Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Brakes vs thread protector

Long story short, I acquired a new cva cascade in.300wm. I fired 3 rounds of factory ammo with Berger bullets. Nice 1.5 inch triangle. I then followed with 5 factory terminal Ascent bullets which went into about an inch or 1.25 . It was Windy so quit there.

I decided to clean it after the first 8 rounds. It seemed a bit gunked up
So I jb bore pasted and cleaned it well and dyna tek bore coated it.

I fired 10 curing rounds today using a brake from a cva 308 that I never used it on. All 10 went into 1.5 inch group. The brake tamed recoil a bit, but the repercussion gave me a headache even with ear protection. These were norma.whitetail 150 gr. rounds.

I guess I am surprised to have such a good group when curing and using a brake. Just curious about others experience with brakes. Do you typically get better or worse precision with a brake.

I didn't care for the repercussion more than the felt recoil on the shoulder. I generally don't use brakes. But might try if it helps improve accuracy. Thanks for your thoughts.

I never tried to compare with and without, for group size or placement!

After shooting my rifle a couple of times (weeks apart) in simulated hunting conditions using a brake and no ear protection……that would never become an issue! memtb

Good result.

Think I would rather try a blast diverter than a brake. Especially a brake that increases blast to shooter and those next to them. I don't appreciate braked magnums next to me on the range!

A properly installed brake won’t affect accuracy generally IME.

On the other hand I now consider properly installed to mean in the garbage can. I cannot abide the blast and increase in noise. If I can’t shoot it naked I’ll either adapt a suppressor to work or sell the rifle.

I hate the noise as well. If the concussion is that bad, like coming back at you, that is immediate terms of removal!!!! I pulled the one off of one of my Tikka CTR's. While it did reduce recoil, it was obnoxiously loud. Most guys at my clubs are going to suppressors these days. With the rifle I removed the brake from, I just ended up putting a thread protector back on it.

I also agree, a brake is not going to help improve accuracy, unless the recoil intimidates you or you are scared of it.

At one of my clubs, some of them are so obnoxious that when we are shooting slow fire comps, I step away from the bench, let them shoot, and then finish up with my target.

You'll know when your braked rifle is too loud and obnoxious, when you get comments like, "that's excessive, don't you think?".

Adding weight to the end of a barrel reduces barrel whip and generally improves accuracy.

I don’t see much difference in accuracy or POI change on my daughter’s Tikka 6.5 PRC. She shoots with the brake on and hunts without the brake

Yeah, I borrowed the brake to try it out. It's going bye bye. Recoil isn't bad without it. It's curious that poi is about the same as the other rounds without the brake. My picture got rotated 90 degrees clockwise. My group was centered about an inch high.

I'm gonna ditch the brake and work up a load. Guess I'm just excited that this shows promise. I understand that bore coating can bugger accuracy for a few shots until it's broken in.

Picked this up to be my elk rifle should I get to go in a year or so. Gonna try some hand loads from the reloading sticky and see what it does. Appreciate the comments. Thanks.

Get a suppressor

Can you do that without being finger printed? I don't have a record.....eh, not since turning 18 anyway. But prefer to stay under the radar...

It also reduces the amount of blast that perturbs and temporarily destabilizes the bullet upon muzzle exit.

You’ll be finger printed. But if you join the military you’ll be finger-printed. If you want to have foster kids you’ll be finger printed. They will get your finger prints, sooner or later.

The reason I haven't gotten much into suppressors is partly political: Contrary to what most here believe about European gun laws, in most countries you can go into any gun store and buy a suppressor for less than $200, without any BS dealing with government regulations. You just take it to counter and pay.

This is because in most countries suppressors are considered simple good manners, eliminating noise when hunting. And a lot of European hunting takes place near towns, or country houses.

But the U.S. requires all sorts of BS just to own ONE--a holdover from the "gangster" days of the Depression--which also adds to the cost. I can shoot dozens of rifles with ear protection costing far less....

Thanks Mule Deer. You should be a lobbyist. Not that I'd wish that on anyone.

I'm too old and diabetic to join the military....not that they couldn't use my help.....

At 55+ I'm not thinking we'll adopt. Other than a dog. Of course "they" probably have them from the phone I'm typing this on.....

I'm just getting started. I'm sure I can find a load without the brake. I didn't even try the norma factory loads without the brake. I just know I didn't like it. Been shooting.300 WM since I was 13. I don't mind it

My friends who shoot PD’s with me all had suppressors. So I bought a banish 30. Just for kicks I threaded a 30-06. I was happy with the reduced recoil and noise. It felt like something between a 223 & a 243. So I bought a banish 45. Now I have the 375H&H AI and the 375 Whelen AI and the 35 Whelen all threaded. Plus I have a 30-06, a 270, a 280, a 22-250AI, a 223, & a 204 threaded. I suspect that I’ll have more threaded.
When I shoot the bigger rifles with a suppressor I hear the bullets hit the target. The suppressors seem to reduce recoil better than the brakes I’ve used.
When we’re out shooting PD’s we don’t usually wear hearing protection - it’s not really needed.
I agree the government is backwards on suppressors.
MD, I thought I read an article by you on suppressors.

Speaking of the .300 Win Mag, I have an Ed Brown Damara and it came from the factory with a brake. I don't really like brakes and it's my only gun so equipped.

Ed has stated that his light weight magnums shoot better with brakes, and I'll have to take his word for it. BTW, Ed shut down his rifle line to concentrate on his line of fine 1911's.

This gun has a Shilen barrel, Jewell trigger, McM made stock (to Ed's design), premium finishes, generally is very well done. I can usually find something to improve about any gun, not this one.

Instead of the standard 3.4" mag, this one has a 3.6" mag, so one can load longer COAL rounds and the throat is so designed. It's about as perfect out of the box as any gun I have.

It has Ed's proprietary 704 action, which is round bolt like a M-700, but controlled round feed like a M-70.

In 2014 Trop Manufacturing acquired Mark Bansner's Ultimate Rifles and High-Tech Specialties Stocks to form Legendary Arms Works (LAW) for production of 704 rifles. There were mixed reviews, QC issues and I'm not sure they're still in business. I'm glad I got an original. Ed's price point was around $4K (I traded for this one, didn't pay that), LAW tried to go for a considerably lower price point, with less expensive components. It wasn't the same.

Some may want to chime in on their experiences with LAW rifles, would like to hear it.


DF

I fought the urge and now own a few.

Easier on bystanders.

I really don't see the big deal of shooting with a brake on if seeing hits is important to you or if you want to use heavies and want to shoot a lot with a lighter rifle without getting the [bleep] knocked out of you. Use hearing protection which you should be using anyways.

Suppressors are nice but add much more weight and length than brakes.

I started hunting suppressed last year and now won't hunt without one, it's a game changer for me but I know many hunters don't really care one way or the other. I shot a doe in GA Saturday and the doe with her just looked around wondering what happened. I much prefer the shooting experience, I have three and buying a 4th soon.

Some guys at camp were shooting hogs with infrared scopes all hours of the night, that was a great opportunity for suppressed shooting as the shots rang out near and far. Farmer/property owner said he could hear the rifle report at 2:30 AM (he wasn't unhappy as the hogs are destroying his fields and the boys got six).

I will say the paperwork is like nothing I've ever experienced, fingerprints, background check, lots of forms and wait, wait, wait! There's no staying under the radar with this process but I suppose it's worth it, for me anyway.