Muzzle brakes… I never really knew!

A few years ago, I bought a “used,” unfired Tikka Roughtech in 7mm Rem Mag. I was thinking elk and the price was far too good to pass up. I know it’s not a top pick anymore, but tell that to all the dead elk of the last 50 years or more. The gun came with a brake on it, and I didn’t really study it. When I took it out for a first impression, I was amazed by the recoil reduction! I instantly knew, ear plugs and enough ammo and I could shoulder and shoot this thing all day! I was excited and called a buddy the next day to talk about it.
“I don’t like muzzle brakes,” he said. “They’ve got too much blow back and I don’t like all that smoke blowing in my face.” I’m like… what the heck is he talking about? I’d never shot a bolt action rifle with a brake on it before, and I couldn’t recall getting any blow back from my shooting. So, I kind of wrote it off.

Fast forward to… I’m still thinking elk, but maybe a 6.8 Western or 7mm PRC instead. I now have a pair of threaded barrel Brownings that came with brakes as well. I aimed at my target with the 6.8, slowly squeezed the trigger until it broke, and BAM! A face full of smoke! I immediately switched to the 7 PRC. Same thing. I switched to the Tikka. No smoke in my face. Well, the designs were clearly different so I decided I would do some shopping and find brakes like the Tikka had (can’t trade… wrong thread size).

A couple of days later, I’m walking through Fleet Farm and realize their Tikka Roughtechs have a different brake than my 7 Remmy came with. When I got back home, I quickly learned that my brake wasn’t stock. It had been fitted with an aftermarket brake, and it was boxed with it attached.

I’d seen photos. I knew there were all kinds of styles of things that would thread onto a barrel, but I never knew the designs created a different experience. My AR has the same style as the 7 Rem Mag, and having never received blow back from it either, I really wondered what my buddy was complaining about. But now I know. Those cool looking Swiss cheese-like brakes are smoke blowers. No thanks. From now on, every gun that comes with a brake of that style will either be suppressed or get a new brake.

As for my field choice… I still have no idea. More trigger time is required, but all are encouraging thus far!

I have a tikka t3 lite in 7 rem mag . That thing hammers my shoulder – I never used to be recoil shy but good lord . Also struggled finding a round that 7remmy liked.

I’ve switched to a 308 and can shoot much better – I’m not much of a long range guy past 300 yards anyway . Can’t say the performance on elk – had some shots on cows but passed on the opportunity.

I know thru my muzzleloader use that there are a couple types of brakes: radial and tactical. The radial brake has porting all around the brake body, the tactical has porting on the sides and must be timed to the barrel. Since the radial brake does not allow sabot use, I’m assuming you have a radial brake. Both have sustantial blow-back, but due to the tactical’s design there is less “in-the-face” blow back. Maybe check with a good gunsmith on a design that has less blow back going to the face.

They both reduce substantial recoil. Ear plugs are a must with either. I’d suggest hitting the range when others are not nearby as the noise can get you some serious looks from those who don’t appreciate it.

I use a linear comp on one of my .22. It sounds like it has a silencer from the shooters pov and people sitting nearby. Everything is blasted straight forward. On my Bushmaster it goes down. Which is a shame because I’m usually on a bipod for that on the ground and then is blasts back. Brakes designed to reduce recoil push things back to reduce recoil.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

I know thru my muzzleloader use that there are a couple types of brakes: radial and tactical. The radial brake has porting all around the brake body, the tactical has porting on the sides and must be timed to the barrel. Since the radial brake does not allow sabot use, I’m assuming you have a radial brake. Both have sustantial blow-back, but due to the tactical’s design there is less “in-the-face” blow back. Maybe check with a good gunsmith on a design that has less blow back going to the face.

They both reduce substantial recoil. Ear plugs are a must with either. I’d suggest hitting the range when others are not nearby as the noise can get you some serious looks from those who don’t appreciate it.

I think the radial brake is standard on lower end rifles that come with them. It isn’t until I look into those carbon barreled premier rifles that the brake switches to the tactical style. Having fired with both, I definitely prefer the tactical style and have ordered replacements with the proper threading.
As for the brake volume, lucky me, I’m on private property.

isu22andy wrote:

I have a tikka t3 lite in 7 rem mag . That thing hammers my shoulder – I never used to be recoil shy but good lord . Also struggled finding a round that 7remmy liked.

Without the muzzle brake to reduce recoil, I can’t imagine a standard T3 Lite in 7 Rem Mag being shoulder friendly. The pad isn’t great, and the weight is too light to absorb much energy. I have a Savage Axis in 30-06 with an advanced pad design on the buttstock and it does incredibly well. But compared to a standard factory pad on a Weatherby or Tikka, my Savage is much easier to shoot. A 7mm Rem Mag is not much different than the .06 in heavy grain ballistics, but the 7 Rem Mag carries more recoil energy. At 58yrs of age, I won’t shoot anything above a .30-06 without some sort of recoil reduction, whether it’s an effective butt pad, a muzzle brake, a semi-auto action, a suppressor, or a combination of such things. I once had a Browning BAR Shortrac in 300wsm that produced similar recoil to my bolt action 308win, but it refused to group with every factory load I put in it. So, there are ways to shoot magnums without killing the shoulder.

As for being ammo fussy, my 7 Remmy is not immune to this challenge either, but I have managed to discover a couple of things it really likes. Norma Whitetail in 150gr SP is a winner and Federal Power Shok 175gr SP groups well too. However, I want a better bullet technology than traditional soft points, so I’ll be testing Hornady American Whitetail in 154gr ISP, Hornady Precision Hunter ELD-X in 162gr, and Winchester Long Range Expedition in 168gr somewhere in the future. I might want to try Fusions too. It hated Core-Lokts and Superformance Hornady loads. Grain weight mattered not. They just wouldn’t group with any consistency.

Riverrat wrote:

I use a linear comp on one of my .22. It sounds like it has a silencer from the shooters pov and people sitting nearby.

I’ve been wondering about these. They’re very affordable! I got into the suppressor game last year and while they’re nice in their own right, they’re much more expensive and that tax stamp is just stupid! I’m thinking I should try one for the targets and save the suppressors for field use. I’ve noticed critters reacting less urgently to the “puff” of a suppressor vs the crack of a standard barrel.

For what its worth mine hated Hornady American whitetail ammo.

Riverrat wrote:

I use a linear comp on one of my .22. It sounds like it has a silencer from the shooters pov and people sitting nearby. Everything is blasted straight forward. On my Bushmaster it goes down. Which is a shame because I’m usually on a bipod for that on the ground and then is blasts back. Brakes designed to reduce recoil push things back to reduce recoil.

Interesting. I put one of those on a .22 I have that came with a threaded barrel. I was hoping it’d make things quieter at night if I shot out of windows at coyotes, coons, skunks, etc out here in the sticks. I couldn’t discern much of any difference.