Muzzle Brakes - worth the effort?

[Bill Norris]

It's pretty amazing what a well tuned, good rifle can do. The trick to tuners is learning how to reproduce those results. Here are three 5 shot groups fired on the same target. I wish they were during a registered match, but that's how it works.

That is still some dang good groups no matter when they were fired.

 

[SSL]

I truly want to thank everyone for their responses...both negative and positive! After a lot of research and thought, I finally decided to pull the trigger (pun definitely intended) on a brake/compensator. It should be here in a week or so and I'll start another thread with my results. Fingers crossed!

 

[eric32]

Well which one man, we need to know

 

[SSL]

Well which one man, we need to know

Sorry...VG6 GAMMA 556. Lots of really good tests and reviews for the price point.

 

[SSL]

OK. Brake arrived. Details in post In Gear Talk.

 

[SCL]

My Ruger American Predator .223 came threaded 1/2" X 28 for a brake. I really didn't care at the time, but I am slowly leaning toward the idea of having less movement to better see the target on firing. Granted, my current .223 loads with 52-grain bullets certainly don't recoil all that much, but since the rifle has a 1-8" twist, I am considering eventually trying up to 75-grain bullets. 75 to 87-grain bullets move even my Savage M12 VLP (.243 at over 12 pounds with scope and bipod) quite a bit. I can only imagine what 75-grain bullets would do in a 6.5 pound (plus scope, and yes I know the .223 will use quite a bit less powder than the .243). I also know that muzzle-blast will be more severe, but I always wear very good ear protection.

My questions are: Are brakes at this level really worth the effort? How much do they affect tuning? Any recommendations as to brakes that are relatively inexpensive but still do the job?

Depends on if you don't mind "annoying" some people, especially at public ranges. I love them! My brother in law used to get a annoyed until he saw how the groups did tighten up ever so much. On a consistent basis. He has come over to the dark side now. My opinion - if you have an AR with barrel under 20", I think it really helps.
VG6 Precision Epsilon 556 or the Gamma 556. Around 65.00-70.00 for the Gamma, 80.00 for the Precision. I believe they are made by Aero Precision. Maybe they acquired them recently? Good quality and the look good.

 

[SSL]

Depends on if you don't mind "annoying" some people, especially at public ranges. I love them! My brother in law used to get a annoyed until he saw how the groups did tighten up ever so much. On a consistent basis. He has come over to the dark side now. My opinion - if you have an AR with barrel under 20", I think it really helps.
VG6 Precision Epsilon 556 or the Gamma 556. Around 65.00-70.00 for the Gamma, 80.00 for the Precision. I believe they are made by Aero Precision. Maybe they acquired them recently? Good quality and the look good.

The Gamma is what I decided on. I posted the initial results earlier in VG6 GAMMA 556 Muzzle Brake.

 

[Triple BB]

I have a 22-250 I’m looking at putting a brake on. All my other rifles are braked. Could care less about the noise. I wear protection when I go to the range and when I’m hunting. I also always go to the far end. If someone comes near me to set up, I let them know I’m shooting braked guns. Never had a single person say anything negative. If people are complaining at a range about noise, they must be whiney azzes...

 

[Richard Coody]

Loud obnoxious and unneeded on a..223.

Suppressor will do the same thing and eliminate muzzle flash and make it much more comfortable for those around you.

 

[Mark W]

Loud obnoxious and unneeded on a..223.

Suppressor will do the same thing and eliminate muzzle flash and make it much more comfortable for those around you.

OP has stated multiple times throughout the thread that suppressors are not even an option in his state.

 

[SSL]

OP has stated multiple times throughout the thread that suppressors are not even an option in his state.

THANK YOU!

To restate my intentions, this is NOT for recoil reduction. I wanted to reduce cross-hair movement caused by muzzle-flip during the shot for small live targets against a backdrop of brush or grass to increase the likelihood of seeing if a follow-up shot is needed by keeping the scope on the target. These targets are gophers and groundhogs out to 300 yards or so. Not an issue with coyotes across an open field against a background of snow. I don't care about it for paper targets...they don't tend to crawl off and suffer from a poor shot.

As to noise...Again, I shoot 99% of the time on my own range or in the field and use very good ear protection. Other shooters are of no consequence, since there aren't any.

I also have to admit to having fallen prey to a healthy dose of curiosity. My Ruger came with a factory-threaded barrel...the first one I have ever had. I have always disliked the idea of anything hanging off the end of my barrels, but that threading got me thinking.

It's a done deal anyway. I got a brake and though I still have a lot of work to do, the initial results can be found here: VG6 GAMMA 556 Muzzle Brake

 

[SEGARE]

Even doubled up, many guns are above the threshold for hearing damage when used with a brake. Even the best muffs only attenuate sound 50-75%. Plugs are better. Doubling up isn't a linear reduction. The second type of protection only adds something along the lines of 5-10db of attenuation. Take a 175db blast and you are still above 140db, enough for damage, especially with repeated exposure.

 

[Gil P.]

Even doubled up, many guns are above the threshold for hearing damage when used with a brake. Even the best muffs only attenuate sound 50-75%. Plugs are better. Doubling up isn't a linear reduction. The second type of protection only adds something along the lines of 5-10db of attenuation. Take a 175db blast and you are still above 140db, enough for damage, especially with repeated exposure.

That's the main reason I've been looking for a good brake that angles its ports straight out to the sides instead of back at the shooter.

It's not worth the hearing damage.

A lot of the hearing protection mfgs manipulate their NRR to try and make them seem better than they are.

For example, I had a set of Pro Ears Gold NRR 27 vs MSA Sordin with an NRR of 18. The Sordins are noticeably quieter. The Sordins vs Peltor Comtac V with NRR of 23. The Peltors are noticeably quieter.

Howard Leight Impact Sports suck (despite what a bunch of deaf you tubers say), and the best ear pro is passive. I like the peltor bulls eye with gel ear seals. Passive muffs + Howard leight ear plugs have been the quietest combination for me.

 

[SSL]

That's the main reason I've been looking for a good brake that angles its ports straight out to the sides instead of back at the shooter.

Exactly what the VG6 does...90-degrees out. I honestly don't think the noise (to the shooter at least) is all that terribly much louder than without a brake. VG6 GAMMA 556 Muzzle Brake

 

[wbm]

Muzzle Brakes - worth the effort?

Yes.