Muzzle brakes...

I personally use the Witt machine brake. It is a clamp on break but if you want it off there is no point of unpack change and a 100% money back guarantee. I have friends and other people who also have brakes on there rifles (different brands) who had told me they are switching, and they are about 100 bucks.
 
Had a Vias on a 280ai comp gun. Didn't feel all that much recoil reduction. Was on a 17 lb gun. Put an Extreme Hardcore brake on it and gun barely moved. I've replace several Vias brakes with the Harrels tactical and everyone bought the Harrels on the spot. They just work much better. Try one side by side and you will know. People like the Vias because they sell alot of them. But I can buy 3 Harrels for the same money and they are better. Good thing there are so many different brakes on the market. Everyone can be happy. Find one you like and use it. I personally can't take the blast from the rear discharge brakes so don't use them. I've shot them and they definitely reduce recoil more so if they don't bother you go for it. As far as I'm concerned you need hearing protection with any brake. Quiet or Vias are still exceptionally loud compared to no brake.
Shep
 
J E Custom said:
Another comment/belief that testing has proven false is the use of angled ports. Angled ports can be useful if you are trying to control the the effected area around the shooter by directing the gas in a specific direction or a controlled fashion by combining the exhaust ports impingement distance. Angling them back to increase effectiveness only helps recoil when they are 45 degrees +but they make the shooter pay in sound and shock.



J E CUSTOM
Click to expand...

I hate to disagree but I've tested tons of brakes and a 90 degree port brake will not compete with a brake using ports angled back towards the shooter and they don't need to be 45 degrees to show a significant improvement. Unlike most I have multiple CNC machines and can make anything I want to try. The funny thing is most of the brakes with a 90 degree first port and angled ports after that are barely more effective then a brake with all of the ports 90 degrees. Another fallacy is that slab brakes are way more effective. They are a bit more effective with 90 degree ports. With a angled port brake there is very little difference between a slab and round brake when the size of the brake gets larger. It's pretty hard to see through a brake from the side with fairly steep ports angles. That means the gases exiting the muzzle cant even get to the outer edges of the port with any degree of forward push so making it wider does about zero for making it more effective.

Just for fun try shooting a garden hose down your arm and into your fingers bent at 90 degrees. Then try it again with your fingers bend back towards you. That is essentially what is happening in a muzzle brake. You'll be able to feel the difference as long as you don't have nerve damage in your arm/hand anyway.
 
I fully believe the angled back brakes are more effective at recoil control. It's not hard to prove either. All the top tested brakes are rear facing in every test I've ever seen. It's a noticable amount to my shoulder in side by side testing too.
So Idaho build a rear facing brake that doesn't suck my eyeballs out and I would try one. Is there a comprehensive test of the exact same port size just set at different angles to see the percentage of gain or loss in efficiency. Be interesting to see a test of 45 away, 90 and 45 back with everything else the same.
Shep
 
Harrel's brakes are decent for the price but they come pretty rough and tend to have issues down the road. If I had to guess they are built in a live tool lathe in one operation and they aren't OD turned. It's way easier to make them cheap with one op. My brakes take 5 operations to make but they also have runouts in the tenths rather than several thousandths. I guess it all depends on what the seller/buyers deem acceptable. I personally don't dial in a barrel for chambering to a couple thousandths.
 
There is a way to build a effective brake without a ton of concussion but it would cost a lot and be rather large. I'll run my port design at 90 degrees and my common port angle on one of my next runs to test the next time I go test. I'm not interested in a forward angle port test. Forward angle ports tend to lose a significant amount of effectiveness with much of a forward angle. The water in the hand analogy would show this as well.
 
I've never had an issue with one down the road. It's a piece of threaded steel what can go wrong with it? They are advertised as gunsmith brakes. Why finish the od if I'm going to turn it down anyway. Their radial brakes are left raw on the od and need to be at least sanded but for 30 bucks they work great and install easy. Their tactical brake is already surface finished and the ports are chamfered and for 45 bucks is a great value. How many Harrels brakes have you used or installed? How many have failed? I have never had to replace one. I didn't say they made the best brake in the world but for the value they are really hard to beat.
Shep
 
IdahoCTD said:
I hate to disagree but I've tested tons of brakes and a 90 degree port brake will not compete with a brake using ports angled back towards the shooter and they don't need to be 45 degrees to show a significant improvement. Unlike most I have multiple CNC machines and can make anything I want to try. The funny thing is most of the brakes with a 90 degree first port and angled ports after that are barely more effective then a brake with all of the ports 90 degrees. Another fallacy is that slab brakes are way more effective. They are a bit more effective with 90 degree ports. With a angled port brake there is very little difference between a slab and round brake when the size of the brake gets larger. It's pretty hard to see through a brake from the side with fairly steep ports angles. That means the gases exiting the muzzle cant even get to the outer edges of the port with any degree of forward push so making it wider does about zero for making it more effective.

Just for fun try shooting a garden hose down your arm and into your fingers bent at 90 degrees. Then try it again with your fingers bend back towards you. That is essentially what is happening in a muzzle brake. You'll be able to feel the difference as long as you don't have nerve damage in your arm/hand anyway.
Click to expand...


Disagreeing can be good, and leads to innovation. I have disagreed with my findings many times until realizing that the test results were not biased or personal and only shower the real numbers. So I don't care if anyone disagrees with me because I have tested all of the different designs and configurations using a recoil instrument that can detect recoil down to 1/16th of a foot pound, not my shoulder or someones perception of how much recoil the brake is removing.

In the beginning I looked at all the different ways of seeing how a muzzle brake worked using water, talcum powder, slides and every thing known to man and all they showed me was how the brake distributed/directed the gas and nothing about how effective the brake was. So we developed a machine that would actually measure recoil in order to do R&D.

I had many of the same beliefs as others and with real testing that actually measured recoil I was able to find minuet differences in design changes. (The reason for measuring every change). It works well enough to predict SD,s so I believe the results because it doesn't know what if any brake it has on it and is not bias to what I think.

As stated, performance is more than just recoil reduction but when you can change/improve recoil, sound, gas distribution,function for different uses for the better, it is the best of all worlds. the issue of one design being better than another can be true if there is no effort to figure out the difference in the function of the different designs and be able to test measure changes made to bring one design up to the level of performance of the other.

Dispelling all of the beliefs and opinions can be done by measuring each change for the better or worse and then taking steps to change them is the only way to really understand muzzle brakes and how they work.

I don't make them to sell, I make them to perform in a particular use and cartridge. believe what you want, I will stick to proven performance based on scientific data and testing, not gut instinks and opinions. :cool: :cool:

J E CUSTOM
 
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villagelightsmith said:
Frederich Selous faced the same issue with his "Baby," an elephantine musket of 4-bore, throwing a 1/4lb round ball in front of whatever charge he dared to put behind it. His remedy for recoil was to allow some other fellow in his hunting party to "unload" the thing. And that's precisely the same way I feel about "muzzle brakes." Get a suppressor and a nice thick, soft trapshooter's sissy pad. The kind that goes 100-straight, not the thin leather covered hard pad. Work on the stock a bit too. The less it pounds your cheek and ears, the less will be your perception of recoil.If you really think you need a lot of smoke, noise, and recoil to make you think you're shooting a "man's" gun, then heaven help you, I'll be hunting a full drainage or two to the West and you're welcome to your entire territory.
Click to expand...

Guns with no brakes are causing loss of hearing. You can't trick nature.
 
So then when you are designing a brake do you need to consider the number and diameter of the holes to handle the expanding gas's as well as the angle that they are machined . Some are at a 90 degree to the gas flow some are at a rearward angle and some have a combination of both , some have only ports to the side , some have ports on the top and sides , some have ports top ,sides and bottom straight and some are angled . What is the optimum angle for recoil reduction as well as felt concussion and noise to the shooter . From past experience of nearby explosions the concussion does internal damage to the person receiving it .
 
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