To brake or not to brake

[rewiltshire]

I have muzzle breaks on quite a few of my riles (and pistols) for the main reason that it reduces muzzle rise. I have one on a Remington 700 VS in .223 Remington, very heavy rifle with almost no recoil to start with. When I am shooting 400-500 yards at a prairie dog I want to see POI so I can make slight adjustments without guessing. By reducing/eliminating muzzle rise, they allow me to see the POI at long distance. Even shooting 200 yards out of a 14" Contender it is helpful.
Could be very helpful on any followup shots.

 

[GunHawk]

This is a perfect example of how this community is supposed to be. I applaud you Milo for your generosity.

100% agree; tired of the keyboard wars.

 

[Sam Summey]

I have a Bergara B-14 HMR in 6.5 CM. Recoil is modest to say the least but I was wondering if there is any benefit to putting a muzzlebrake on it other than a "looking cool" factor.
I'm so used to shooting my .45-70s that this is like shooting a .22 LR. So any benefit to the MB?

I rebarreled a Rem 700 22-250 for a customer. It was shooting great, he had another gunsmith thread and install a break on it. Now it doesn't shoot worth a crap, go figure. More like tits on a bore hog.

 

[Ingwe]

I have a brake on my 20lb 204 Ruger. 32gr VMax at 4,320fps and the barrel doesn't even budge...I can see the prairie dogs explode though the scope at 24 power.

 

[sixfivefanboy]

I have a brake on my 20lb 204 Ruger. 32gr VMax at 4,320fps and the barrel doesn't even budge...I can see the prairie dogs explode though the scope at 24 power.

I love the 204 - even without a brake you can watch Prairie Dogs and rock chucks explode.

 

[Ingwe]

I love the 204 - even without a brake you can watch Prairie Dogs and rock chucks explode.

Me too! I think that it's a perfect PD killer.

 

[TexasFrog]

MB definitely help in the field especially if it's a smaller framed person, kids, tiny wives ect... the less it "hurts" the less we anticipate the hurt...

 

[BigDon]

I haven't seen any discussion of Magnaporting as done by Larry Kelly. I hunt Africa a fair bit and most professional hunters there don't like brakes and many even prohibit them. So I went the Magnaport route on a couple of my really big bores. I also built a Magnaported 375 for my wife that shoots like a 30-06. Keeps the muzzled down, drops the recoil but doesn't amplify the blast like brakes do.

 

[sturner]

I started using a suppresser instead of a brake
Shot a doe in the head last week DANG saw it all

 

[hogheadv2]

Magnaporting has been lost in the last several years. Has anyone shot out to 500 - 700 yards with a ported rifle?

 

[sturner]

Yes shot a 300 RUM ported out to 600 it did fine the guy who owns it killed an Bull Elk at 575 and dropped him where he stood

 

[hogheadv2]

Yes shot a 300 RUM ported out to 600 it did fine the guy who owns it killed an Bull Elk at 575 and dropped him where he stood

Thank you, this offers an option that splits the difference. Here in Michigan most shots do not get that long.

 

[sturner]

I have seen brakes do that my gun smith makes radial brakes for us and never had an issue

 

[Troutslayer2]

I have no idea why or what causes it, but my son's 7mm ultra sighted in at 100 yards with a Guide series brake shoots
.5 moa, but if you unscrew the brake, the group is around 2 inches. We have tested this many times at different temperatures in the range here in the yard. Puzzling to me but he never shoots it without the brake anyway.

..

It could be related to muzzle velocity since it acts as sort of a couple inches of barrel. I can measure that with one of my rifles braked vs. unbraked. Or harmonics. I have nothing to add to all this other than I like brakes for the range and threaded caps for the field. Might try a can one of these days.