Does a brake help tighten groups?

frostop

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Does a brake help tighten groups?

I am putting together a .33 Nosler and I'm considering putting a brake on it.
I have had a brake only one other time and at the time did not like the additional blast(300 win with a boss). That being said I have had a .338 before and the recoil was definitely more than a 30.06, 270wsm or a 280 ackley-what I currently have.

I may even want to put a brake on the 270wsm if there's a chance the groups might tighten?
As I said before I only had that one rifle and didn't keep it very long to gain enough experience with a brake.


Gary
 
They don't necessarily tighten groups. They do give you less recoil, which will help with any flinch you might not know you have. Which will tighten your groups.
 
Mine made me shoot worse until I figured out what I was doing wrong and fixed it. First rifle I put a brake on is a 6.5 cm. After initial load development things went downhill. Knew it was something I was doing because it shot great at first. Took the brake off and it shot lights out.

Long story short, put a brake on a rifle and got lazy, ignored the fundamentals. More time with the rifle and some .22 practice helped re-affirm my form and solidify the foundation. Once I ironed that out things came together nicely and I am thinking about putting one on a hunting rifle, just happens to be a very light .270 wsm.
 
As stated, you can bet on it reducing recoil, which will help you to shoot better. It may have other helpful aspects as well, such as dampening barrel whip.

On a cartridge such as a 33 Nosler, where you will likely be shooting 200+ grain bullets, a brake is a very good idea. And if it is on the lighter end, you may find a brake to be a necessity. I will add though, I do lots of long range hunting by myself, so being able to spot my own shot is very important.
 
I use the beast self timing brake. Because it is secured by a locking thread you can tune the rifle load as needed by clocking it between 10 and 1 o'clock. You can back it out 2 or 3 threads and still be secure/safe. This in essence makes it not only a brake but a barrel tuner as well. In my application by turning the ports to the 1030 position I get not only a good tune for the load but an increase in control from the torque induce on the gun by the bullet. This is an 8tw barrel. Not really noticeable unless you try free recoil. Having used a tuner on a few .22's I had to try it on the 6.5. Shooting sub moa groups from a factory rifle that was under $500 with every single factory or handload tried speaks to it's effectiveness.
 
I use the beast self timing brake. Because it is secured by a locking thread you can tune the rifle load as needed by clocking it between 10 and 1 o'clock. You can back it out 2 or 3 threads and still be secure/safe. This in essence makes it not only a brake but a barrel tuner as well. In my application by turning the ports to the 1030 position I get not only a good tune for the load but an increase in control from the torque induce on the gun by the bullet. This is an 8tw barrel. Not really noticeable unless you try free recoil. Having used a tuner on a few .22's I had to try it on the 6.5. Shooting sub moa groups from a factory rifle that was under $500 with every single factory or handload tried speaks to it's effectiveness.
I just got the gen2 little basterd self timing brake good stuff.
 
On a self timing brake like the APA Gen2's, how far off of horizontal can you set the ports before its detrimental?
 
If you use a "good" brake then yes. IMO there are a few that are really good and there are many that are marginal. On a rifle chambered in 33N, at a carry weight, anything that is marginal will be a waste of money. There are lots of threads about what brake is best. If you sift through them you will figure out the few that are truly good at what they do. I know that I will never experiment with another brand of brake again. We use the APS Pain Killer brakes on all our personal rifles and customer rifles.

Steve
 
On a self timing brake like the APA Gen2's, how far off of horizontal can you set the ports before its detrimental?
The ports are close enough to the beast so I would go with 10-1. Going more than the 1 o'clock will start to disrupt you with adding to the twisting effect with a rh twisted barrel. Oviously if you had a custom LH twist 2-11 o'clock would be the call. You won't really know till you shoot your platform. The amount of gas in a 6.5 creed is a hell of a lot less than any mag bolt face cartridge. With both less volume and less port exit velocity. If you find a preference make some sort of index (sharpie)mark I know the beast doesn't move and it looks like the gen2 little bastard copied the same left hand thread on the outside.
To the op when I was testing brakes last winter in the sub 60 grain cartridges I found that the beast preformed best on the guns we built. The JP eliminater had the same sized groups with a bit more gun movement. The apa we only had a gen1 so idk if they changed port size in it. Any way we had much more shift using the shouldered install.
The left hand thread the gen 2 has should have less poi change from brake to no brake. Take a loke on muzzle brakes and more. Nathan's vidoes show side to sdie performance with velocities of the rounds. This is important because you know that it is an apples to apples comparison. same cartridge bullet and velocity.
 
It depends on the brake and who installs it. I have noticed that I am more comfortable shooting heavy magnums with a break, but in two instances groups went to hell after having the brake installed. On one rifle, the installation was crap and the bore hole was offset in the brake. The bullet did not touch the brake but it definitely shot poorly. I had the brake re-done and the rifle shot great. On another instance I had a Vias break installed against my gunsmiths advice, groups opened up, screwed on a KDF, rifle shot great. Like I said, just depends...
 
If you use a "good" brake then yes. IMO there are a few that are really good and there are many that are marginal. On a rifle chambered in 33N, at a carry weight, anything that is marginal will be a waste of money. There are lots of threads about what brake is best. If you sift through them you will figure out the few that are truly good at what they do. I know that I will never experiment with another brand of brake again. We use the APS Pain Killer brakes on all our personal rifles and customer rifles.

Steve
I have several APS Pain Killer brakes and they do work very well. However, I've learned a few things about brakes and timed-brakes along the way.
* Brakes with holes on top cause the barrel to radically flex downward in such a way that when viewed in slow motion you will want you to avoid them. Oddly enough, this does not seem to affect accuracy.
* Brakes that are timed, invariable get out of time and that is not easily remedied.
* Brakes that provide the highest percent of recoil reduction "usually" are accompanied with the highest percussion perceived by the shooter.
* All brakes are a royal PITA when hunting. And if you keep hearing protection handy while hunting, you will probably neglect to put them on/in when the shot opportunity presents itself. Ask me how I know.

The 30 Nosler is my personal limit in cartridge selection for hunting without a brake and I hate brakes for hunting.

As an aside: Never put your brake in a SS pin tumbler for cleaning. Even though the pins don't have much negative effect on brass, they wreak havoc on the SS threads in a brake. I seriously damaged two Pain Killer brakes that way.
 
* All brakes are a royal PITA when hunting. And if you keep hearing protection handy while hunting, you will probably neglect to put them on/in when the shot opportunity presents itself. Ask me how I know.
I think this depends more on your hunting style. This year, my rifle alone took 16 big game animals, and every single one, everyone involved was wearing ear protection.

But yes, if your hunting involves pushing brush, or walking and taking quick shots, then a brake is probably not for you. Our shooting style involves alot of glassing, and stalking as close as we can without any risk of spooking the animal, and then taking the shot. Average shot distance for those 16 animals from this year was slightly over 600 yards. At that range, there is almost always ample time to put in a couple plugs.
 
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