When I worked for Nesika, I used Vais brakes with good results on a number of customer rifles. I have several on my personal guns and with good ol fundamental machine work and a little attention to detail, they have always run very well. The only word of caution regarding these is that it is very important to pay attention to the directions with regards to wall thickness.The ports running parallel to the bore's axis can and will blow out if there is not sufficient material left on the OD. This is a big issue on guns that have the light contoured barrels where the brake actually ends up being larger than the OD of the crown. Also make sure that you have sufficient wall thickness down by the crown after threading. the harder hitting magnums will have a tendency to bell mouth the crown over time if this isn't paid attention to. I like a minimum of .060". Some would argue this is a little too cautious, but it has worked for me. If it's not broke, don't fix right?
I realize the holes on the bottom are a turn off to some, but I have always gravitated towards the notion of radial dispersion of the propellant. Just seems to have less of an inclination to fuss with shot elevation this way. I have built several guns that performed exceptionally well with Vais brakes.
The most famous probably being the 300RUM that a guy in Wyoming used to dump a prairie dog from an excess of 2500 yards. (it may have actually been closer to 2000 yards, I can't remember exactly). (Check the back issues of Small Caliber News)
I think that settles the debate about braked guns shooting well.
Hope this helps.
Chad Dixon
Baghdad Embassy Security Force
Baghdad Iraq
