Re: anyone link me to comprehensive muzzle brake tests
Try Varmint Al's take on Muzzle brakes here
http://www.www.varmintal.com/ashot.htm
I'll add this. I have tried many different muzzle brake brands, for many different calibers. Each company represents their designs as the best, because their is little data from existing research to measure felt recoil.
There are also different types of designs for brakes specific to the type of shooting you are doing.
I've tried the Holland, Ops Inc, VAIS, Shrewd and KDF.
For instance, prone shooters don't typically want ports forcing the gas downward due to the dirt / dust it disturbs.
If this is a hunting or semi- auto gun making mostly standing shots, you want to expel the most amount of gas the quickest, and that is usually done with ports expelling gas in all directions.
I developed my own brake design for BIG Bore rifles and it is extremely effective. I tried several different designs tweaked from existing products, but settled on a design that what uniquely my own. I also found that different cartridges and barrel lengths influence the design of the brake. On Big Bore rifles and handguns you can only reduce the recoil a little bit, maybe only 20% due to the type and powder burn rate. Magnum rifle's can definitely benefit from a proper brake. The KDF brake, and the stock BOSS system brakes work very well for hunting rigs. Also the stock brake put on Armalite's AR-10's work surprisingly well.
Whatever brake you choose, make sure it can come off if you shoot at Club's. Many Clubs wont allow a brake if the shooting lanes are too confined or covered.
I suppose in order to complete a comprehensive felt-recoil reduction test, someone would have to have several rifles in popular calibers where recoil becomes an annoyance, (7mm Mags on up) install a particular brake on each one, shoot, measure felt recoil reduction, hack off an inch of the barrel, retest, etc. It would be <span style="font-style: italic">very</span> time consuming, and very expensive.
I am experimenting with my Big Bore design to use on magnum rifle calibers. It needs an extra port, and the size and angle of porting is yet to be determined.
Brakes that offer 360 degree venting are not affected by removing and replacing on a regular basis. Over time, the threads will stretch and wear making the timing of the brake to tighten up to 90 degrees farther than when it was first installed. Brakes that have NO downward ports, must be "timed" so the ports point in the same direction each time, and because of the timing issue, they should not be removed and replaced with too much frequency.
The majority of the Gunsmiths I work with, make their own brakes, with their own designs for a particular cartridge, rifle, rifle weight, and firing position. Unless the customer requests a particular pre-manufactured brake, the 'Smith will make one from scratch, usually using a cut portion of a shot out barrel as the blank.
I hope this helped a little.
