Advanced Marksmanship Indexing a brake

[skeeter355]

Have a Savage 300 Win 110 with an AAC brake (compatible with my SD 762). When I fire the gun moves to the left (right hand shooter) and I need to re-adjust the gun for follow up shots. I am squared behind the gun and shooting off a properly loaded bipod. The brake is currently level and seeing if indexing it differently might help the recoil impulse. If so, which way?

Thanks, Skeeter

 

[timelinex]

Re: Indexing a brake

Sorry this doesn't actually help to answer your questions, but I'm just getting ready to see the mass amounts of replies blaming you and not the brake.

 

[skeeter355]

Re: Indexing a brake

Yeah you are probably right!

Just read some of the other posts and it is most likely me! Will have to focus more on shoulder/elbow position and adjusting my body as suggested in other posts.

Had thought about the brake because I remember reading somewhere about guys doing it with AR-15s to reduce muzzle movement off target. I'm sure that could probably be adjusted too by body position.

Skeeter

 

[timelinex]

Re: Indexing a brake

I'm pretty sure you CAN probably adjust it to correct for your position. But unless you plan on only sticking to your one rifle forever, your cheating yourself out of learning how to actually drive a rifle properly.

 

[Stealthy]

Re: Indexing a brake

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Skeeter355</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Have a Savage 300 Win 110 with an AAC brake (compatible with my SD 762). When I fire the gun moves to the left (right hand shooter) and I need to re-adjust the gun for follow up shots. I am squared behind the gun and shooting off a properly loaded bipod. The brake is currently level and seeing if indexing it differently might help the recoil impulse. If so, which way?

Thanks, Skeeter </div></div>

I'd shoot a few rounds left handed and see what happens.

 

[tanker1509]

Re: Indexing a brake

Have you tried taking the brake off. Do you still have same problem.

 

[shooterone]

Re: Indexing a brake

I recently purchased a sako trg and read something in the instruction manual that I thought was interesting. It actually recommended that you cant the muzzle break to compensate for rifle hop.

 

[leadbullet]

Re: Indexing a brake

If the rifle is hopping around, it is ot a break problem but a position one, you may not be as square to the rifle as you think you are. Remove the break and adjust your position for a while.
hope this helps but I doubt it.

 

[Texar2]

Re: Indexing a brake

Canting the brake might be fine in one position but it will work against you in alternate shooting positions. Being square is good but there are other factors like hand pressure, cheek weld pressure, trigger finger pressure, bipod loading and breathing. Have you studied your dry fire pattern?

 

[ShakyDave]

Re: Indexing a brake

If you have a brake like the Badger FTE with a nice flat top and that is easy to rotate, check the level every once in a while. My stick had opened up to over a minute of angle when it had been shooting well under that, and after I leveled the brake it settled right back down to tight groups.

It makes sense that the column of air in front of the bullet, shoved down the barrel, is going to expand outward through the louvres of the brake and nudge the barrel off center.

I have no scientific data to back up the foregoing, but it worked for me.

 

[WhiskeyWebber]

Re: Indexing a brake

hmm I noticed my .338 had opened up to 12" groups at 1000 the last time I was shooting. I figured I needed to clean the barrel but I also noticed that my TRG brake was turned about 12-15 degrees. I didn't notice anything unusual recoil wise but my groups were definitely off. I hadn't thought of the uneven pressure disrupting the barrel harmonics.

 

[ShakyDave]

Re: Indexing a brake

It may depend on the brake design, too. If the ports release gas equally all around, it shouldn't matter. If they release the gas angled up, like the Badger Tactical Thrust Compensator, it should matter a lot because you'll get a thrust vector to the side instead of down, and unequally load the pressure on the bipod legs. If like the Badger FTE, where it goes out the side and straight back, there still should be an unequal pressure on the bipod legs and a little bit of a hop, or enough to affect the impact point. All I know for sure is that my rifle went from about 1.5 moa to this 3-round group to zero the scope:

And the next 3-shot group:

And the one after that:

 

[grayghost]

Re: Indexing a brake

What stock do you have? I had the same problem with a savage 10fp 308 and found that with the bypod at the very end of the stock that the stock would flex when I lined up on target the barrel would touch the left side of the stock and poi would shift high right. Moving the bypod back to the second attachment point cured the problem. This was a non accu stock.