0.007-0.012 over bullet dia in order for the brake to work at all!

If you have a muzzle break that you like, stick with it. My best brake is made by a guy in Los Angeles by the name of Joe Wagner. It has three expansion chambers and 132 holes of two different sizes and it looks like a lawn mower muffler, but boy does it work.

You will see more of a reduction in felt recoil in the larger Magnum calibers, no doubt. These big Magnums are at their best with a muzzle break of some kind.