Through hole diameter and effectiveness of a break

There are a ton of muzzle brakes on the market all are pretty effective at reducing muzzle jump and recoil. I have made a ton of different brakes for the muzzleloaders I build and all my competition guns have muzzle brakes. We are not allowed to use any brake that angles the gas towards the rear of the gun or shooter so we cannot use a big tank type brake which is probably the most effective design, all other designs fall into about the same performance level and noise level

Normally you bore the brake .030 over caliber size I have tried .010 to .030 don't see any difference in accuracy or muzzle jump or recoil. Also the diameter and the amount of holes you put in a brake reaches a point of no return past two rows of holes the first two the most important. I use .250 diameter holes on all my brakes doesn't matter if its a 6mm or a .338 that works well. radial brake design works well and I turn all my brakes to match the contour of the barrel I do not like a big bulb hanging off the end of my barrels other people do and that's ok.

So the bottom line is just about every brake design I have seen works better than not having any brake but there is no magic brake out there the ones in the video seem to be doing a good job.

i had always thought .020 over groove diameter was required as the largest it could be before they lost effectiveness . I guess this isnt so !!!

Regardless of what some say the tactical side port brakes are more effective at reducing recoil, at least that's what my shoulder tells me and a lot of other guys that shoot these beasts, and yes some side port brakes are substantially more effective than others.

Some can not tell a difference? I can. take a 10 lb overall weight gun with a 300 grain bullet at 2900 fps it will let you know in a hurry what works after an extended firing session, even with the best brakes it will still get your attention, with a less than stellar brake? a few shots is all you want.

If you just hunt and occasionally kill paper just about any brake will suffice but if you sit down and shoot 15-20 shots at a time it matters, especially with a light gun/robust load or the very high speed/heavy bullet loads we are shooting these days.

Bullet weight and gasses are what creates the recoil. You can redirect the gasses, but you cannot redirect the bullet, so when you install a brake on a 6.5 Creedmoor shooting a 140 grain bullet the recoil is practically zero, install the same brake on a 45 caliber smokeless muzzle loader shooting a 300 grain bullet and the recoil is noticeably different. Even though you directed 90% of the gasses produced by both rifles out the side ports of the brake the energy produced by the bullet is still pushing straight back on the shooters shoulder.

As a general rule of thumb, most custom builders use .020 over bullet diameter to get the most efficiency from the muzzle brake. In the case with the muzzle loader using a loading funnel we go .042 over bullet diameter. This is because we need enough room for the loading funnel to slip through the brake. At .042 over this only leaves us with a .020 or so wall thickness on the funnel stem. Any less than that and your stem would be very week and crush easily.

You have to be careful when you watch and listen to these people promoting muzzle brakes on YouTube. Sure, they want to make their brake look like it is the most effective. That can easily be done. Let’s say they have the funky design, and they want to sell it for $250.00. So, they take the competitors brake and bore the exit hole out .100 over bullet diameter and keep their exit hole at .020 over bullet diameter. Then they shoot both brakes in a special designed recoil measuring device, and of course their brakes wins. Would we the people watching the video ever know the exit hole on the competitor’s brake was bored way oversize. No, we would not.

Now, I have done a lot of research on muzzle brakes, and I have made 1000's of them. In no way should a 3-inch-long muzzle brake cost you the same money as a 30-inch Brux barrel. I just finished a new self timing tactical style muzzle brake that I am selling for $85.00, the competition is selling a muzzle brake, the same size with a different cut out design for $180.00. I can almost guarantee you that when compared side by side you will not be able to see any noticeable difference in recoil. However, the other company uses marketing schemes to get people to pay twice as much cash as they should. I would rather sell twice as many brakes, keep my employees working, my machines running and have happy customers.