best muzzle brakes

[2g5mk]

I have a 280 AI. I use Muzzle Brakes and More Titanium Beast Brake. It is very good. I prefer them to most other brakes. Nathan will open it to your caliber.

 

[dogz]

Terminator

 

[Rob01]

The Patriot Valley Arms Shockwave works great and has their blast shadow so not getting blast back at the shooter. Well worth a look.

Shockwave Muzzle Brake

Cut recoil and muzzle rise, increase accuracy with the self-timing Shockwave. Easy install, no machining or gunsmithing required. At PVA, we engineer repeatability. 100% made in USA.

patriotvalleyarms.com

 

[Willys]

My road gun is a 338 WM without brake. but for long range shooting AND spotting shots I shoot a 338 Lapua Ai (Terminator) that needs a brake.

 

[FEENIX]

I have owned many good brakes, but I've really grown to dislike them, especially on my hunting rifles. Often, I only get a few seconds to get on a good animal and get the shot off. Trying to keep hearing protection handy is a PITA. I'll still use a brake on the big 300 & 338 mags but for everything less, I've removed them.

I recently rebarreled my 280AI. I opted to not have the previous brake installed on the new barrel. I fired 30 rounds at the bench last week without an issue. If I shoot a braked rifle, I'll use ear plugs and muffs over them. When I shoot a rifle with no brake, quality muffs are sufficient.

Sooooo, the best brake IMO, is no brake at all.

I don't have that problem. I always have hearing protection devices in all vehicles, hunting packs, and range bags. But I also wear PPEs (hearing and eye protection, gloves, steel-toed boots when mowing, plowing snow, and ) when using high noise level generating household tools/equipment. But that's just me, and not trying to convince anyone to do the same.

I recently purchased this to try.

 

[K9TXS]

I've been using the Preece Precision Stingray. Check out the link, you'll be glad you did.

I have no blast back to my face. Still loud like any brake, but good recoil management & muzzle rise.

Not as expensive as the Bonita or Chad.

 

[Turkeytider]

Try one with a 90* port closest to the threads, at least one, or all straight 90* ports.
Piercision makes great ones, self-timers and regular.
Concussion gives me headaches after 10-15 shots with aggressive angle ports so I had to look for the a solution, myself, some years back.

This . Look at Hawkins Precision brakes like the Tank ST.

 

[Johnny05]

If I brake a rifle, I only use terminator brakes. They just plain take the recoil out, if you don't want blast, I'd say a suppressor.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I don't have that problem. I always have hearing protection devices in all vehicles, hunting packs, and range bags. But I also wear PPEs (hearing and eye protection, gloves, steel-toed boots when mowing, plowing snow, and ) when using high noise level generating household tools/equipment. But that's just me, and not trying to convince anyone to do the same.

I've always got them close, often on my arm or around my neck. But ......... When a big bull moose presented itself at 50 yds and moving away quickly, the braked 338RUM came to shoulder and was fired. It all happened so fast that the thought of putting my muffs in place never came to mind. It happened on one other hunt too because some guys never learn.

Fortunately, I shoot mostly lesser cartridges and found that I don't need a brake, and I'm much happier without them. I realize that everyone's mileage may vary but rifles w/o brakes has proven to work better for me.

 

[Rick Richard]

I like the "illegitimate" brake….gen4 fat BASTARD.

 

[K.E.C. Darkside]

Terminator

These are the Best Brakes.

Salomon River—2nd best.

 

[FEENIX]

Fortunately, I shoot mostly lesser cartridges and found that I don't need a brake, and I'm much happier without them. I realize that everyone's mileage may vary but rifles w/o brakes has proven to work better for me.

Agreed! That's why I responded as such.

I don't have that problem. I always have hearing protection devices in all vehicles, hunting packs, and range bags. But I also wear PPEs (hearing and eye protection, gloves, steel-toed boots when mowing, plowing snow, and ) when using high noise level generating household tools/equipment. But that's just me, and not trying to convince anyone to do the same.

For the price of suppressors these days, I even have it on my 17 HMR.

 

[Hugger-4641]

I have these, I think the m4-72 is probably fine for what you want.

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precisionarmament.com

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precisionarmament.com

 

[Dean2]

What this test revealed is the more recoil reduction the louder the Brake is for the shooter.

Pros & Cons of Angled Baffles

One thing interesting to note, that isn't apparent in the photos, is that the top 5 performers all have angled baffles (i.e. the baffles aren't perpendicular to the bullet path).



Here is a breakdown of how much the top muzzle brakes are angled back toward the shooter (0° indicates the baffles are perpendicular to the bullet path). There seems to be a strong correlation between the angle and overall rank.

1. Alamo Four Star Cowl Induction Brake = 35°
2. American Precision Arms Fat B* = 30°
3. American Precision Arms Little B* = 30°
4. JEC Recoil Reduction Brake = 15°
5. Holland Radial Quick Discharge Brake = 15°
6. Center Shot Rifles Blast Tamer = 0°
7. JP Recoil Eliminator = 0°
8. Impact Precision Muzzle Brake = 0°
9. JP Large Compensator = 0°
10. West Texas Ordnance Muzzle Brake = 0°

I believe there are only 2 outside the top 5 that have angled baffles, the tiny TBAC Compact Brake and the smaller version of the Holland Radial Quick Discharge Muzzle Brake. The angle definitely isn't the only thing that plays into recoil performance, but it's clearly significant.

However, in the section on muzzle devices from Dr. Carlucci's textbook, Ballistics: Theory and Design of Guns and Ammunition, he reminds us "Best design practice is to divert gases to the sides of the weapon, because rearward diversion could affect an exposed gun crew." During my tests, a manufacturer sent me a prototype of a muzzle brake with 45° baffles back toward the shooter. It provided outstanding recoil reduction (better than anything shown here), but while testing that brake, a friend helping me with the tests caught some shrapnel in his side. It penetrated 2 shirts and caused a wound deep enough to see flesh. I told the manufacturer I wouldn't write about it, because I didn't think it was safe. They were concerned as well, and haven't release that prototype for sale.

The other downside of angled port designs is increased concussion/blast. All of the muzzle brakes are loud, but diverting gases rearward can increase the pressure shock wave at or near the shooter's position. Some shooters would rather deal with the extra recoil than the increased concussion from that shock wave. So that is another thing to keep in mind. The sound test should give us insight into the pressure difference at the shooter's position for each brake, so stay tuned for that.

There are clearly downsides to rearward deflection of gases, but it also has a measurable influence on recoil reduction. I don't want to present this as "right or wrong."

There seems to be a correlation between how loud a brake is, and how well it reduces recoil. Most "quieter" brakes aren't good at reducing recoil, and most of the brakes that are great at reducing recoil are very loud.

Like the other tests, I assigned a rating to each of the brakes in terms of how loud they were. My rating system worked like this: If a brake was only 20% louder than a bare muzzle, it would receive a full 10 rating. If a brake was 150% louder than the bare muzzle (which would be 2.5 times as loud), it would receive a rating of 0. The ratings were based on the measurements we made from behind the rifle.

Here are the loudness ratings, and I included the recoil results.