I was fairly recently banging around looking for a brake that I'd like. It had to really cut recoil but it couldn't be a gill brake because I frikkin hate those things (they're abusive). I wanted the brake to be relatively short so it wouldn't add even more to my already long rifle and I didn't want it to cost a bloody fortune, nor did I want any top ports in it because this is for a bolt action rifle. I know that exit hole snugness has something to do with efficiency, much more than .020" total clearance is getting excessive. That being the case and me shooting a 6XC I wanted something with an exit hole that I just might have to open up a bit so clearances could be minimized to help with efficiency.
Most of what a brake does happens in the first chamber anyway so I thought, "Ok, single chamber options. What's out there?"
I looked at the CHODE brake from APA. The CHODE is a rearward ported gill brake, so no on that. I looked at gobs of brakes that are basically suppressor mounts from Silencerco and others. It's a no on those since I can't have silencers where I live. Everything else I found was way over 100 bucks and/or had a tiny blast face which cuts down effectiveness or was meant for .308 and so had a huge exit port.
What I came up with ended up being just $60 new and was advertised with a .26" exit diameter. I just had to have the barrel threaded for the normal .223 standard of 1/2x28 instead of the usual .308 standard of 5/8x24. For the price it was worth an experiment. I had figured it would be the loudest bloody brake ever when the huge blast face, single port and tight exit tolerances all got in a row with the 40gr powder charge. Turns out I was dead wrong. The rear face in the blast baffle is just a bit wider than the front face so the sound seems to be directed mostly forward. People next to me were expecting hellish blast and it turned out to be no more severe than an unbraked rifle. Recoil control was as good as any brake I've tried from APA/A419/JP. I have mine set up so that the bullet nose is poking out the front while the shank is still in the muzzle. Ends up with a kind of long threaded section on the barrel but that's about it for side effects.
If you're shooting a 6mm it's a heck of a nifty way to go and only looks a little bit weird. For 60 bucks, it's a little hard to beat the price : performance ratio and you'll not find a brake that's more comfortable to be around.
Most of what a brake does happens in the first chamber anyway so I thought, "Ok, single chamber options. What's out there?"
I looked at the CHODE brake from APA. The CHODE is a rearward ported gill brake, so no on that. I looked at gobs of brakes that are basically suppressor mounts from Silencerco and others. It's a no on those since I can't have silencers where I live. Everything else I found was way over 100 bucks and/or had a tiny blast face which cuts down effectiveness or was meant for .308 and so had a huge exit port.
What I came up with ended up being just $60 new and was advertised with a .26" exit diameter. I just had to have the barrel threaded for the normal .223 standard of 1/2x28 instead of the usual .308 standard of 5/8x24. For the price it was worth an experiment. I had figured it would be the loudest bloody brake ever when the huge blast face, single port and tight exit tolerances all got in a row with the 40gr powder charge. Turns out I was dead wrong. The rear face in the blast baffle is just a bit wider than the front face so the sound seems to be directed mostly forward. People next to me were expecting hellish blast and it turned out to be no more severe than an unbraked rifle. Recoil control was as good as any brake I've tried from APA/A419/JP. I have mine set up so that the bullet nose is poking out the front while the shank is still in the muzzle. Ends up with a kind of long threaded section on the barrel but that's about it for side effects.
If you're shooting a 6mm it's a heck of a nifty way to go and only looks a little bit weird. For 60 bucks, it's a little hard to beat the price : performance ratio and you'll not find a brake that's more comfortable to be around.
