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Muzzle Brakes poor form at the range?

I do. Take suppressors off of Class III and ATFs greedy fingers and make them an available and thus more affordable option to every person. While most suppressors do not provide the same level of recoil reduction as the best brakes do, they do mitigate recoil and the recoil pulse is often felt/believed to be easier for spotting.
If you can afford to shoot competitively you can afford a can. That's not the thing keeping people from using them. It's the lack of recoil reduction with a can, even the modern ones like the mav and new TB can ( which I have on order like many others). You are still sacrificing speed back on target. It can be managed but not everybody knows how. You can get a good can for 500-600 bucks. Otter creek, kgm, ect. Flow through designs are less important for bolt guns anyway.
 
At 1000, spotting a hole on paper is pretty much impossible, at least with a 27x scope. And when in heavy mirage - impossible - even at 600.
I've got a 6x35x56 scope and mirage sucks. I have to dial it way down in heavy mirage so the 36 magnification is useless in Florida Summers. This time of year is fantastic here, but when Summer comes knockin' this place is downright jungle.
 
I've got a 6x35x56 scope and mirage sucks. I have to dial it way down in heavy mirage so the 36 magnification is useless in Florida Summers. This time of year is fantastic here, but when Summer comes knockin' this place is downright jungle.
@Denys is an F-class shooter and swears by March’s newest scopes that magically cut through mirage. Some 8-80 model, specifically.

Anyway, look up his recent posts on the subject. He runs it at or near 80x, which is hard to believe (but I do). According to him, most of the top F-class guys use that scope.
 
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Check out the ATS brakes. Aaron Hipp designed them for this reason. He is a long time prs shooter who was getting tired of headaches after shooting. We tested it on his gun and a few of us bought them. I don't know how he did it, but you can stand next to it and not get ringing concussion.
That’s pretty cool!

Unfortunately not for me, as I run 100% suppressed or I’d have to exit this sport to still hear my children.

But that’s good info for others!
 
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Check out the ATS brakes. Aaron Hipp designed them for this reason. He is a long time prs shooter who was getting tired of headaches after shooting. We tested it on his gun and a few of us bought them. I don't know how he did it, but you can stand next to it and not get ringing concussion. The brake exceeds the recoil reduction of A419 brakes, and it's been tested and proven. That's why I tell people there is zero reason to run them. You can get better recoil reduction while having a very concussion friendly brake that doesn't beat people up.

Decibal level and concussion are not the same thing. It can be loud without ringing your bell, which his brake does better than any I have run. The other really good one is the ACE brake. Designed by top level prs shooters for similar reason. I own a few of every major brake out there and have shot them all in comps. The 419 brakes stay in the drawer and the apa stuff is only used in field shooting away from people.
Found a vid of his. Go to about 3:25 when he starting talking about the benefits of his brake.

 
Check out the ATS brakes. Aaron Hipp designed them for this reason. He is a long time prs shooter who was getting tired of headaches after shooting. We tested it on his gun and a few of us bought them. I don't know how he did it, but you can stand next to it and not get ringing concussion. The brake exceeds the recoil reduction of A419 brakes, and it's been tested and proven. That's why I tell people there is zero reason to run them. You can get better recoil reduction while having a very concussion friendly brake that doesn't beat people up.

Decibal level and concussion are not the same thing. It can be loud without ringing your bell, which his brake does better than any I have run. The other really good one is the ACE brake. Designed by top level prs shooters for similar reason. I own a few of every major brake out there and have shot them all in comps. The 419 brakes stay in the drawer and the apa stuff is only used in field shooting away from people.
I run an APA brake and it is VERY effective. However, apparently it's pretty obnoxious to others. It makes no difference to me as the shooter with concussion as the gas is not pointed in my direction.
 
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It doesn't bother me at all
1708648060312.png


LOLOLOLOLOL
 
In a fantasy world we'd get suppressors off the NFA list. It's estimated there's ~450 million guns in the US, but only ~3 million registered suppressors. They will never be main stream, even if you got rid of NFA, the vast majority of hunting rifles are not threaded, and the vast majority of gun buyers are never going to spend 2x as much on a suppressor as they did their hunting rifle. I'd almost guarantee in this market prices would never come down even if they came off NFA......in a world where guys are paying $1000 for bipods, $800 for scope mounts and $500 for chassis weights......yeah right.

We SHOULD put effort where we have control, without banning things (god you'd think gun owners of all people would see the problem going down that road!). I've been to a couple rifle ranges outdoors with covered structures that had 3/4" rubber mat walls hanging between the benches and it was amazing how much it cut noise with basically no cost to the range. Not to mention you didn't have guys spraying you with AR brass where the benches are far too close, and on windy days your stuff doesn't blow all over. Frankly every range with a covered roof should strive to add this low cost option if we really give a shit about people's hearing. Now shooting a brake was probably a tiny bit louder for the shooter, but not much, nothing like shooting next to a brake. Plus if you're going to hurt someone's hearing it should be your own first, not others.

A lot of time at busy ranges I'll take brakes off, if the range I'm going to is never full I usually just end up with a few benches separation. Some ranges put guys with brakes together on one end. Shooting next to a big caliber with a brake sucks, and I try not to do things to other people I don't want done to me, but that's not a very popular outlook these days. A lot of the popular ear pro guys are wearing these days are garbage ...20-25db muffs or in ear electronic is garbage with those ratings. If your ear pro isn't NR 30db+ or your doubling up, you clearly don't give a shit about your hearing in the first place. I see a lot of guys with glasses under muffs that break the seal or the seal is breaking when they put their head on the rifle, again, if you don't care about your hearing......hard to complain when others don't.

Many indoor ranges now let you shoot centerfire rifles inside now, loud as shit even with double protection compared to the handguns, with or without a brake. Do we now have rimfire only ranges cause those centerfire rifles are just too loud. Suppressor only ranges? Subsonic only centerfire ammo at ranges? The huge increase in popularity of PRS, AR's and threaded muzzles has naturally increased the amount of brakes at ranges the last 10 years. I'd bet half of the guys that show up with hunting rifles with factory brakes don't even know they can thread them off.

It's funny to hear people belittle folks for using brakes to reduce recoil when the most popular long range shooting sport discussed here by far is literally designed on the premise of using a 25lb baby centerfire rifle with a huge brake and 8oz triggers to eliminate as much recoil as possible and mask as many poor shooting fundamentals as the rules can be bent to allow.
 
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I just ordered an ATS Brake after watching the YouTube video posted above by Carbonbased and suggested by DBD.

The APA Gen2 Little Bastard I run does a phenomenal job with my recoil and barrel jump. A 7RM is hard to tame and the APA turned it into a toddler but at the expense of others shooting next to me.

I'll fire a few through the ATS and give an update on the comparison when I receive it.
 
I am running the PVA Jet Blast brake as it has noticeably less concussion at me and adjacent shooters than the APA I used previously. According to the Canadian Precision Muzzle Brake Test video the Jet Blast has a 55 degree blast angle. The ACE that DBDM referenced is 62 degrees. This is compared with 20 and 25 degrees for APA Fat Bastard and Little Bastard, respectively. It would be interesting to know where the ATS falls.

Blast deflectors were mentioned previously. Does anyone have any experience with the Sharp Bros integrated muzzle brake and blast defector? There are also others out there. Interesting concept for those who can't or don't want to run a can.
 
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Recently I ran 50 rounds through my 6.5CM Tikka with an APA little bastard. I did notice I was reallllly tired afterwards. Curious if this could be related to brake use. I use plugs and muffs every time.

Additionally, in a totally different world...I'm a professional DJ(dance music), and I'm around huge subwoofers all the time. Even with ear pro, the inside of your head is vibrating.

And then there was being a paramedic for 10 years and those ambulance cabs are loud AF with the sirens on...my poor ears.
 
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I think ( certainly hope! ) that we can all agree ( I know. " All agree " on pretty much anything on SH is a tenuous proposition at best! ) that encouraging as many responsible new participants as possible, particularly young ones, to participate in the shooting sports is a good thing. If that`s accurate, then entering into rational discussions and mitigation efforts to lessen factors that might be discouraging to said participation, IMHO, is not time and effort wasted. In the case of brakes, physical modifications to ranges, I believe, have been shown to be effective, for example. I`m sure that there`s enough creativity in the shooting community to arrive at sensible solutions without the need to ban anything.
 
Recently I ran 50 rounds through my 6.5CM Tikka with an APA little bastard. I did notice I was reallllly tired afterwards. Curious if this could be related to brake use. I use plugs and muffs every time.

Additionally, in a totally different world...I'm a professional DJ(dance music), and I'm around huge subwoofers all the time. Even with ear pro, the inside of your head is vibrating.

And then there was being a paramedic for 10 years and those ambulance cabs are loud AF with the sirens on...my poor ears.
Sounds like you hit the trifecta of ear abuse. You're probably f'd as I likely am.

My only argument is for those of us who run magnum rifles (I run a 7RM). Without a brake the recoil literally snaps your head like a minor accident. It feels like your head is moving and your eyeballs are staying put if that makes sense. It's like micro whiplash every time you pull the trigger. A brake takes a ton of that instant shock away.

I'll coin the term "cumulative micro-whiplash". It can not be good for us in any way that I can think of. LOL

So a brake or suppressor might mitigate a lot of that. However, I fear that our chosen hobby/sport will have consequences down the road long term no matter what we do.

Recoil+Noise+Concussion is not completely avoidable. We're all f'd!!!! LOL
 
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I do. Take suppressors off of Class III and ATFs greedy fingers and make them an available and thus more affordable option to every person. While most suppressors do not provide the same level of recoil reduction as the best brakes do, they do mitigate recoil and the recoil pulse is often felt/believed to be easier for spotting.
Suppressors are just vanity items you elitist jerk muscle breaks should be mandatory for all center fire! Where do you live I'm coming to your range to share my new brake blast with you?!

Seriously I can't wait to see that new 7mm.
 
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Gentlemen....gentlemen!! Please! How is it that a discussion of a relatively unimportant ( certainly in the grand scheme of things ) hunk of inanimate metal can cause such rancor and discord among presumably grown, mature men?
Oh.....wait......I forgot for a moment that this was Sniper`s Hide. Such are in the vast minority........ Never mind.

It's pretty simple, some people spend an inordinate amount of time concentrating on the actions of others.
They don't have the ability to tune out the distractions, so they blame their piss poor performance on others, or the equipment of others.


The Discounted one is a perfect example of this.
 
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Recently I ran 50 rounds through my 6.5CM Tikka with an APA little bastard. I did notice I was reallllly tired afterwards. Curious if this could be related to brake use. I use plugs and muffs every time.

Additionally, in a totally different world...I'm a professional DJ(dance music), and I'm around huge subwoofers all the time. Even with ear pro, the inside of your head is vibrating.

And then there was being a paramedic for 10 years and those ambulance cabs are loud AF with the sirens on...my poor ears.
I think it's all relative. I still have excellent hearing and I want to keep it that way as much as possible. I shoot suppressed only with squishy ear plugs plus over the ear. When it gets super loud with boomers and brakes I just try to move down and get away from it, but I have the same experience with muzzle blast it's physically tiring to me. There are times I just decide to pack it in and do something else when there are half a dozen brakes hammering. Just gotta adapt.
 
Sounds like you hit the trifecta of ear abuse. You're probably f'd as I likely am.

My only argument is for those of us who run magnum rifles (I run a 7RM). Without a brake the recoil literally snaps your head like a minor accident. It feels like your head is moving and your eyeballs are staying put if that makes sense. It's like micro whiplash every time you pull the trigger. A brake takes a ton of that instant shock away.

I'll coin the term "cumulative micro-whiplash". It can not be good for us in any way that I can think of. LOL

So a brake or suppressor might mitigate a lot of that. However, I fear that our chosen hobby/sport will have consequences down the road long term no matter what we do.

Recoil+Noise+Concussion is not completely avoidable. We're all f'd!!!! LOL
LOL! Kind of like modern day football. Not compatible with the human body? !
 
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I think it's all relative. I still have excellent hearing and I want to keep it that way as much as possible. I shoot suppressed only with squishy ear plugs plus over the ear. When it gets super loud with boomers and brakes I just try to move down and get away from it, but I have the same experience with muzzle blast it's physically tiring to me. There are times I just decide to pack it in and do something else when there are half a dozen brakes hammering. Just gotta adapt.

Hey now, piss poor, damaged hearing has its benefits.

The blast isn't as bad.

The after effect ringing is already there, so you get used to it.

Cicada and cricket noise doesn't exist.

Alarms aren't as loud.

Christmas bell ringing people (Salvation Army) look like they are just trying to get feeling back in their arms.


You can get away with ignoring people most of the time.

Selective hearing has its benefits...😁


Wut?

21 years on the flightline, and three years in a desalination plant takes its toll.
 
Hey now, piss poor, damaged hearing has its benefits.

The blast isn't as bad.

The after effect ringing is already there, so you get used to it.

Cicada and cricket noise doesn't exist.

Alarms aren't as loud.

Christmas bell ringing people (Salvation Army) look like they are just trying to get feeling back in their arms.


You can get away with ignoring people most of the time.

Selective hearing has its benefits...😁


Wut?

21 years on the flightline, and three years in a desalination plant takes its toll.
Ha I know I'm missing out, but I'm going to keep trying to keep these ears intact as long as possible. My dad bless his heart he's recently gone to the 80dB club from his audiologist last test which is on the margin of legally deaf. His Phonak ear buds are a blessing for chatting on the phone, but I want to avoid going anywhere near where he is with hearing loss. He doesn't even want to come shoot with us any longer after that last day with the braked 338 when he left early:((He does he loves all you guys to pieces just not with the aforementioned). Hoping I can find a way to get him somewhere near where he lives where he can shoot his subsonic canned gasser one of these days....heck all he needs is 50 yards.
 
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The MDT Comp brake (not the Elite) is another one that was designed specifically to disrupt the flow of gas away from the shooter and bystanders and mitigate the concussive force while braking the recoil sufficiently to spot your shots. The video on their site explaining how it works is interesting, but the brake itself doesn’t have very many reviews from the public. It seems like it just never caught on and gained popularity.
 
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The MDT Comp brake (not the Elite) is another one that was designed specifically to disrupt the flow of gas away from the shooter and bystanders and mitigate the concussive force while braking the recoil sufficiently to spot your shots. The video on their site explaining how it works is interesting, but the brake itself doesn’t have very many reviews from the public. It seems like it just never caught on and gained popularity.
I just bought that ATS and should have it in a day or two. I'd check into that MDT but can't afford to be a brake evaluator. LOL When I start looking at something promising, my urge to purchase it often wages war with my budget and common sense.
 
I just bought that ATS and should have it in a day or two. I'd check into that MDT but can't afford to be a brake evaluator. LOL When I start looking at something promising, my urge to purchase it often wages war with my budget and common sense.
I can understand those conflicts.

Lately my wallet has lost those wars.



Which brake will you be swapping for this new ATS break ?

Really looking forward to reading your results.
 
I can understand those conflicts.

Lately my wallet has lost those wars.



Which brake will you be swapping for this new ATS break ?

Really looking forward to reading your results.
Right now I'm running an APA Little Bastard. A highly effective brake for barrel jump and recoil on my 7RM. I doubt the ATS can match it, but if it comes pretty close I'll sacrifice a slight decrease in performance to keep people's hats on who are firing next to me.
 
Brakes don't make a gun any louder. The brake does redirect the noise and concussion to other shooters.
I might disagree with this assertion. While "yes" it does primarily re-direct blast, it also creates a lot of turbulence and that turbulence causes noise. As with all things, I'd like proof, so I'll just leave it as I don't know either way, but I suspect they do increase overall noise as well as re-direct blast.

Sidebar--even with my can this week, 20 rounds of 6.5 Manbun made me a little sore on the shoulder. Going through a class, 2nd and 3rd day did start to get tough as my collar bone was starting to be very sore. There is no winning this game (although bruises heal, hearing does not).
 
Right now I'm running an APA Little Bastard. A highly effective brake for barrel jump and recoil on my 7RM. I doubt the ATS can match it, but if it comes pretty close I'll sacrifice a slight decrease in performance to keep people's hats on who are firing next to me.


Cool.

Hoping you'll not experience shipping shenanigans & delays and get some good weather conditions to try it out.

I've gone down the Hellfire & Hellfire Match road for the few rifle projects that I've been gathering stuff for over the past two years. Finally ready to get them together and start shooting.
What I feakin should have done is spent my downtime educating myself on suppressors and placing an order.

I could have easily had a pair of cans by now for .308 & 6.5mm/6mm. Hell, had enough time I could have added a rimfire & .45 can that would be fun. Lack of knowledge and limited gun money were culprits.

Now that health issues have been improving and my scheduled days off work can be used for fun stuff......I will be spending much more time outside at the rifle range vs just quick trips to the the smokey indoor pistol range.
 

Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. LOL But this time I am not.

If you look at the guy's data it concludes correctly that a muzzle brake does not increase the noise of the rifle. It just redirects it. In fact, it actually lessens it overall. I took a screenshot of the video you posted at the point where he puts up his SPL data.

The unbraked rifle is 130db at the muzzle. Braked, it's lower than that no matter where you put the decibel meter. Brakes DO NOT make a rifle louder, they just direct the noise in a bad direction for others.

EDIT: Added the word "matter" after no. "Braked, it's lower than that no matter where you put the decibel meter."
 

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I might disagree with this assertion. While "yes" it does primarily re-direct blast, it also creates a lot of turbulence and that turbulence causes noise. As with all things, I'd like proof, so I'll just leave it as I don't know either way, but I suspect they do increase overall noise as well as re-direct blast.

Sidebar--even with my can this week, 20 rounds of 6.5 Manbun made me a little sore on the shoulder. Going through a class, 2nd and 3rd day did start to get tough as my collar bone was starting to be very sore. There is no winning this game (although bruises heal, hearing does not).
We're getting old, brother...and now need more prosthetics....hearing aids, reading glasses, knee braces and.....LOL


P.S. - and wow...a lot of recoil pads on rifle chassis/stocks are no better than a clay brick back there. No sure why a lot of places go for these proprietary, rock hard, recoil pads. I've had two JAE's retrofitted with Kick-eez pads. IMO, way better than the crap they came with.
 
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We're getting old, brother...and now need more prosthetics....hearing aids, reading glasses, knee braces and.....LOL


P.S. - and wow...a lot of recoil pads on rifle chassis/stocks are no better than a clay brick back there. No sure why a lot of places go for these proprietary, rock hard, recoil pads. I've had two JAE's retrofitted with Kick-eez pads. IMO, way better than the crap they came with.
Man isn't that the truth. I have two titanium hips and I'm only 55. LOL

As far as recoil pads go, my cheap ass has a $35 rubber slip on Recoil Eraser on the butt stock that is absolutely fantastic. People can make fun of me all they want. But it works. Also puts my length of pull right where I like it. LOL
 
We're getting old, brother...and now need more prosthetics....hearing aids, reading glasses, knee braces and.....LOL


P.S. - and wow...a lot of recoil pads on rifle chassis/stocks are no better than a clay brick back there. No sure why a lot of places go for these proprietary, rock hard, recoil pads. I've had two JAE's retrofitted with Kick-eez pads. IMO, way better than the crap they came with.
There's my high dollar recoil pad right there. :ROFLMAO:
 

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There's my high dollar recoil pad right there. :ROFLMAO:
LOL...whatever it takes, brother. They are tools...yeah, we like them to look good. But, end of the day and to my mind, function beats all and being knocked to crap by recoil isn't helping function.

But, if you want to up the class of that rifle, have a Kick-eez or Pachmayr ground to fit. And yes, they do come in various thicknesses to address LOP. Any good stock/gunsmith can easily ground a pad for you.
 
LOL...whatever it takes, brother. They are tools...yeah, we like them to look good. But, end of the day and to my mind, function beats all and being knocked to crap by recoil isn't helping function.

But, if you want to up the class of that rifle, have a Kick-eez or Pachmayr ground to fit. And yes, they do come in various thicknesses to address LOP. Any good stock/gunsmith can easily ground a pad for you.
Yeah I'm not opposed to that. It's just really hard to remove the hill jack from my DNA at times. I'll admit that. LOL
 
Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. LOL But this time I am not.

If you look at the guy's data it concludes correctly that a muzzle brake does not increase the noise of the rifle. It just redirects it. In fact, it actually lessens it overall. I took a screenshot of the video you posted at the point where he puts up his SPL data.

The unbraked rifle is 130db at the muzzle. Braked, it's lower than that no matter where you put the decibel meter. Brakes DO NOT make a rifle louder, they just direct the noise in a bad direction for others.

EDIT: Added the word "matter" after no. "Braked, it's lower than that no matter where you put the decibel meter."
This will sound all "technically" but one of the things that tough is "What do we mean by louder" Shooter, Observer at 90 degrees? Observer at 0 degrees? They may not all agree

We agree the brake redirects sound, especially back to the shooter.
Db is a log scale, so while the the muzzle may be "quieter" if we could "add" the sound at the muzzle and at the shooter in both instances, would it be greater or less. And of course pressure is a 3D wave.

Perhaps as my offering of understanding, I will say--its way more complex than just a microphone (And to be fair, I found a Precision rifle blog post measuring sound off to the side, but they had no muzzle mic) or two. I have my suspicions, but I have no real "proof" either way and I remain very skeptical of a guy in a youtube video--I've seen too much crap even in science articles.

It really doesn't matter anyway as my concern is always my hearing and concussion. Except when some dick is gassing me on his 223 at the range. Then its time to go APA Lil Bastard 300 WinMag and show em blast.
 
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There's no doubt I probably have it. CQB training for 12 years definitely pokes ya in the chops. However, I attribute most of my short term memory loss to injuries I suffered doing stupid shit when I was younger. I probably had multiple concussions from racing dirt bikes, crashing my bicycle as a kid (we didn't wear helmets back then) and no one knew about concussions. After a crash, you took a minute to figure out where you were, shook it off and got back on the damned thing.

If I don't write something down, I will forget it. This gets me into a lot of trouble with the ladies. :ROFLMAO:
What is your profession that commanded 12 years of CQB training?
 
Close Quarters Battle. The standard definition of cqb.
Thank you sir. When I was working for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, you could get two long time state employees together and I swear they could carry on a conversation within which every other word really wasn`t a word but an acronym! Drove me to distraction!
 
Thank you sir. When I was working for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, you could get two long time state employees together and I swear they could carry on a conversation within which every other word really wasn`t a word but an acronym! Drove me to distraction!
Every industry thrives on them these days. It really helps when someone can or will send you a list/key, however informal.
 
LOL...whatever it takes, brother. They are tools...yeah, we like them to look good. But, end of the day and to my mind, function beats all and being knocked to crap by recoil isn't helping function.

But, if you want to up the class of that rifle, have a Kick-eez or Pachmayr ground to fit. And yes, they do come in various thicknesses to address LOP. Any good stock/gunsmith can easily ground a pad for you.
Is this a bad time to bring up my patented “flip-flop” mod? A .338LM with a stock too short by 1”. Solution? A pair of dollar store 1” thick foam girls flip-flops. Cut, grind to fit, 100mph tape to existing stock and butt plate.

Cost: $2
Solution: 95%
Worth: priceless