Muzzle brakes? 6.5 mm favorites and oversized performance.

Have a 264 WM barrel, 5/8 x 24, and need a brake for it. Couple questions.

1) What are the "best" brakes these days. Full stop, no constraints.

2) What would you go with if constrained by A) 0.670" shoulder and the urge to keep the aesthetics nice with a brake that has a similar size and round shape... and B) No more than ~2" added length to the barrel.

3) What sort of performance degradation will you see if you use a larger brake? I have a 30 cal OEM brake from a Savage Long Range Hunter. It performed satisfactorily for 300WM, and is about the right length and diameter to look good on my 264 barrel. And it's FREE!

I don't want to hear any "WHY WOULD YOU BRAKE A 264!" and "BRAKES ARE LOUD!" nonsense. I like them, and you won't change my mind. I want as little recoil as possible, as this setup is intended for new shooters and long sessions of target shooting. I wear ear pro for all shots, hunting included, so noise is not an issue.

So what say ye?

Hah, thats funny that the brakes I just made are .670" to the shoulder. You would get more performance out of a 4 port, but I've never liked the extra length. And like you said, constraining the added length to 2" the longer brakes are out. Mine are 2" OAL minus the .67" shoulder so the added length would be ~.1.33" minus whatever is cut off for timing and .865" on the diameter.

As far as losing the "braking" power with a larger diameter thru hole, I don't have any actual data besides running the total surface area of the .284" thru bore (0.0633") and the .328" thru bore (.0844") and saying that that would be about the amount lostby the % difference.

On the last one I installed I did .007" clearance per side.

Anyways, there are a lot of options out there, you shouldn't have a hard time.

I'd have to say that the Terminator breaks are hard to beat. I have them on all my rifles. They can be a bit big but I'll give that up for the performance that they give. I've only shot 2 other breaks and they were Christensen radial and their side baffle one. Look up videos on you tube on the terminators and you'll like them. Not the cheapest option though. I have the T3 on all of mine.

The Christensen Arms break is crazy efficient. My 338 Lapua is about like my no break 7mm-08 or possibly less. My wife was shooting the Lapua day one no problem...

Muzzle brakes and more make some good ones that are a great price, 1 piece are around $60-$80. The lil beast 4 port would be great, 3 port would work well too. They have self timing ones as well if you don't want to have a smith install it, they are like $125-$175 or something like that. I know my beast 5 port titanium 1 piece brake was $150, and keeps weight down on my light .338 NM. The 5 port adds about 2.25"-2.5" on that.

I think the baby beast is actually .670 as well....not sure? You would have to go look at their site.

A decent suppressor works better.

villagelightsmith said:

A decent suppressor works better.

Click to expand...

I actually don't think so.

1) It adds more than 2"

2) It adds half pound or more.

3) It doesn't reduce recoil like a brake, unless you consider the aforementioned half pound.

4) It costs ~4 to ~10 times as much as a brake.

5) It's not legal in some jurisdictions.

6) It can be difficult to move across jurisdictions.

7) I will likely have shot out my barrel before I can get it.

Thanks for your helpful contribution to my thread, and the specific questions I asked.

EDIT: 8) Even with a suppressor, full power 264 WM is almost certainly not hearing safe, and would require hearing protection anyway.

entoptics said:

I actually don't think so.

1) It adds more than 2"

2) It adds half pound or more.

3) It doesn't reduce recoil like a brake, unless you consider the aforementioned half pound.

4) It costs ~4 to ~10 times as much as a brake.

5) It's not legal in some jurisdictions.

6) It can be difficult to move across jurisdictions.

7) I will likely have shot out my barrel before I can get it.

Thanks for your helpful contribution to my thread, and the specific questions I asked.

Click to expand...

I would agree with this. I have a titanium suppressor and it doesn't reduce recoil that much.

entoptics said:

Have a 264 WM barrel, 5/8 x 24, and need a brake for it. Couple questions.

1) What are the "best" brakes these days. Full stop, no constraints.

2) What would you go with if constrained by A) 0.670" shoulder and the urge to keep the aesthetics nice with a brake that has a similar size and round shape... and B) No more than ~2" added length to the barrel.

3) What sort of performance degradation will you see if you use a larger brake? I have a 30 cal OEM brake from a Savage Long Range Hunter. It performed satisfactorily for 300WM, and is about the right length and diameter to look good on my 264 barrel. And it's FREE!

I don't want to hear any "WHY WOULD YOU BRAKE A 264!" and "BRAKES ARE LOUD!" nonsense. I like them, and you won't change my mind. I want as little recoil as possible, as this setup is intended for new shooters and long sessions of target shooting. I wear ear pro for all shots, hunting included, so noise is not an issue.

So what say ye?

Click to expand...

Try the Savage MB (if the same thread and can index it) first and see if its "actual" performance also meets your expectations satisfactorily for the .264 WM.

I'm not sure what's the best but I have a vais brake on a 300 wsm , I've had to adjust to wearing hearing protection while hunting (which I don't like ) but the reduction in muzzle jump while shooting at game is s big plus You can call your shots with it installed

American precision arms

Muzzle brakes and more or APA has a new one out similar to the Christensen with adjustable top ports.

I got a VG6 GAMA on my 6.5cm I love it!