Muzzle brake/ scope interference?

[jlmurphy]

I shoot a very heavy rifle in a varmint competition locally, prone now, previously from the bench, and I remember being able to see my impacts on the targets as they hit, and making corrections accordingly. I am 10 years older (64 yrs. now), and shooting prone is definitely more difficult to achieve proper eye position, but I can no longer clearly see the impacts. I have struggled with this for a few months with lower scores and simply resigned myself to getting older and all it entails. Today it occurred to me that my Harrell's radial muzzle brake might be releasing exhaust gases into my line of sight. I can't remember if I used a muzzle brake before, and the rifle is heavy enough that it doesn't really need one, but I have a barrel tuner built around this brake, so I will plug the top and bottom holes and see what happens. Has anyone experienced visual distortion from exhaust gases?

 

[Ramblerman]

I shoot a very heavy rifle in a varmint competition locally, prone now, previously from the bench, and I remember being able to see my impacts on the targets as they hit, and making corrections accordingly. I am 10 years older (64 yrs. now), and shooting prone is definitely more difficult to achieve proper eye position, but I can no longer clearly see the impacts. I have struggled with this for a few months with lower scores and simply resigned myself to getting older and all it entails. Today it occurred to me that my Harrell's radial muzzle brake might be releasing exhaust gases into my line of sight. I can't remember if I used a muzzle brake before, and the rifle is heavy enough that it doesn't really need one, but I have a barrel tuner built around this brake, so I will plug the top and bottom holes and see what happens. Has anyone experienced visual distortion from exhaust gases?

Do you by chance wear prescription glasses? I have to adjust my glasses from time to time depending on my position, because my visual acuity is different in different parts of the lenses.

 

[jlmurphy]

I don't wear prescription glasses, only reading glasses, although I realize the prone position forces me to use different areas of my eyes and the top of the safety glasses.

 

[Bojo]

My personal eye relief and eye strain is always different when going from upright sitting to prone.
Seems to be prone I am at that funky head cocked angle and a bit closer to the glass.
I think if I shot that way all the time I'd probably adjust my scope forward for better eye relief.

 

[DennisH]

March and NF are the only 2 scopes I can use "without" using my glasses. Zeiss comes very close and is great for hunting.

I now use the 55 power NF and love it.

 

[Iowa Fox]

Just a couple of tid bits here from an old man so take it with a grain of salt. Several of my barrels are 15" long with a Ross brake, three holes on top but nothing discharges to the bottom. Shooting from the prone off a bi pod on dusty ground I don't get any vented gas coming up in front off the line of sight. I would be more inclined to think/guess the radial brake is creating a dust cloud from bottom discharge. The other thing is shooting prone is a killer for me, lifting my head up and back just about shuts everything to my head off. To me muzzle brakes are important because you can get better follow thru and a lot of times see your own hits. Heck I don't even care if I can't shoot so good these days, the younger guys treat me good and I like watching the real shooters shoot.

 

[jlmurphy]

The range where this competition is held has a raised shooting platform, making the rifle's muzzle 3 feet above the ground, so no dust clouds. I have blocked all the upper and lower ports and will test fire and recalibrate the barrel tuner. This time I will fire a few times and pay attention to the air around the barrel and see if there are any disruptions. I shoot long range competitions and installed muzzle brakes on those rifles to aid in spotting hits and misses, but those sightings were after the bullet had struck, I used to see the hit appear on the target. One point I should make is that these varmint targets are knocked off a rail and are no longer standing after being hit. You can see the target react and guess where it was hit, but sometimes it is misleading.