Bryan,
In the immortal words of Archie Bunker “stifle yourself”. Laying 2 feet from the guy next to me I don’t want to hear a muzzle break go off for 20-30 rounds at a time while I am trying to gentle press my trigger![]()
Oh, I agree. I don't think brakes should EVER be accepted into F-Class. I shoot tactical as well and I am glad it is usually one shooter per stage.
Bryan last time I mentioned a Brake on an F-Class thread you would have sworn I said all the four letter words in one post. Plus the OP's question was really about why the Br guys went to smaller calibers like the Dasher and F-Class seemed to be migrating to bigger calibers. Matt
I know he did not mention brakes, but you cannot talk about caliber selection without talking about brakes. I don't know if BR guys would choose to shoot the 300 WSM if they didn't have a brake. Seems like the recoil management would be tougher to get rounds off faster, unless they got a super heavy BR set up. If I were to shoot BR, a 6 dasher would be my choice. Almost no recoil, a very accurate cartridge and with no delay, machine gunning those like 105s downrange would be no problem when a condition presents itself. Add a brake to a 6 Dasher, 17 lb or heavy gun and it is like a 22LR, and that would make it even easier to shoot 10 rounds downrange.
IMO, by omitting brakes in F-Open, you really have to decide as a shooter what benefits you want and what negatives you can live with.
6 Dasher is super easy to shoot with no recoil and is a very accurate cartridge. But, the fact that it is a light bullet means that wind gets the best of it.
300 WSM is recoil heavy and punishing to shoot 60+ rounds in a day, for 3-4 days straight. But, you get some advantage with the high BC bullets and it is also an accurate cartridge when it is tuned. I wonder if brakes were allowed in F-Open, if guys would be shooting it more often...
I think that is why the 6.5mm and 7mm are such a good cartridges. High BC, wind bucking bullets and manageable recoil. I think this is why most F-Open guys are shooting these cartridges.