Muzzle Brakes; Field Reports Needed

[Ol' Fussy]

I own 3 4x4's of the older style (pre-muzzle brake and fluting) and am planning on ordering more 4x4's in the near future. I was wondering if any of you have done any accuracy testing of your 4x4s w/muzzle brake vs. 4x4 w/muzzle brake removed to see if there was any difference in performance.

I have owned or own rifles that I had ported or had muzzle brakes installed (usually big boomers) in the past. The rifles that I had ported had little, if any, variance in accuracy post porting but on the rifles that I had brakes installed on sometimes experienced variances in accuracy post braking. One particular rifle lost an extreme amount of accuracy post brake but on close inspection I realized that the smith who had done the work had accidentally burgered up the crown on this rifle causing the problem. I did a quick redress of the crown with my rotary tool and solved the problem. However, this rifle had a change in bullet impact w/brake on vs. brake off of around 1 inch high right. I attribute this to barrel rise on firing w/brake off. This rifle was chambered in 264 Winchester Magnum. I have had other rifles accuracy improve by adding a muzzle brake (again, big boomers). I attribute this to a reduction in felt recoil thus boosting the shooter comfort and confidence.

On three rifles that I had braked, accuracy was maintained but the bullet impact shifted dramatically, high, low, left or right. These rifle were mid caliber pieces, 6.5mm to 8mm.

One rifle that I installed a brake on lost all usable accuracy with the brake on. The groups opened up to around 4 inches w/brake vs. .5 inch w/brake off. This was a custom job I built myself chambered in a wild cat round (243.06 improved) that I used for long range prairie dog work. My group of experts (my rowdy shooting buddies) all had a wide assortment of whys and hows this happened. I tried two more styles of brakes on the rifle with one style tightening up the group a bit but not enough to use the rifle for it's intended purpose. I ended up screwing on the thread protector for good and still use the rifle when I go doggin' and the wind comes up enough to give my 17 & 22 Center Fires' a rough time. It's still a great shooter after 7,000 rounds.

My question is: Have any of you tested the accuracy of your 4x4's w/brake on vs. brake off? If you have would you please post the results. I would really appreciate knowing the results of your trials.

Thanks,

 

[Ol' Fussy]

This is a post script to my last entry;

I always believed that my accuracy problem with muzzle brakes on my 243/06 improved was the result of a massive negative shift in barrel harmonics and I still, for the most part, believe this to be true. However, I did some extra research last night on the subject of muzzle brakes and learned that if a muzzle brake is going to effect accuracy (group size or impact shift), it will probably effect smaller caliber and/or lighter projectiles the most. My 243/06 would fall in to this group being a 6mm shooting light and long boat tail bullets. It has something to do with the way surplus gas exits through the ports of the muzzle brake disturbing the stability of the projectile. This makes sense. Larger caliber and/or heavier projectiles are naturally more stable at exit and there by more tolerant to this violent gas exiting.

The reason I installed a brake on this rifle was the hope that it would diminish the recoil and barrel rise enough to have a better chance of seeing bullet impacts through the scope for rapid sighting changes when shooting at long range or under windy conditions. It proved out that a 243/06 improved is just too much cartridge for this to happen with out going to a much heavier platform (heavier barrel and stock).

Early this morning I rummaged through the 'catch all' drawer' of my gun room and found one of those circular, semi adjustable harmonic stabilizers that I had bought a few years ago to see if it would help a friends Mini 14 shoot any better. It helped a little but not enough to offset the clumsiness of having a tennis ball stuck on the barrel of a carbine. Sort of funny lookin'! I installed it on the 243/06 at the recommended starting location, reinstalled the original muzzle brake and headed to the range to touch off a few groups. It helped! The group size was reduced to about 2"s. I moved it to position 2 and snugged it down a little tighter than my first try and pounded out another group. The group size shrunk some more, down to around an inch and a quarter. I cleaned the bore and tried a few more groups at different settings of the harmonic stabilizer but an inch to inch and a quarter were about the best I could accomplish so, all in all, the rifle still shoots better with out the brake and I don't have to have a tennis ball hanging half way down my barrel.

Now that Mossberg is offering the 4x4 in 22/250 Rem and 243 Win, I'm very interested in hearing any range reports as to how the new 4x4's w/brakes shoot and if a person is able to see bullet impacts through the scope or if the recoil (barrel jump) is still to great to accomplish this. Both of these cartridges fall in to the group of smaller and/or lighter projectiles. None of the dealers in my neck of the woods have received any of these new offerings from Mossberg yet but expect to start having them roll in over the next few weeks.

I'm very anxious to hear any range reports on these two rifles from any of you.
Thanks, in advance.

 

[DHonovich]

I currently own the Mossberg 4x4 30-06 and feel that the muzzle brake helps greatly in reducing recoil. You can not see bullet impacts but that is not expected with this caliber. Comparing it to other 30-06 rifles the Mossberg 4x4 is like shooting a .22LR. It is a bit of an exaggeration :twisted: comparing the 30-06 to shooting a .22LR but the recoil is really manageable in the Mossberg 4x4. After shooting 50+ rounds in an afternoon my shoulder feels great. The fluting on the barrel also seems to do a great job with cooling the barrel when you fire several rounds in a row. Next time I am at the range I will do some before and after testing with the muzzle brake on and off. The accuracy with the muzzle brake on has been very impressive thus far so I can not imagine that it will make a big difference but I will have to test that.

 

[Ol' Fussy]

Ultimate,
Thanks for the info. It's always appreciated.

 

[rjpoog1989]

My question is: Have any of you tested the accuracy of your 4x4's w/brake on vs. brake off? If you have would you please post the results. I would really appreciate knowing the results of your trials.

Thanks,

^^^^THIS, This right here is what I need to know^^^^

and I aim to find out one way or another. Looks like I'll be preparing my shoulder for a rough weekend. I'll be putting at least one 5-shot group through the dreaded .338 win mag with no muzzle brake... I just hope I live to tell the tale. One last ditch effort at achieving accuracy.