Muzzle breaks - are people using them?

[Member-Deleted]

Well Tassie mine didn't like them with the load I had for no brake I posted some pics back a little no doubt I probably could redo the load to suit the brake but I don't like the back lash or blast from my brake its head shattering so put it this way i for me would sooner have the shoulder pain next day rather than have the brake I don't know if all brakes are so heavy on back blast but mine is so it will spend the rest of it's life in the gun safe I do most of my shooting from my hilux and the blast would be too much for the mrs as well even with hearing protection I my opinion

[in2anity]

Well Tassie mine didn't like them with the load I had for no brake I posted some pics back a little no doubt I probably could redo the load to suit the brake but I don't like the back lash or blast from my brake its head shattering so put it this way i for me would sooner have the shoulder pain next day rather than have the brake I don't know if all brakes are so heavy on back blast but mine is so it will spend the rest of it's life in the gun safe I do most of my shooting from my hilux and the blast would be too much for the mrs as well even with hearing protection I my opinion

I was going to say, the brake can act a bit like a tuner, so you may need to go back and work through a ladder. Still, it sounds like the negatives are outweighing the positives for you GDB - sorry to here it didn't work out mate

[Oldbloke]

Yeah Tank fair bit of back draught with the magnum with the brake

Thats what its about. More back draught = less recoil. With physics some how you pay.

[TassieTiger]

Can’t you orientste the port direction to your preference- as in ip and away would result in less muzzle jump and less intrusion on bystanders...?

[bladeracer]

Can’t you orientste the port direction to your preference- as in ip and away would result in less muzzle jump and less intrusion on bystanders...?

I haven't seen any brakes that can adjust the direction of their blast. If you want to direct the blast differently you need a different design.
It might be that you could put a steel sleeve around it to deflect the blast more forward, after it's done it's job passing through the brake, but it'd be getting quite bulky. You could also try milling some of the angles flatter to reduce the amount of blast coming back past the muzzle.

[TassieTiger]

What if you rotate a nominal brake 90% - wouldn’t the blast go from the side/back to upwards/back(and down) ? And over the shooter?

[bladeracer]

What if you rotate a nominal brake 90% - wouldn’t the blast go from the side/back to upwards/back(and down) ? And over the shooter?

Not on any brake I've seen. The ports are fixed. Indexed correctly, you would have most of the blast passed out to both sides, some to the top, none to the bottom. You could rotate it 180-degrees but I'd love to see your first prone shot You could rotate it 90-degrees for even more blast straight into the ground and back into your face.
But rotating it does not change the gas being blown backwards. The best brakes blow the gas straight out sideways without needing to come back toward the shooter, but the most effective on big blasters generally deflect somewhat backwards to try to pull the rifle forward.

[TassieTiger]

Cheers - this is one of the reasons I’ve bought one, as my understanding of function is limited to say least.

[Member-Deleted]

Yes most brakes I hear do what they are supposed to even the one I bought but the backward blast is the down side I was going to buy a ''Grizzly'' which blew at 90% to the barrel but went with the other one mainly because of the good reputation it had but the blow back is its down fall for me i'm not going to bother with any brake at i'll stick with the plain barrel I think brakes are like calibers not everyone likes one thing

[TassieTiger]

I have an “open” brake on my 260. It’s not ported, it’s almost what I’d consider as a broken open flash hider type of set up - and there are zero gases reflected backwards BUT it is not a huge reduction in recoil(you’d never, ever stay on target after a shot) and it’s fooken loud - but the more I think about it, it must deflect gasses sideways...it certainly doesn’t come back to shooter or ppl standing next to me.

[Tank]

The ‘Wombat’....complete with the M-11 brake off eBay from Gunbloke.

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A few Alox lubed loaded rounds ready for the range.

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6 shot 100yd group with ‘range trash cast’ Lyman 457468 mold proje over 33gr 2207.

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[Tank]

Quick summary.
Great fun package that is dynamite on steel at ranges out to 400yds.
The combination of the brake and decent butt pad make it easy to shoot all day. Significant recoil reduction with the muzzle blast trade off being something I’m quite happy to live with.
15 cents a shot for a rifle that develops this sort of grunt just adds to the equation.
I WON’T be removing the brake anytime soon.
200 rounds on.....it just keeps making me grin. Surprises with its exceptional accuracy, economy and grunt.
Would love to see anyone else’s current project.....and hope this inspires discussion.
Kind Regs,
Tank.

[TassieTiger]

What the actual Fark is that, and why are my testicles tingling?

[Tank]

It’s a H&R 155 ‘Shikari’ in 45-70Govt. It originally had 28” barrel. Now 16.5”. 2.5-10x44 Bushnell Engage scope in Warne rings on a ICE 20MOA pic rail. EBay Atlas copy bipod with Pic rail adaptor. Pachmyr Decelerator pad and Karsten Kydex adjustable cheek rest from ScopedOut.....and M-11 Gunbloke muzzle brake. That works brilliantly!
Tonne of fun.
Tingling balls.....yeah that was me when I got everything fitted up.
Cheers Tas.

[duncan61]

I had a H&R handi rifle in Hornet.I am sure its the same as the one they made in 45/70.The Breech is about 30mm with this tiny hole in it.You appear to be loading for the trapdoor i am sure the H&R handi rifle would qualify as modern rifle and you could get a lot more grunt.Obviously if you are happy doing around 1500fps that suits you.Its nice to have the option to load 405gr FN SN Woodleighs out to 2000fps and go buffalo shooting.It would do the job

[Tank]

Cheers Duncan!
The 155 uses the cast action. Same as the ‘Topper’ shotgun action. So I’m sticking with the ‘Trapdoor’ loads. I’m limited to sub 28,000 CUP. Not an issue when I’m using comparatively soft cast projes.
The later SB-2 actions are a stack tougher. The little hornet would have looked real small with all that steel round it!

[duncan61]

I was very confident testing subsonic loads in it.

[bigpete]

Quick summary.
Great fun package that is dynamite on steel at ranges out to 400yds.
The combination of the brake and decent butt pad make it easy to shoot all day. Significant recoil reduction with the muzzle blast trade off being something I’m quite happy to live with.
15 cents a shot for a rifle that develops this sort of grunt just adds to the equation.
I WON’T be removing the brake anytime soon.
200 rounds on.....it just keeps making me grin. Surprises with its exceptional accuracy, economy and grunt.
Would love to see anyone else’s current project.....and hope this inspires discussion.
Kind Regs,
Tank.

But....but.....the 45/70 is no good past 100m......Facebook told me......lol

[bigpete]

My current project is regulating my double for 350gn,2000fps ammo. No muzzle brake

[Tank]

But....but.....the 45/70 is no good past 100m......Facebook told me......lol

It’s a scrub gun!! Lol! Facebook is the fountain of all knowledge after all.

Trial and error with loads Pete?
Where’s it regulated at? 75-80yds?
Would love a double someday.

[Tank]

I was very confident testing subsonic loads in it.

Yeah. You would have been.
Not exactly stressing it.

By the by....I don’t expect I’m getting remotely close to 1500fps when there’s only 14” of rifling to work with....guessing 1350.
Somewhat validated by my dope at range.
Chroni results to follow once done.

[in2anity]

Mate quite the group for such a pill/cartridge/gun A CDS from NIOA would work a treat (if you settled on your load). How much does the thing weigh? Also, with your 33gr 2207 lead-load, what would you say the recoil is comparable to? A hot 30/30?

[Tank]

Mate quite the group for such a pill/cartridge/gun A CDS from NIOA would work a treat (if you settled on your load). How much does the thing weigh? Also, with your 33gr 2207 lead-load, what would you say the recoil is comparable to? A hot 30/30?

Cheers In2anity!
The load works and I’ll stick with it. Shoots way better than I could have dreamt.
I’m hearing you on CDS but the Engage with the 30MOA vertical hash plus target style turrets (15MOA per rotation) give me a bit more flexibility.
It weighs just over 8lbs with everything hanging off it. Recoil is much lighter than my 30AS Marlin in 30-30. It is mild as!

[in2anity]

The load works and I’ll stick with it. Shoots way better than I could have dreamt.
It weighs just over 8lbs with everything hanging off it. Recoil is much lighter than my 30AS Marlin in 30-30. It is mild as!

Under 4kg! How good is that! 2207 one of my all time favorites - a fantastic compomise powder. Your build is indeed inspirational; I wonder how much energy it has at 500m, just thinking about MS potential...

[duncan61]

God appeared to me last night and told me to forget about the 416 Rigby and buy a Handi rifle in 45/70 and load 55 gn of 2207 under a 350gn pill and smite the philistines

[Tank]

The load works and I’ll stick with it. Shoots way better than I could have dreamt.
It weighs just over 8lbs with everything hanging off it. Recoil is much lighter than my 30AS Marlin in 30-30. It is mild as!

Under 4kg! How good is that! 2207 one of my all time favorites - a fantastic compomise powder. Your build is indeed inspirational; I wonder how much energy it has at 500m, just thinking about MS potential...

It’s a laugh! Reckon it’s around 950ft/lbs @ 500yds using JBM’s ballistic calculator. 2207 is ultra versatile for 45-70. This load is clean as a whistle....Clean up is a breeze.

God appeared to me last night and told me to forget about the 416 Rigby and buy a Handi rifle in 45/70 and load 55 gn of 2207 under a 350gn pill and smite the philistines

These are the words of the Lord....Amen.
Be a darn sight cheaper!!
The original rifle set me back a carton of Carlton Dry cans.....the 416 maybe somewhat more...(?)

It was at this stage I called Project Wombat.....zeroed.

[bigpete]

But....but.....the 45/70 is no good past 100m......Facebook told me......lol

It’s a scrub gun!! Lol! Facebook is the fountain of all knowledge after all.

Trial and error with loads Pete?
Where’s it regulated at? 75-80yds?
Would love a double someday.

Nah,just winding a grub screw in and out till I get them right. I'll try to get them an inch apart at 50m

[Tank]

But....but.....the 45/70 is no good past 100m......Facebook told me......lol

It’s a scrub gun!! Lol! Facebook is the fountain of all knowledge after all.

Trial and error with loads Pete?
Where’s it regulated at? 75-80yds?
Would love a double someday.

Nah,just winding a grub screw in and out till I get them right. I'll try to get them an inch apart at 50m

Nice.

[in2anity]

I’m hearing you on CDS but the Engage with the 30MOA vertical hash plus target style turrets (15MOA per rotation) give me a bit more flexibility.

FWIW I created and printed this on a printable label from Officeworks the other day:

1/4 moa subtensions, hundreds-of-meters numerals. Blue dot 400m. Red dot 500m.

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I just put the cap back on to protect from the rain.

[Tank]

See what you did there In2anity!
I’ve got a 4.5-14x40SF CDS VX3i I’ve not got around to setting it up for any one load.....food for thought there man.
Cheers.