Thoughts on the PVA "Jet Blast" - ULTRALIGHT

[Jknox1030]

What are your thoughts on the PVA Aluminum Alloy Ultralight Jet Blast?

Would you have any worries about the brake being Aluminum vs Stainless?

My rig is a bit front heavy (for a central balance point) and was thinking it might take a few ounces off to help with the balance point. Also, PVA is running a sale on them right now.

thanks in advance.

Jon

 

[drwood96]

I’m sure it’s a good break but don’t see the need for it outside of mountain hunting or mammoth style matches were every ounces counts. I’ll be surprised if you saved enough weight to help balance the rifle. Also now they are prone to loosing up during a match or long range session.

If I was PVA, I would have spent that time restoring the company’s reputation. Their customer service failures will be case studies at colleges in the future.

 

[Tchitcherine]

Looks like a good fit for lightweight rig eg. Q Fix w/ Proof CF.

 

[Codiekfx400]

The pva brakes do not loosen up if they are tightened with a wrench. I know Josh says you can hand tighten them but in my experience you can not. Use a wrench and your good to go. I think it’s a great brake for someone who needs less weight. As far as customer service goes well pva is growing fast and they are trying to adapt as best as they can.

 

[Jknox1030]

Would you have any concerns with the durability of the aluminum vs stainless?

 

[gnochi]

Would you have any concerns with the durability of the aluminum vs stainless?

Yes. I spend a lot of time blowing up batteries, and a 21700 in thermal runaway will blow straight through a quarter-inch aluminum plate. You can block it with 1/32in steel.

For reference, that’s 50 grams of grit and 50 liters of gas at Mach 2 at 1600C.

 

[craigos]

The pva brakes do not loosen up if they are tightened with a wrench. I know Josh says you can hand tighten them but in my experience you can not. Use a wrench and your good to go. I think it’s a great brake for someone who needs less weight. As far as customer service goes well pva is growing fast and they are trying to adapt as best as they can.

I have hand tightened mine only and its never come loose.

 

[Codiekfx400]

I have hand tightened mine only and its never come loose.

You have some very strong hands sir.

 

[Jknox1030]

Yes. I spend a lot of time blowing up batteries, and a 21700 in thermal runaway will blow straight through a quarter-inch aluminum plate. You can block it with 1/32in steel.

For reference, that’s 50 grams of grit and 50 liters of gas at Mach 2 at 1600C.

That's a bit over my head, but I hear that you're uncomfortable with a brake being aluminum...

 

[gnochi]

That's a bit over my head, but I hear that you're uncomfortable with a brake being aluminum...

Yeah, aluminum doesn’t handle heat or abrasion particularly well, and the two in concert - like what’s coming out of the muzzle - just tear it to pieces. I’m not going to say it’s impossible to make an acceptable aluminum muzzle brake, but I’d be astounded if it lasted much longer than about 2 boxes of any bottlenecked rifle cartridges. That said, when you’re cutting ounces for a bighorn sheep rifle or similar, a couple boxes of ammo is all you need, and there are few inexpensive ways to do so.

@bohem and his team are clever, and they’re claiming ~2000rd life with 300WM through this brake. Again, I’m not going to say that’s not possible, but I am extremely skeptical and would be interested in seeing destructive test results. An aluminum muzzle brake was included in an AR muzzle device test (which I’m trying to track down again), and major erosion was visible after closer to 5 shots of 223.

Bohem, if you don’t mind, would you please answering the following for me?

• What barrel length of 300wm did you test?
• Which aluminum alloy are you using?

 

[b6graham]

2,000 rounds with a 300WM is a LOT of hunting

 

[Milepost]

I think the 2000 rounds thru it might be a bit optimistic but I'd bet it will run a thousand or better thru a 308 or short mag case with a reasonably long barrel. IMO- For a hunting rig it would be fine.
For those that shoot a lot but also hunt. I would suggest getting the steel AND the Aluminum version of the same brake, Use the steel for practice and extended shooting sessions and the aluminum one when out hunting....

 

[bohem]

I’m sure it’s a good break but don’t see the need for it outside of mountain hunting or mammoth style matches were every ounces counts. I’ll be surprised if you saved enough weight to help balance the rifle. Also now they are prone to loosing up during a match or long range session.

If I was PVA, I would have spent that time restoring the company’s reputation. Their customer service failures will be case studies at colleges in the future.

I agree with both of your points but let me address them 1 at a time. The brake was done for ultralight rifles. It saves approximately 2.5 oz which is similar to what a skeletonized Rem 700 with fluted bolt, skeletonized handle, sheep port and skeleonized rear bridge saves. It also does so without additional costs that normally wouldn't be spent on the rifle. Almost every sheep rifle I've seen and built has a brake on it of some kind. I never envisioned it to be a solution for an 18lb match rifle but rather for the 6lb sheep rifle that folks spend enormous sums to have the lightest, slimmest, most skeletonized, etc. rifle to carry. Most of these rifles get those mediocre performing radial brakes because they're very light. The Jetblast is big compared to them but still lighter and several times more effective at cutting recoil. Since most sheep rifles are also built in larger magnums they have a tendency to be harsh recoiling beasts. This brake is a good solution to bringing that into a more manageable realm for the majority of guys carrying them.

To the comment about customer service we are guilty of underestimating the amount of phone calls and emails last year and into this year. At this point Jeremy is caught up on emails, the phone is answered even outside of phone hours and our backlog is, with a few notable exceptions due to part shortages, caught up to less than 4 weeks back. That includes the large barrel sale we did over Independence Day weekend, those were given a guaranteed shipping date that looks like we're going to beat it by several weeks. On emails it's an ebb and flow fight constantly. As soon as we put out a blast on product availability or post something the emails flood and it takes him a couple days to catch up but on a rolling average he's been well caught up now for a few months.

Yeah, aluminum doesn’t handle heat or abrasion particularly well, and the two in concert - like what’s coming out of the muzzle - just tear it to pieces. I’m not going to say it’s impossible to make an acceptable aluminum muzzle brake, but I’d be astounded if it lasted much longer than about 2 boxes of any bottlenecked rifle cartridges. That said, when you’re cutting ounces for a bighorn sheep rifle or similar, a couple boxes of ammo is all you need, and there are few inexpensive ways to do so.

@bohem and his team are clever, and they’re claiming ~2000rd life with 300WM through this brake. Again, I’m not going to say that’s not possible, but I am extremely skeptical and would be interested in seeing destructive test results. An aluminum muzzle brake was included in an AR muzzle device test (which I’m trying to track down again), and major erosion was visible after closer to 5 shots of 223.

Bohem, if you don’t mind, would you please answering the following for me?

• What barrel length of 300wm did you test?
• Which aluminum alloy are you using?

You are right to be skeptical, we tried 7075 just on a lark to see if we could save some of the cost associated with the exotic stuff but it lasted under 1000 rds.. We tested it on my 300WM with a 24" barrel and after 1200rds the erosion in the first port aperture was a touch over 4 thousandths based on the pin gages. The testing was all done with raw material not anodized parts to get an idea of the aperture erosion. We added anodizing for the additional hard shell. I am not going to discuss the alloy or anodizing we're using for the obvious competition reasons. What I will say is it's a rather exotic aluminum alloy that is harder and stronger than 416 that we (and many others) make their brakes out of. Even in aerospace it's sparsely used due to cost but it is pretty nice to cut compared to stainless.

We have a couple of the brakes out with NDA'd beta testers that are over 3000rds of normal competition cartridges like 6.5 Creed without a performance degradation.

The pva brakes do not loosen up if they are tightened with a wrench. I know Josh says you can hand tighten them but in my experience you can not. Use a wrench and your good to go. I think it’s a great brake for someone who needs less weight. As far as customer service goes well pva is growing fast and they are trying to adapt as best as they can.

I appreciate the vote of confidence, I do believe we have made strides towards fixing the customer service and the lead times. With a small number of exceptions due to availability of vendor parts, we are nearly caught up with everything on the books, including the Independence Day sale from last weekend.

 

[gnochi]

You are right to be skeptical, we tried 7075 just on a lark to see if we could save some of the cost associated with the exotic stuff but it lasted under 1000 rds.. We tested it on my 300WM with a 24" barrel and after 1200rds the erosion in the first port aperture was a touch over 4 thousandths based on the pin gages. The testing was all done with raw material not anodized parts to get an idea of the aperture erosion. We added anodizing for the additional hard shell. I am not going to discuss the alloy or anodizing we're using for the obvious competition reasons. What I will say is it's a rather exotic aluminum alloy that is harder and stronger than 416 that we (and many others) make their brakes out of. Even in aerospace it's sparsely used due to cost but it is pretty nice to cut compared to stainless.

Consider me very impressed, then. Good work!

Professionally I design battery packs, and in one of my thermal tests a single 21700 cell blew a 3/8” hole straight through 1/4” of 6-series plate in about 2 seconds. A second cell pointed at that hole opened it up to almost 3/4”.

I have a few ideas of what you might have done, but sounds like I’ll just need to pick one up. For Science, and for a new deer rifle. Decisions, decisions...

 

[kabarNC]

I have a few rounds down thru mine, and will say the weight savings is noticable when hanging a brake on the end of a 26" barrel. Brake performs as good as its heavier counterpart as well.

 

[TACC]

I'm looking to put either the jet blast or the shockwave on a 22 inch 6.5 CM AR.

Has their been any testing done on semi's or just bolt guns?

 

[Jeeper48]

Dragging this back up, a year later does anyone have any more experience with these? Looking to go on my 280 AI tikka proof build that's in the works right now.

 

[iukamedic]

Also interested.

 

[SPAK]

I’ve been running one on my 300 wsm.... all I can say is ultralight is an understatement. When the box came in the mail I literally thought they mailed an empty box.

Performance has been really surprising for such a small and light muzzle brake. I’ve been really happy with it and wouldn’t hesitate to buy another or recommend it.

 

[Vamike9]

What are your thoughts on the PVA Aluminum Alloy Ultralight Jet Blast?

Would you have any worries about the brake being Aluminum vs Stainless?

My rig is a bit front heavy (for a central balance point) and was thinking it might take a few ounces off to help with the balance point. Also, PVA is running a sale on them right now.

thanks in advance.

Jon

The brakes are awesome, but much like others have said, customer service leaves a lot to be desired.
At least it was, now may be a different story.
They are worth the money for sure though!

 

[SPAK]

The brakes are awesome, but much like others have said, customer service leaves a lot to be desired.
At least it was, now may be a different story.
They are worth the money for sure though!

In the past year I’ve not had any issues with CS. Timely responses, spot on quotes on barrel lead times at 4-6weeks. Quick delivery with any brakes Or bullets I’ve bought as well. All the issues they had back in 2018-2019 have been well sorted it seems.

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

What are your thoughts on the PVA Aluminum Alloy Ultralight Jet Blast?

Would you have any worries about the brake being Aluminum vs Stainless?

My rig is a bit front heavy (for a central balance point) and was thinking it might take a few ounces off to help with the balance point. Also, PVA is running a sale on them right now.

thanks in advance.

Jon

I just put a review up of a 5 port titanium brake from Salmon River Solutions.
It's 2 oz and only 2" long, works every bit as good as the Terminator brakes

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

Here's the link
https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/ti-pro-brake-salmon-river-solutions.7012391/