Has anyone ever had…

[NJRaised]

Anyone ever had a muzzle brake negatively affect accuracy?

I have my rifle absolutely dialed in. It’s a 223, and I’m debating putting a hellfire on it. It’s really not needed for recoil, I’m more concerned with dinging up the crown on instacles.

I don’t want to have to find new load data or screw with it anymore if the brake affects accuracy

 

[nn8734]

The brake doesn’t affect “accuracy” as accuracy is dependent on performance of the entire system and shooter.

If you’re asking whether the addition of a brake can cause a poi shift or change the way the rifle groups, then yes its possible. Though I haven’t seen it too much…it depends on how massive your brake is.

Only one way know for sure.

 

[NJRaised]

I’m ok with a POI shift, I don’t mind changing my zero. I just don’t want to have to start load data and seating depth all over again.

My rifle is shooting near one hole groups, and I don’t want to change my load data. Took a while to get here.

 

[nn8734]

Then I wouldn’t mess with it but its your call.

 

[NJRaised]

Yeah, that’s how I feel. My concern is running barricades and pushing my rifle into ports, I don’t wanna ding my crown.

 

[nn8734]

Rock and hard place…try it and see what happens.

 

[crankythunder]

I would advise against it. I shoot competition and I put a muzzle brake on my competition pistol and it seriously affected the accuracy. Most of my competitions are 50 foot and 25 yards and the more I shot through the compensator, the worst the accuracy got.

I also put a muzzle brake on my 52c competition gun. Groups opened up from 0.200 at 50 yards to 0.34 although that could have been from effecting the barrel harmonics with the additional weight on the end of the barrel.

 

[Bacarrat]

Anytime you add something to the gun, especially the barrel, it can affect how it shoots. I have had it happen to a couple of my barrels. I just had this happen to me when adding the keymo mount setup to my 300NM, took it off and went direct thread and the problem went away. Long time ago I put a LB brake on my 6.5SAUM and the groups went to shit. Took it off and put a suppressor on and it fixed itself.

 

[Defender32]

EC Tuner Brake and tune the load back 1 whole.

 

[SmartDonkey]

I wouldn't mess with it on a 223 to prevent a damaged crown that may or may not ever happen. In my personal experience crowns are tougher than what you read- and small damage has also had less of an impact than stated.

 

[Kra961]

Anyone ever had a muzzle brake negatively affect accuracy?

I have my rifle absolutely dialed in. It’s a 223, and I’m debating putting a hellfire on it. It’s really not needed for recoil, I’m more concerned with dinging up the crown on instacles.

I don’t want to have to find new load data or screw with it anymore if the brake affects accuracy

Unless I'm completely misunderstanding the issue just put a thread protector on it.

 

[Wannashootit]

Is the muzzle already threaded? If so, screw on a thread protector...
If not, I'd say eff it. Not worth the cost/effort to thread it- and you need to be careful threading if it's a skinny contour at the muzzle as it can bell-mouth the bore and affect accuracy.

 

[OREGUN]

Is the muzzle already threaded?

 

[nn8734]

Unless I'm completely misunderstanding the issue just put a thread protector on it.

He’s worried about the crown moreso than the threads.

Bottom line: he should try a brake if it’s not too costly to see if it’s impact on the rifle’s precision potential is neutral. If so, he’s solved his problem. If not, he still has work to do.

 

[supercorndogs]

I wouldn't mess with it on a 223 to prevent a damaged crown that may or may not ever happen. In my personal experience crowns are tougher than what you read- and small damage has also had less of an impact than stated.

People always think things much softer than steel are going to damage steel.

I wouldn't worry about just to reduce the chance of crown damage. I also would expect your load is still going to shoot just fine. In my experience its not very hard to get a 223 to shoot well.

 

[brazz04]

Thread titles like this are the worst.

 

[NJRaised]

Thread titles like this are the worst.

Sorry?

 

[NJRaised]

It already has a blended thread protector. My concern was the last match I shot I was sticking it into ports and windows and I just wanna minimize the chance of banging my muzzle on something and ruining the crown. I figured a brake would protect the crown nicely.

 

[Ronin_64]

I would only add that if you do end up putting some type of muzzle device on, don’t over torque it. That will negatively affect barrel.

Ronin

 

[357Max]

It already has a blended thread protector. My concern was the last match I shot I was sticking it into ports and windows and I just wanna minimize the chance of banging my muzzle on something and ruining the crown. I figured a brake would protect the crown nicely.

Just put a brake on it with a bigger bore like a 308. Less chance it will screw up the load.

I have a 6.5 that shot Berger factory match 140Hybrid like shit (2+moa), switched brakes & same ammo was .5 moa. For what it’s worth the 3 port shot like shit & 4 port fixed it. Brakes were very close in weight, but the 4 port did have more bore clearance.

 

[OREGUN]

It already has a blended thread protector. My concern was the last match I shot I was sticking it into ports and windows and I just wanna minimize the chance of banging my muzzle on something and ruining the crown. I figured a brake would protect the crown nicely.

A brake from a reputable manufacturer, like Area 419, ACE Precision, Hawkins, or APA, is not going change your rifle’s accuracy, precision or consistency. It might change your POI a little bit and it might change your ability to spot shots/follow through. Since the barrel is threaded already, you should try the brake of your choosing. I’ll bet you see no change or an improvement once POI/POA are normalized again in zeroing.

I don’t think it would be worth threading an unthreaded barrel that shoots well just to run a brake as a crown protector. The risks posed by threading far out way the risks posed to the crown with even aggressive match use.

IF IT WAS ME, I would not use a brake, like the hellfire, that mounted to an adapter which screwed to the barrel. I would use something like the others I mentioned, that thread directly to the barrel with a self timing nut. But, Area 419 makes good equipment and I’m just superstitious about stacking multiple threaded things up around my bore. Good muzzle threads and good adapter threads and good brake threads should make good bore alignment. Should.

 

[ACard]

A brake from a reputable manufacturer, like Area 419, ACE Precision, Hawkins, or APA, is not going change your rifle’s accuracy, precision or consistency. It might change your POI a little bit and it might change your ability to spot shots/follow through. Since the barrel is threaded already, you should try the brake of your choosing. I’ll bet you see no change or an improvement once POI/POA are normalized again in zeroing.

I don’t think it would be worth threading an unthreaded barrel that shoots well just to run a brake as a crown protector. The risks posed by threading far out way the risks posed to the crown with even aggressive match use.

IF IT WAS ME, I would not use a brake, like the hellfire, that mounted to an adapter which screwed to the barrel. I would use something like the others I mentioned, that thread directly to the barrel with a self timing nut. But, Area 419 makes good equipment and I’m just superstitious about stacking multiple threaded things up around my bore. Good muzzle threads and good adapter threads and good brake threads should make good bore alignment. Should.

This ^^^^

 

[brazz04]

Sorry?

What’s the question? Shit thread title. Any useful info in this thread will now be buried for anyone to find. Again, thread titles like this are the worst.

 

[OREGUN]

What’s the question? Shit thread title. Any useful info in this thread will now be buried for anyone to find. Again, thread titles like this are the worst.

Despite Fudd lore to the contrary, Internet forums are not long term repositories of wisdom, permanent records of product market value, or even cultural archives. Who cares about the title? He got his answer. He could delete the thread and save server capacity and future generations would not be diminished in any way.

 

[JAS-SH]

A Brake makes the gun a lot louder to you and the shooters next to you. They are also a pain in the ass to clean well - cleaning it gets old quick....

I always say "If it shoots don't F*** with it." Just enjoy it!

If you still want a brake, put a light one on, like the 3-port per side Area 419 Hellfire. It is loud though. And, make sure it's black - hides the carbon crud better.

Last, fixing minor damage on a crown ain't rocket science. It's a DIY thing - the few that I've seen don't have to be re-cut.

 

[OREGUN]

Wait a minute….you clean you brakes?

 

[JAS-SH]

Wait a minute….you clean you brakes?

I did when I used them. The carbon crud, if not cleaned, could narrow the bullet path opening or get loose from recoil and fall into the path of the bullet.