To Brake or Not To Brake

[Gringoloco]

I had a VG6 Gamma 6.5 break on my AR for a bit and the Howa Mini before I swapped it out for muzzle devices for a suppressor. I did seem to make it easier to stay on target. Recoil on either isn’t bad and didn’t seem to chanced between flash suppressor or break. I do have my Howa in an Oryx chassis with a 6x24 scope so probably a little heavier than what you’ll run. Good luck with the can, and I thought the wait in the states was bad.

[Kosh65]

I have 2 rifles with Harrell MB’s on them. Both are .22-250 and both are over 14lbs. I use these for prairie dogs and seeing the destruction is the only reason why.

[Oso Polaris]

I'm with Longbow on this one. My brother-in-law has been taking his twin sons out hunting since they were 4-5 years old. They'd sit in a small box blind watching their dad shoot pigs, deer, raccoon or anything that would come in range with his AR15 (not suppressed). The first time they went hunting I asked about hearing protection for the twins and he pulled out their POS video game headset (think 1980's Walkman headset)!!!! Not real hearing protection.... and their dad can't figure out why he is is nearly deaf at 50.

I learned a valuable lesson the hard way when I quickly honked the car horn as my pre-teen daughter as she walked in front of it. The short blast from standard horn was loud and painful enough to her hearing to make her cry. My 5 year son complains "too load" at things that don't even register to me. I have come to realize that my baseline for what is acceptable noise levels is not properly calibrated for younger better ears. Suppressors on everything.

Short of large calibers, I can see my shots with a suppressor. General opinion based on shooting 3Gun, the punishment from Brakes felt by the shooter often offsets the recoil/follow-up shot advantage of a brake. Sometimes your can't wear enough hearing protection to offset a long rapid string of shots with a brake... the flinch becomes meaningful. I quickly removed mine and decided that I did well enough without it or I'd run a suppressor.

[lazyengineer]

As noted above, a brake makes things louder, in addition to a cuncussion blast. For this reason I never ever shoot or hunt without hearing protection. I find the modern electronic muff's do a nice job of enhancing my hearing, and are better than hunting without, while still protecting the ears. Others, who's habbits don't include that option, are indeed going to have a louder blast with a brake. But it's a non-item for me. When i shoot at the range, I use plugs, under the muff's, for the doubled protection.

Also, while my 14.5" Grendel is running a Gamma Break (the .300 BO version, which is smaller)

Which is exceptionally effective, in general, I do advise the one from Bravo Company, which has notably less blast, noise and concussion:


which is an A2 FH mostly, but with a little cone at the end, that deflects the blast a lot more laterally than most. The .30 cal version has a couple bleed holes horizontal to the ground on both sides, which create a small curtain to help dampen the blast-back even more. I love this one. Only reason I'm not using it on my 14.5 is my 14.5 is really closer to 15", and I'd be chagrined pin and welding a 15" to equal the length of a standard 16" with a small FH, so I went for shorter and handier (it was a project, not everyone is going to see the value to that, but hey, my spec was short-as-legally-possible, so 1/2" mattered to that project )

[Old Bob]

I have this one coming in the mail today. I want to compare it to this one by Wilson Combat:

https://shopwilsoncombat.com/MUZZLE-BRAK...D5%5C8X24/

I have the .223/5.56 NATO version which seems very effective controlling muzzle flip without being excessively noisy.