Muzzle brakes and accuracy
- Thread starter EasyShooter
- Start date
I put the brake on myself. I built the gun myself. I am positive I got the threads on the end of the barrel straight with the bore. That would much more important than who put the brake on the barrel. All that is needed for that is to time it correctly. I time a brake when cutting the threads on the barrel so no shims or crush sleeve is needed. The barrel is a chrome moly Shilen barrel. It is a good barrel just much less expensive than the match grade stainless barrels I have put on other gun builds. I also only bought a solid pilot chamber reamer for this gun instead of a bushing type reamer. I am getting 1MOA and a little less with some test loads so I don’t consider that bad accuracy just trying to get the best I can. Didn’t mean to make it sound like I am having problems with this gun I was just looking for other people experiences with accuracy and muzzle brakes.
So not so much having an issue but just wanting to see others experiences. You can always test your own set up with and without the brake and see which shoots better. My rifles have brakes and all shoot great. Whenever I hear about someone having issues with a brake it's the install that is usually the case. I like to use self timing brakes so no machining needed to install them. They aren't $40 though lol That Shilen should shoot good for you too. Thought when you said inexpensive it was one of those cheap barrels.
From my limited experience with the E C Tuner/Brake on 3 of my rifles I believe it is important to time it the same place each time it is removed.
I should try it without the brake like you said but I’m sure I would end up putting it back on because this gun is a 338 Win Mag. For me it is just fun to experiment with different components, costly and cheap, to see how they compare. This gun that I build economically is shooting best groups at barely under 1MOA. Guns I have over twice the money in are shooting .5MOA or less. Bigger calibers can be tougher to get accurate though too.
Maybe with the EC as it's a tuner/brake combo but with my self timing brakes it doesn't have to be perfect. I get them real close to the same. It's well within a tuning adjustment. And if using my ATS tuner with the brake that just stays on anyways.
Yup those bigger calibers can be tough and depends on bullets choices too. And yup I wouldn't want to shoot that too much without the brake either LOL.
I have bult and installed hundreds of brakes and while they might change the load requirement, I don't recall any cases where accuracy was seriously degraded. When I made a thread protector to use when the brake was removed, I always tried to make it the same weight and length as the brake. I also made brakes with an insert which closed of the ports (kind of like the BOSS system but removeable).
I have to say, the vast majority of the brakes I made and installed were on magnum or very light weight hunting rifles so accuracy requirements were not quite the same as on the PRS rifles. I also have to add; I don't have a brake on any of my own rifles. I have been contemplating one on the 338 though. WH
I have to say, the vast majority of the brakes I made and installed were on magnum or very light weight hunting rifles so accuracy requirements were not quite the same as on the PRS rifles. I also have to add; I don't have a brake on any of my own rifles. I have been contemplating one on the 338 though. WH
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
I guess ill be the one to ask- why the solid pilot reamer when it seems that you are trying to build this for accuracy?
I have two Tikka CTR's in 308 Win and .260 Rem and they are shooting great without brake and even better with the MDT elite brake.
What i do like with the MDT, is that they are tuneable, to some extent, but it doesn't really make any difference what position they are set in, both rifles are still well under 0,5 MOA, with the right ammo.
The recoil is hardly noticebly with the brake attached and my guess, is that this are contributing to a better accuracy, as it will make you more able to keep focus on the fundamentals.
What i do like with the MDT, is that they are tuneable, to some extent, but it doesn't really make any difference what position they are set in, both rifles are still well under 0,5 MOA, with the right ammo.
The recoil is hardly noticebly with the brake attached and my guess, is that this are contributing to a better accuracy, as it will make you more able to keep focus on the fundamentals.
Sometimes I do Dumb things.
4xforfun
Gold $$ Contributor
Back when I started 1000 BR in 2008 I only had one gun for both classes. Same load. 300 WBY. HG's were not allowed to use breaks at the time so for HG I simply took off the brake and dialed 3/4 up and 3/4 Left and was centered. I noticed near the end of the season that my HG 10 shot group average was nearly the same size as my 5 shot LG groups running the break. I took it off for LG the very last match and shot a 2.7xx and backed it up in the shoot off with a 3.xx. Thinking that if I had tuned it better and found better load for LG I could have shot smaller. I don't know for sure and hind sight is 20/20!!
To answer the op's ?....breaks will not hurt accuracy if you tune with them on.
Tod
To answer the op's ?....breaks will not hurt accuracy if you tune with them on.
Tod
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