In reality a brake does not make the gun-blast noisier; what it does is to port lots of the same noise straight to the sides all the way around. The rest of the noise continues forward out the muzzle.
The same thing happens when shooting a ported large caliber handgun, except that not as much noise come out the sides and top since it does not have approximately 30 small holes all the way around the barrel's end like a KDF brake does. However, with handguns that have short barrels, sometimes the noise coming out the ports could be closer to the shooter's ears than some rifles with long barrels. This is not always the case, just sometimes (depending on barrel and shooter's arm length).
If one shoots a ported handgun indoors, the noise is reflected back to the shooter not only from the front wall, but from the roof or sides (from whichever direction the ports face). If it's a braked rifle being fired indoors, the noise reflected toward the shooter will be from the roof, walls, floor, and also from the front wall. If the same rifle is shot in a canyon that has high walls (gun pointed in a parallel direction to the walls), the noise going straight-up dissipates as much as the noise coming out the muzzle, but the noise out the sides and the ground will be reflected toward the shooter. Not only that, but the noise reflected from the canyon wall closest to the shooter will hit that side of the shooter's head (ear) with greater force.
I shoot a .454 Casull that has been Magna-Ported, and believe me when I tell you that it's loud. I can say the same for a Winchester shotgun I have. It has a pistol grip instead of stock, and the barrel is 18" long. Since I have to shoot this shotgun with the pistol grip almost resting on my stomach, the blast out the muzzle is quite high.
Does anybody here shoots big handguns like the .454 and larger that are ported? How about .45-caliber pistols that are ported?
Last edited by Ray; 10/20/07.
