I have never tried those, but I am desperate need of even a small new toy, so maybe I will give them a try. I have heard good things about them from a number of sources. But I will stick to my recommendation for brakes until they plant me next to my favorite willow tree, and I do not understand, frankly, why some people are against them. I am repeating myself here and I apologize if people are tired of reading my posts on the advantages of brakes, but they have all positive features save the increased noise, which is easily dealt with. Why would anyone want to be beaten to a pulp by a .338 when you can shoot all day with no discomfort. Why would anyone want to shoot a heavy rifle, and big calibers are getting more popular by the minute, and eventually develop a flinch or a habit of closing your eyes as you pull the trigger as if that would reduce the recoil, or ruin your son or daughters interest in shooting because they do not want to endure even the recoil of a 25-06, develop a laundry list of bad habits all due to the fear of recoil when a simple 2-3 oz device installed on the end of your barrel solves all those problems. I hate recoil, and despite my years of experience, recoil was affecting my shooting significantly until I got to the point that I was closing my eyes and just jerking the trigger. I am the poster boy for the old adage "the jerk behind the trigger" as an excuse for poor shooting. Then I tried one brake, a Vais, on my 300 Win mag, and my whole world changed. Now I can hold rock steady prior to firing a shot; now I do not even blink when the gun fires; now I can see the bullet hit the target and know immediately the results of my shot; now I have a lot more confidence in myself and in my rifle. That is a luxury on the range, it can be a miracle in the field. I posted the story of the doe I shot and hit a little low and just behind the last rib. I saw the bullet hit the deer, clearly saw it hit her, and clearly saw exactly where I hit her. She ran off showing no sign of being hit. She ran 200 yards, jumped a fence, and disappeared over a hill. My partner swore I missed her, but I knew better. We searched for two hours, my partner getting more and more angry that we were wasting hunting time. I kept telling him that I saw the bullet hit the deer, but he does not use a brake and would not believe me. 21/2 hours later, we found the deer, about fifty yards from where she jumped the fence. She had been hit slightly low and just behind the last rib, and the bullet went right through her liver. How she went that far, I have no idea, but I do know that without the brake on my rifle, we would have given up and the deer would have been left to rot. I would have probably shot another one, and we would have had two dead deer instead of one, and one of the two would have been wasted. Even the scavengers would not have eaten the first doe. We hunt wheat fields, and the coyotes like those warm little mice and won't even give a dead deer a second look. There is a reason that gun builders like John Lazzeroni, Weatherby, and a host of others put brakes on their guns as standard equipment. And the reason is that the owners of those expensive guns expect them to shoot very well, and the builders want to make sure that they do for publicity purposes, and they know how much better the new owner of a fine rifle will shoot with a brake. I am sure there are many of you out there who are not particular bothered by recoil, and all I can say is God bless you, and keep doing whatever works for you. I shot on the range once next to a guy shooting a .416 Rigby without a brake. He was rock steady, kept his eyes open, and could tell you where every shot went. I admired that, but I can't do it, so it is brakes forever for me. Sorry this got so long, it is just that I hear on the range complaint after complaint about how poorly someone's gun shoots, and how there must be something wrong with it, and when I watch the guy shoot, he has both eyes closed and couldn't jerk the trigger any harder if he tried. I have politely offered some of them if they would like to shoot my rifle. Some get angry at the offer, some politely decline, and some take me up on it and then say that they are off to get a muzzle brake put on their rifle. The day before the opener two years ago, I was at the range and shooting 3/4 inch groups with my 300. The guy next to me was all over the place; could not even get the rifle sighted in. He had just bought the rifle, and did it right; he had a Remington 700 with a 3-9 Leupold on it. He asked me to help him, which I agreed to do of course, but I was not looking forward to shooting even his 30-06 without a brake. I got it sighted in and finally had it shooting inch and a half groups. He went back to shooting it and shot four to five inch groups. He was also closing his eyes and flinching badly. I had him shoot my 300 and to concentrate on relaxing, breathing normally, and keeping his eyes open. After about three groups, he was under an inch. He went off to get a brake installed. As I said, if it works for you, keep doing it, but it is brakes forever for me.
