Brakes on a hunting gun

Tinnitus is no joke and hearing loss happens naturally with age but will happen a lot quicker with a brake while hunting. Because shooting at game often happens quickly without time to put earplugs in – or even remembering to put them in. A brake is soooooooo much louder that I would never consider one on a hunting rifle.

Many years ago I bought a .300 Wby. and had it magna-ported. I fired four shots at a running elk and my ears were numb for three days afterward. Never fired it again with out hearing protection. I presently wear hearing aids thanks to a few years in the military before it was cool to protect your hearing as well as many years of running heavy equipment. They are a pain in the butt though necessary if you want to be social. I have used a number of different types but none are convenient. I also suffer from tinnitus and miss the quiet of sitting out in the wilderness. It is never quiet in my life. Protect your hearing. It doesn't come back once it is gone.

Most of my rifles don't have muzzle brakes. Those that do are mostly for the range. I always have hearing protection and lots of it. I shoot better with it. Even when I teach other shooters, beginning with .22 rimfire, they wear hearing protection. When it comes to recoil I put soft pads on all my rifles and stocks that are short enough to fit on on my collar bone and not my shoulder - and high enough at the butt to line up with the barrel. I prefer rifles that are lightweight but have 24 inch barrels. I am seldom bothered by recoil even with the 375 H&H and .338 Win Mags I take into grizzly country. I don't shoot them for fun though. Everyone has their own preferences. It is up to each to find their comfort zone and the rifles that match it. No one size fits all.

FEENIX said:

I am one of those people that always use PPEs. I use gloves, hearing protection, safety goggles, shoes, when I mow and use any high noise power tools, cutting firewood, etc.

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I lost my hearing in high school while dove hunting. I introduced a friend to hunting but in the excitement of the moment one afternoon he discharged his 12ga shotgun about a foot in front of my face.

I had powder burns on the side of my face because I was able to turn my head some before he shot.

So in the shop I never bothered to protect what little hearing I had left. Plus 25 years ago no one thought too much about eye and ear protection.

At 58yo no sound....NO SOUND...is louder than the ringing in my ears. I made friends with the noise years ago to keep from going crazy hearing it all the time.

Being a foremen in the shop now I have to field all the complaints as they come in. That is until some tells me..."I have a noise I need you to listen too". Total water of time for me to walk out to the vehicle, especially if it' air related. They are alway saying..."quit playing, I know you can hear that!".

Because my wife hunts with me, we both wear electronic muffs.

And I have several guns with brakes, many are guns she shoots.

I like brakes, even on lighter recoiling rifles. And of course heavy recoiling rifles. My 300wm will never get one, it weighs right at 16lbs with a full mag...so it soaks up most of the recoil.

At 58 years old and made a living with lots of very loud tools and equipment. I have tinnitus. My ears are ringing as I type this . But I can still hear.
I have brakes on all my larger rifles . 375 +458. When hunting I seldom wear hearing protection. Tho I'm thinking about trying the Sound Gear plugs. An 8.5 lb 458 Win is greatly benefited from a muzzle brake. And the 375 Ruger Guide Gun has far less recoil than the 338 Win Kimber Montana that doesn't have a brake on it yet.

BallisticsGuy said:

I've never felt the recoil from any shot I've ever taken at something that bleeds. Even shooting a .325wsm from a light hunting rifle in an awkward position. Never noticed the recoil as a matter of discomfort. Always seen the critter get hit & been sure of the hit/miss status.

As far as noise, I can't stress enough to the small number here that don't already have chronic tinnitus that you seriously don't want it and brake or not, wear electronic hearing protection while hunting. Please please please protect your hearing. My own tinnitus is 4500Hz, I perceive it around 85dB & it never stops ringing. Everything above 4500Hz is completely missing to me (sorta, as I hear a LOUD shrieking ring in my ears 24x7x365). I'm basically 3/4 deaf. My hearing was taken from me by someone with a bad sense of humor against my will. You have a choice while hunting though.

You won't even know you're actually deaf until you start re-watching a movie you've seen before but now have the subtitles active and find out there's whole wads of conversation and sounds you didn't even know about that make the movie make a lot more sense. It only takes ONE TIME. Any of your hearing that you lose is done forever. NOTHING will bring it back. Ask me how I know.

Watching Saving Private Ryan or any war movie is very different for me than for people with normal hearing but I didn't know until someone commented on particular sounds and I was all like, "what squealing?".

If a brake will help, use it. No matter what, electronic hearing protection does help. Use it.

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CaptnC said:

I lost my hearing in high school while dove hunting. I introduced a friend to hunting but in the excitement of the moment one afternoon he discharged his 12ga shotgun about a foot in front of my face.

I had powder burns on the side of my face because I was able to turn my head some before he shot.

So in the shop I never bothered to protect what little hearing I had left. Plus 25 years ago no one thought too much about eye and ear protection.

At 58yo no sound....NO SOUND...is louder than the ringing in my ears. I made friends with the noise years ago to keep from going crazy hearing it all the time.

Being a foremen in the shop now I have to field all the complaints as they come in. That is until some tells me..."I have a noise I need you to listen too". Total water of time for me to walk out to the vehicle, especially if it' air related. They are alway saying..."quit playing, I know you can hear that!".

Because my wife hunts with me, we both wear electronic muffs.

And I have several guns with brakes, many are guns she shoots.

I like brakes, even on lighter recoiling rifles. And of course heavy recoiling rifles. My 300wm will never get one, it weighs right at 16lbs with a full mag...so it soaks up most of the recoil.

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I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate incident and your hearing loss. I watched my Mom nearly lost her eyesight in the early 1970s chopping wood. I did not start getting into PPEs until I started working in machine shops in 1980-1987. When I joined the USAF in 1987, I got more serious in the use of PPEs. I guess it has been incorporated in my daily activities since the 1980s and one of my better habits.

I have to say, you will not make any friends with your hunting partners if you have a brake on your hunting gun. I have 6 muzzle brakes on various guns but they are all bench guns, varmint rifles or long range guns that I may shoot a couple hundred rounds through in a weekend. I put brakes on to mainly see my shots on squirrels and prairie dogs. I do have a light .300 win mag and I put a brake on it to see how it would work. It is very effective; shoots like a light .243. I was talking to someone at the range and forgot to reinsert my earplugs fully and shot that 300 win mag. Oh, My God, I think I lost a good portion of my hearing with that one shot. Anyway, I would not put on a brake on anything you plan to shoot once or twice and carry 99.9% of the time. You are spending too much time sighting in and the recoil is getting to you at the bench. Suck it up. Don't shoot that much with that gun. Practice with a lighter caliber. After getting sighted in you should be practicing from field positions and you will not nearly feel the recoil as much. The other thing you can do is shoot with the brake as much as you want and then unscrew the brake and put on a thread protector. And hunt without the brake. You'll probably have to tweak your point of impact with 2 or 3 more shots after removing the brake. If you shoot anything .243 and up you risk damaging your hearing. You might get away with a .223 for 1 or 2 shots, but even that is probably doing some damage. AR's generally have some type of muzzle device and the auto opens the action an d blast comes from there too; these are much louder than bolt guns. You should wear hearing protection as much as possible (all the time)!. I like electronic muffs these days. I can communicate with my son and it protects you from sunburns and it helps you hear noises like game in the woods. I've been in cold weather with them, maybe in the high 30's. Have not hunted with them below freezing. You'll have a balaclava and hood on maybe and that can help deaden the sound. You can put electronics over most head gear or under a parker hood if need be. If you really think you are going to jump an animal unexpectedly you might have to wear the muffs more often. You just need to get used to it or you'll need to get used to saying "What?" repeatedly to everyone you speak with. It is miserable watching a movie or TV and not hearing the enunciation of words. And mostly the wife gets ****ed off!

Slim13 said:

OK....talk to me people. Interested in hearing from those that hunt with muzzle brakes.

I wore out my heavy barrel on my 7mm Rem Mag. I ended up putting a #3 bartlein on it because I was tired of lugging a 15lb rifle into the backcountry. I'm not recoil sensitive in the least, but with the missing weight in the barrel I'm fighting some muzzle jump that I've never had to deal with before.

I'm thinking about putting a brake on her to help manage the recoil and get the gun to track better. My question is: Have any of you regretted doing it? What kind of hearing protection are you using while hunting?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, advice and opinions. I've never had a braked rifle before and I keep going back and forth on the idea.

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Most important is that you chose a bartlien barrel. I worked with frank on a 22- 250 barrel and have been very happy. Ready to order another for my rem 788 in 222. It shoots great but I know it will get into the sub .2 groups with a bartlien. I have had several 1/8" groups with my 22-250.

Most important thing is that you chose a Bartlien. I worked with Frank on a 22-250 Barrel and it regularly shoots 1/8" groups. I'm ready to buy it to 222 rem barrel for my rem 788 and. I know it will get into the sub 0.2" range . That makes shooting fun.

I fought getting a muzzle brake for years for all the reasons that are stated here. The longer my hunting ranges got the more tired of getting scoped when shooting at an animal. The notion that once in the field and in a hunting situation "you won't notice the recoil" simply is not true. If you are gripping and ripping, then I will buy that. When you are laying prone trying to execute a long range shot, holding hard on a heavy recoiling rifle is not my preferred method for executing a difficult shot. In order to make a long range shot in a less than ideal shooting position it becomes imperative that I am very gentle with the rifle. I more or less free recoil my rifle with as little influence from me as possible. This is how I wound up with some trophy pics with a blood spot on my right eye.

As to my hunting partners. They all know about the brake. I am not so inconsiderate as to not warn them. I don't hunt in a group more than 3 anyway. Even if I am not shooting a braked gun, the partners always stay behind the shooter. Everyone in the group has hearing protection and a job to make the shot possible. Ranging, spotting, calling wind, etc. If someone does not have hearing protection they know to put their fingers in their ears.

We use Pain Killer brakes on all of our rifles. I mentioned earlier that not all brakes are worth having, these are one of the FEW that are. Most brakes reduce some recoil, so people that don't know the difference think they are great. A few brakes reduce nearly all of the recoil. The Pain Killer are a slab style brake so they do not throw all the chit all over you when shooting prone. They basically have a 45 deg protective cone behind the shooter. Spotter always sets up behind the shooter in the protective cone.

So yes, get a brake and know what you have and prepare accordingly. There is no need to worry about recoil or hold hard onto a rifle.

Steve

Slim13 said:

OK....talk to me people. Interested in hearing from those that hunt with muzzle brakes.

I wore out my heavy barrel on my 7mm Rem Mag. I ended up putting a #3 bartlein on it because I was tired of lugging a 15lb rifle into the backcountry. I'm not recoil sensitive in the least, but with the missing weight in the barrel I'm fighting some muzzle jump that I've never had to deal with before.

I'm thinking about putting a brake on her to help manage the recoil and get the gun to track better. My question is: Have any of you regretted doing it? What kind of hearing protection are you using while hunting?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, advice and opinions. I've never had a braked rifle before and I keep going back and forth on the idea.

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Practice, practice, practice with a brake. When going hunting take it off and replace with a thread protector. You probably will not even notice the recoil in a hunting situation. Just be sure in all your practicing the point of impact doesn't change with or without the brake. Also if you have a buddy along he will probably appreciate you not having the brake when he is spotting your kill shot for you.

Ditto on the need for protecting your hearing. Tinnitus, like a few other things I could mention, is forever....
HOWEVER, on another subject, my question is this: in terms of being better able to "spot your own shots", does a "directional" brake outperform a "radial" brake???
I am primarily a hunter, not a target shooter being accompanied by a spotter. I need to know POI for that FIRST shot.
Thanx!
P.S.: The debris kicked up by the radial brake gets annoying:

I've hunted Elk with a Browning 300win mag for 15years using the Browning Boss muzzle brake. I have only shot it once without hearing protection and I had ringing in my ears for months afterwards. I wear electronic earmuffs while hunting. If you hunt with a guide they should notice the brake and realize the extra noise, but if not be sure to remind them to plug their ears before your shot. I also use a Mauser 7mm Mag without a brake. Yes the recoil is there, but I've only noticed it at the range.

Not noticing is not the same as it not hurting your hearing. Use hearing protection.

Some may not agree with this but hear it is.

While doing brake testing for the quietest brake, we discovered something that went against all that i believed and had heard for years. In our test we used a DB Meter and tried as Many brands as we could and all of the different styles. Our goal was to find out what design was the quietest design.

We placed the DB Meter near the muzzle (3' to the side and out of the bullets path) to get the DBs at this point . we then moved the meter to the side (90o to the bore center). Then we moved the meter 3' behind the shooter.

Each test was with the same rifle and ammo and was conducted with a brake and without one for a comparison.

The loudest DB reading was out front of the rifle without a brake. The quietest reading was with a brake, and interestingly enough, the better the brake was at reducing recoil, the lower the reading on the meter. from this we Deducted/speculated that when a muzzle brake does its job well it brakes the sound into parts of sound that divide up the total effect of one major blast of sound (It redistributes the total amount) what ever it was, the DB Meter did not know what we were going to do so It recorded what It heard.

What we did find was that the position of the bystander effected the perceived sound to the person, and He could tell where and when he felt and heard more or less sound.

When we backed off and allowed the DB meter to sample the total sound It remained very constant for all test (It was measuring total sound produced by the firearm.

So to sum it up, Brakes redirect the sound and muzzle blast, but don't make the sound level increase. The shooter or a bystander receives a larger portion of the total sound emitted by the firearm and there fore "Perceives" that is louder. To him It Is, To the meter It is not.

Irregardless of all this data. NONE OF THE READINGS WERE SAFE LEVELS FOR THE EAR. The lowest reading the meter recorded was 105 DB, the highest was 108 DB. the range is way above what the ear can handle and ear protection should be used under any circumstance when firing a firearm because even though you don't notice it when hunting, the damage is still being done.

If you use a brake or not there will be damage to your ears if you don't wear some type of hearing protection.

These test convinced me (I hunted most of my life without hearing protection) that It was necessary to save what I had left i had to faithfully wear something to protect my hearing whether at the range or hunting.

J E CUSTOM