Quick question....

[JMss17]

What exactly is a muzzlebrereak for? Does it help in long range?

 

[Michael Eichele]

A muzzle brake is for reducing "felt" recoil. It can help in LR shooting by making you less nervous every time you pull the trigger because the rifle wont hit you as hard. This is accomplished by diverting gasses to the side of the barrel instead of all the gas exiting the front.

 

[JMss17]

But if you are not worried about the recoil do you need it or will it help accuracy wise?

 

[grit]

Won't make the rifle more accurate. Taming recoil should help make you more accurate. It will also help you recover your sight picture and spot your own shots. A big plus!

 

[Michael Eichele]

But if you are not worried about the recoil do you need it or will it help accuracy wise?

It could help it or hurt it. It is a gamble. Adding weight to the end of a barrel causes changes in harmonics thus changing point of impact and accuracy. Most of the time changing powder charges solves this problem, not POI but accuracy. In more extreeme cases you may need to change bullets.

 

[JMss17]

can you put a break on a factory barrel?

 

[esshup]

Yes. I purchased a Weatherby that had a radial type brake on it, and I sent it to Kirby to have a small PK brake installed. His PK brake doesn't throw dirt all over the place like that radial design did.

Brakes aren't only for rifles, shotguns and handguns are ported (sorta like a brake, but the barrel is machined - ports aren't as efficient as a brake) for the same reason.

 

[Two-0-four]

Yes you can put a break on a factory barrel but be forwarned because the thing about brakes is the noise they emit. Although your supposed to wear hearing protection while target shooting, you will need to wear hearing protection to shoot a muzzel brake equipped gun while hunting in my opionion. The noise level increases 2-3 times over a straight barrel and the noise is so bad it makes me feel like my ear drums are busted and bleeding. It really is that bad. The gun crack is so sharp it hurts for days.
I shot a Browning A-Bolt in 270 Win with the Boss Brake on it without hearing protection. The first and last muzzle brake gun I'll ever shoot without hearing protection.
By the way...The Browning Boss Muzzle Brake installed on factory A-Bolts was "Tunealbe" for accuracy. Just screw the brake a little amount either direction and it would help the accuracy of the rifle so they say. I have no idea if it does or not, I only shot the gun one time as it belonged to somebody else. I don't know if they even offer it anymore. I'm not a Browning type of guy.
To me, they aren't worth having for any type of hunting that requires you to hear the animal coming, which is just about all big game, but if you varmint hunt for groundhog or prairie dog then no problem since you don't need to hear your game coming, only a visual and then...gun)

 

[silvertip-co]

It's sort of a whizbang, or finnegan wheel, or muffler bearing, for the end of your rifle barrel. On a 50 calibre rifles they make some difference in recoil, on any hunting calibre less than 50 they make the gun front heavy, and make the gun so loud you need two pair of hearing protects. Browning says they 'tune' your barrel( yeah RIIIGHT ). No less than Colonel Jeff Cooper said they were the dumbest d... hunk of iron junk hung on the end of a rifle barrel he had ever seen, and also thought they were the greatest marketing gimmick ever... next to grooving the outside of rifle barrels to make them stronger( yeah RIIIGHT ). To all of which I agree with the good colonel. Save your ca$h.