Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Higher velocity with muzzle break?

I would agree it was being "Defiant" 😁 My truck has "breaks" and when I apply them it never speeds up 😂

Don't all the effects of using a brake happen after the bullet has left the muzzle and the brake alters the flow of the gasses escaping behind the bullet?

Okay.............ummmm

Trystan - Hanco - Pete 53 = Trystan - Hanco - Pete 53

Yea campfire.


Jerry

Yes, but if the expanding gasses in the barrel only push the rifle rearward when the bullet is in the barrel, would brakes have any effect at all?

I’m not so sure about all this. Muzzle velocity is not relative to the position of the bore. It’s relative to the fixed position of the measuring device.

"... you would in theory see the maximum velocity possible because more energy is available to push the bullet down the barrel rather than being used to push the rifle rearward."

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Doesn't matter where your butt is.

This is your main problem.

The muzzle brake diverted a lot of the blast, but the bare muzzle probably allowed gas to reach the chrono. Muzzle blast definitely messes with the readings on optical chronographs, and the Shooting Chrony brand seems to be more sensitive to stuff like that.

My suggestions - step back to ~20 yards (not feet) to eliminate muzzle blast issues and try again. I get more consistent results standing at least 10-15 yards away with magnum rifles, and a little farther is better.

Also, buy a better chrono when you get a chance. For about the same price the Pro Chrono DLX is pretty good, or you can spend a lot more of course.

Yes. After the bullet leaves the barrel, the gasses push forward on the brake; that force counters some of the rifle's rearward movement.

Think of it like this:
You have your car in reverse, and want to back up at a certain speed. You stab the throttle and it jumps backward too much, so you then apply the brake to slow it down a little. The brakes in your car are doing the same thing as a muzzle brake. (and the word brake means the same concept in both cases.)

Yes. Sorry for the confusion, my point was that the difference in muzzle blast directed toward the chrono between braked and un-braked can mess with the readings of two bullets of identical velocity.

Yes, thank you. I don't know what I was thinking when I posted 20 feet. I typically have the chrono set at 15-30 meters to completely eliminate any problems related to muzzle blast. That should have read 20 yards, not 20 feet, though 20 feet is a lot better than 11 feet

This is very true, and the bullet's velocity should be the same either way. The rifle is set in motion and gains momentum while the bullet is in the bore, and when the bullet leaves the bore, the rifle has a certain amount of rearward velocity. This is regardless of whether or not there is a brake on the muzzle. This answers MCMXI's point about conservation of momentum affecting the bullet's velocity. Then after the bullet exits the muzzle, the blast radiates outward from the muzzle and hits the ports of the brake, pushing the rifle forward, as Yondering described, but that takes place after the bullet has exited the muzzle and has stopped being accelerated by the pressurized gas in the bore.