Muzzle break and accuracy?

nastynatesfish

nastynatesfish

Active member
I was on on other forum and was reading through post and got me wondering. I like to see my strikes when I shoot, why I love to shoot my 223 and 22-250. I'm wondering now about putting breaks on my 7mag, 308 and 7-08. Now I remember I had a break on an AR and it seemed like it was more accurate without the break? Is that a viable deal or was it just me?
 
Elaborate? I don't mind the noise. But I was kinda thinking is I have them threaded I might start looking at a silencer...that's a whole other can of worms I guess
 
ANYTIME, you add ANY weight to the barrel; you change harmonics. This CAN be good, and CAN be bad for accuracy.
One of the reasons that Browning's BOSS system is adjustable.
 
I put a Vias break on my 300 RUM and I don't think it was a noticeable differance in accuracy but it was on my shoulder. As far noise even when hunting my ears ring when I shoot...Jason
 
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Any changing in the harmonics should only require a minimal change in your hand load. The BOSS was to help tune the barrel to any round.

If you're a hand loader not a problem in the world, look at some of those bench shooters with breaks. Factory rounds will always be factory rounds, find what it shoots best.
 
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Originally Posted By: smith1559I put a Vias break on my 300 RUM and I don't think it was a noticeable differance in accuracy but it was on my shoulder. As far noise even when hunting my ears ring when I shoot...Jason

You should investigate hearing protection that lets you hear ambient sounds, but blocks sudden loud noises like gunfire. I wear a pair of Combat Arms earplugs when hunting; that's what our soldiers wear in Afghanistan during combat. They work pretty well, and are comfortable enough for lengthy use - at least for me.
 
I've owned several guns with the boss system. The Boss CR
is an unported version, which allows to to "tune" your barrel without the noise of the Boss ported version. The system works, for sure. What is nice, you can shoot chucks or dogs or what ever with the ported version, then if only deer hunting, screw the CR on. I have a 7 RUM that is ported, but only use it when antelope hunting or field hunting whitetails, where I have time to put my hearing protection on. Noise is terrible. I noticed no accuracy difference after adding the brake.
 
We started using muzzle breaks in the early 80's to help us see our hits on chucks and p. dogs. Even a 243 hot loaded is a [beeep] cat with a break, and you can see your hits clearly instead of just seeing dust fly. We got to where we could place our shots on the animal instead of just holding center of mass.

Then I put them on my 22 ppc, 6ppc, and 6 BR that are benchrest rifles. I was able to reduce the size of my groups by about half.

Next, I put them on my 270, 30/06,7 Mag...good gosh, no one would believe that standard factory sporters would shoot groups as tiny as these rifles shoot.

So, 22/250's, 22/250 AI, 243, 243 AI's, 244 AI's, and the custom 7 STW, all get the same threads for the muzzle break, just screw them on one barrel to the other.

The bullet is still in the barrel for about .200 while the gun is under recoil, less recoil, more accuracy. I also think that shooter fatigue is much less, and critical gun hold, cheek pressure, hand grip is much less critical if you have a muzzle break installed. Muzzle breaks will not help a guy that slaps the trigger

Problem is that shooters are deceived into thinking that they can shoot a gun without ear protection with no muzzle break and not experience hearing losss. So, when you increase the noise with a muzzle break, you should wear ear protection. I wear the Tac 6 eletronic ear muffs...love'em! None the less, shooting rifles, shotguns, and pistols without ear protection is self destructive...your choice...hearing or no hearing later on in life.

In my experience, in shooting any caliber in any weight gun including the 22/250's and larger calibers, adding a muzzle break enables me to shrink my groups substantially.

Some posters commented on taking the muzzle break on and off as to whether you would help/hurt accuracy. You work up a load with the muzzle break installed on the gun. In my experience, adding the weight to the barrel has always helped shoot very tiny groups....I have a few very large and heavy muzzle breaks that have 3 expansion chambers and 132 holes, of two different sizes.

Imagine shooting a 7 Mag with a 140g bullet at 3250 fps, you fire, at the shot, you see the water vapor fly off the deer's hide, and see the deer flop. Or imagine seeing a buck hit at 325 yards, he jumps 10 feet straight up and hits the ground with his antlers stuck in the ground. Imagine seeing a bull elk running broadside to you, you hit him with the 7 mag right behind the shoulder. At the shot, the bull sticks his tongue out 12", his front legs quits working, and you see his nose plow the ground. You simply do not see this kind of bullet impacts when you do not have a muzzle break.

To each is own
 
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Do you own a brake company?
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Really, I do understand. As I have a 300 Win mag that I get the same results from. The visual of a doe shot on a frosty morn, just after legal light towards the sun, well PRICELESS!

Point in fact, they do work and well. More noise is directed back at the shooter, but not a problem if using hearing protection! A case of benefit far outweighing the cons.
 
If you start turning down and threading the end of your barrel, you're taking a risk of changing your accuracy. There's always some residual stress left in the barrel steel, and it's going to change diameter slightly, especailly if it's a tapered barrel.

That's usually not good right at the muzzle.
 
Ackleyman, with that closing statement you just turned me on something fierce lol. I'm gonna have to do it Now for my 7mag for sure. You ever think of selling cars or life insurance?
This is my 7mag I'm gonna end up doing it on.
446C8712-83A2-4C2A-990C-BDE29A6F9660-5165-0000038F1E99DBF4.jpg


Ok. How about magna porting?
 
Originally Posted By: Evil_LurkerIf you start turning down and threading the end of your barrel, you're taking a risk of changing your accuracy. There's always some residual stress left in the barrel steel, and it's going to change diameter slightly, especailly if it's a tapered barrel.

That's usually not good right at the muzzle.



Huh???

Where did that come from???


.
 
I better call my buddy Karl over at Kampfelds and tell him of all the guns he has screwed up. Shoot, better call Magnaport too. I'll be back, gotta run........
 
Originally Posted By: Evil_LurkerIf you start turning down and threading the end of your barrel, you're taking a risk of changing your accuracy. There's always some residual stress left in the barrel steel, and it's going to change diameter slightly, especailly if it's a tapered barrel.

That's usually not good right at the muzzle.





If there was that much stress in the very end of the barrel that turning it down and threading it would change the ID Diam. of the barrel on the end the barrel would be junk to start with.

Evil Lurker
Are you talking "in Theory" or have you been able to actually measure the change?

I know that My 300 Win. Mag would not shoot as well with the Holland Break as it did with out it. It went from shooting 1 MOA and under to 1-1/4 MOA with it installed. Never thought about changing the load to see if it would shoot the way it did before the break was installed.

When Holland of Powers Oregon installed the break they re-crowned it.

I shot one shot from it in the field at a nice buck and that is the last time I ever used it. No ear protection. WOW did it ever hurt
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Can I say my ears rang for about a week after.

It has been a safe Queen ever since, but will be back in action soon as I am having the break removed and re-crowned.
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But not by Holland's.



DAB
 


Originally Posted By: ackleyman
Some posters commented on taking the muzzle break on and off as to whether you would help/hurt accuracy. You work up a load with the muzzle break installed on the gun. In my experience, adding the weight to the barrel has always helped shoot very tiny groups....I have a few very large and heavy muzzle breaks that have 3 expansion chambers and 132 holes, of two different sizes.



Brakes sure don't hurt accuracy. It's a whole lot more enjoyable to shoot and see what you're hitting. That's absolutely true when shooting varmints. They're loud but so what, dumb to be shooting centerfire without ear protection anyway. Most of the rifles in my avatar photo have the brake that Keith is talking about. It's a big thing...... 4" long, 1-1/8' dia. and fairly heavy. These things really work, they definitely keep down muzzle jump. And I think the weight also helps dampen muzzle vibration. That set of guns are all large boltface. There's another set with small boltface and many of them also use that same brake. They're nice even on a .223. It'll just sit there and not even move.

Threading the muzzle won't have any effect on accuracy, that's complete nonsense.


 
After buying a rifle with a BOSS. Adjusting it (the BOSS) according to the directions and shooting a 1-7/16 group at 300 yards with a 4.5-14X (at 14X) Leupold I'm SOLD on the adjustable muzzle brake.
When I fired that group it was the first time I had EVER fired at a target at much over 100 yards. I have shot the same gun 3-5 times at 300 yards and so far it has always shot less than 2in. It's had the trigger adjusted. Otherwise, it is, as it came from the factory.
 


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