Curious to see how they compare
- Thread starter Cobiwan
- Start date
I had (actually still have) an APA Lil Bastard, but I recently replaced it with an Area 419 Hellfire (stainless). Why did I replace?
- The finish was going on the APA as I cleaned it more in my ultrasonic
- Even the Gen 3 APAs are not as easy to time as the Hellfire
- A friend has one and loves it and I wanted to try something new that I could simply throw into the ultrasonic. He was the one who clued me into the ease of timing with the 419 over the APA. Not that the APA is bad in this regard, just the 419 is better - very innovative.
I have found the 419 to be very similar in recoil reduction to the APA. I haven't fired them side by side, but from one trip to the next, I noticed no difference.
As to Sidewinder vs. Hellfire and Fat Bastard vs. Lil Bastard:
- You really don't need the larger brakes on a 300 PRC.
- Larger brakes mean more noise. No thank you - the smaller ones from both companies are plenty loud as it is.
- With proper recoil management, you should be able to shoot a 300 PRC with the smaller brakes all day long. If you find you need more than the smaller brakes offer, you are likely doing something incorrectly.
As to self-timing brakes vs. not:
- If you get prefits, then a self-timing brake is critical.
- If you don't, I prefer having the barrel's threads timed by the smith cutting the barrel. It's just a little easier to take off and put back on when you don't have to worry about timing it. As mentioned above, I find the 419 timing mechanism to be superior to the APA.
- The finish was going on the APA as I cleaned it more in my ultrasonic
- Even the Gen 3 APAs are not as easy to time as the Hellfire
- A friend has one and loves it and I wanted to try something new that I could simply throw into the ultrasonic. He was the one who clued me into the ease of timing with the 419 over the APA. Not that the APA is bad in this regard, just the 419 is better - very innovative.
I have found the 419 to be very similar in recoil reduction to the APA. I haven't fired them side by side, but from one trip to the next, I noticed no difference.
As to Sidewinder vs. Hellfire and Fat Bastard vs. Lil Bastard:
- You really don't need the larger brakes on a 300 PRC.
- Larger brakes mean more noise. No thank you - the smaller ones from both companies are plenty loud as it is.
- With proper recoil management, you should be able to shoot a 300 PRC with the smaller brakes all day long. If you find you need more than the smaller brakes offer, you are likely doing something incorrectly.
As to self-timing brakes vs. not:
- If you get prefits, then a self-timing brake is critical.
- If you don't, I prefer having the barrel's threads timed by the smith cutting the barrel. It's just a little easier to take off and put back on when you don't have to worry about timing it. As mentioned above, I find the 419 timing mechanism to be superior to the APA.
The Christiansen arms brake is very good
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