Gunsmithing real data on brakes?

[seanh]

What I'm wanting to find is if there is any real test data on muzzle brakes. There are plenty of posts of "what's best?" but the responses are always personal and non-scientific.

Does anyone know of any actual tests where the recoil velocity, muzzle flip are graphed using instrumentation and not someone saying "this feels better than that?".

 

[sixpack340]

Re: real data on breaks?

Wrong section sweety pie, try gun smithing.

 

[Mike]

Re: real data on breaks?

"Brakes"?

 

[CASDB]

Re: real data on breaks?

21st Century Gunfighter had a 5 part series comparing each of the most popular at the time. Here's video one, the rest are in the side column. There are two more than listed there, parts 4 and 5 are lower down.

 

[seanh]

Re: real data on breaks?

Not bad but still has the human element...

Though I put it in the smith section...guess I forgot where I was. Message sent to mod...


I wonder why it's so hard to find neutral testing on brakes. It wouldn't be that difficult to plot the recoil reduction...could easily redneck it with graph paper and a marker. The hardest part would be mounting the rifle so as to not overly torque and fall off the bench (idea is to free-recoil)...easily done with a BR flat base under the rifle

 

[seanh]

Re: real data on breaks?

Brakes...not breaks..LOL.

Thanks...

Sometimes we can't see the forest from the trees

 

[Mike]

Re: real data on breaks?

There are way too many variable to have a truly "scientific" test on the brakes. And to be honest, it's not worth the money, time or effort to really do it.

The bottom line is it really doesn't matter. Some brakes do work better than others based on a mutual consensus. But between aesthetics and what you "hear", it's really up to you.

 

[mcfred]

Re: real data on brakes?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: seanh</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There are plenty of posts of "what's best?" but the responses are always personal and non-scientific. </div></div>

What does "best" mean? The more effective a brake is at reducing recoil, the louder it's going to be for the shooter. For shooting prone off a bipod then you have to consider how much dirt is going to be stirred up. Then there are the cartridge/bullet/charge/barrel length variables. The same brake on a 20" 300 RUM and on a 24" 308 is going to be distinctly different.

Basically it's just momentum. Find a video of an RPG being fired. See how much stuff goes backwards? That's what a brake is doing. If a cartridge has X bullet weight and Y powder weight, the Y weight is what the brake has to work with. I have a 510 WSM and with 750 grains of bullet and 40 grains of powder--a brake doesn't do much. However on a 220 Swift with 40 grains of bullet and 45 grains of powder there is basically zero recoil with a brake and a lot of noise. When looking at different brakes, the brakes that have ports angled back towards the shooter are going to be louder and more effective than those that are angled perpendicular or away from the shooter. Longer brakes with more and longer ports are also more effective. The first "baffle" sees most of the powder impingement, so it does most of the work. Multiple ports further from the muzzle help also, but to a lesser degree. If you're shooting off the ground it is nice if the brake doesn't have ports pointing down. A brake will also be more effective (and louder) on a shorter barrel (everything else being equal), where the muzzle pressure is higher as the bullet exits. If you have two loads in the same gun with the same bullet but one uses more powder, that load will have less recoil when using a brake. A brake that has a thru bore smaller and closer to the bullet diameter is going to be more effective, but it will start to affect accuracy if it's too small. Check out these web pages:

http://www.varmintal.com/ashot.htm

http://web.archive.org/web/20100225...m/shooting/adventures-with-muzzle-brakes.html