muzzle breaks?

[Spitpatch]

Double dee, you are right with regard to brakes such as applied to AR's: many of them are designed to vent only toward the top. However, most sporting brakes (applied to bolt guns, etc.) are not. They are symmetrical with their vents, with full radius direction of vented gasses. My own experience with Vic Talmo's brake, and integral brake machined into my .25 Bullberry barrel on my custom Contender are examples at hand. Bartlett's Vais brake (accepted as the current "very best" for bolt sporters) is likewise symmetrical, requiring no "indexing". Granted: a brake that vents only to the top would reduce what you call "dust signature" (my previously mentioned problem with debris disturbance from the ground), but most brakes made for sporting-type guns are not done as such. I believe that a "directionally vented" brake, as you claim is "universal" is actually quite unusual amongst suppliers to the sporting-bolt fraternity. I think this is the case because a full-radius brake may actually do its job (of recoil reduction) better (more vents). A directional brake (to the top) would perhaps reduce muzzle-climb during rapid (semi-auto or full auto) fire better, hence its frequency in the military-gun offerings. One "directional brake" that has found great acceptance in the sporting-gun fraternity is the Magna-Port, which is actually vertical vents machined into the barrel itself. This idea was originally applied to handguns (where muzzle rise is a specific issue as with auto rifles). It was later successfully applied to sporting-bolt guns and many other styles of weapons. We recently lost the inventor, quite possibly the most accomplished handgun hunter on the planet, but his firm is going strong, with many hard devotees to his idea.

My own experience with brakes on my personal guns is limited to my two described. However, I have seen (and shot) numerous sporting bolt guns with brakes installed, and none of them are directional. ALL are full-radius brakes.

 

[DirectDrive]

Double dee, you are right with regard to brakes such as applied to AR's: many of them are designed to vent only toward the top. However, most sporting brakes (applied to bolt guns, etc.) are not. They are symmetrical with their vents, with full radius direction of vented gasses. My own experience with Vic Talmo's brake, and integral brake machined into my .25 Bullberry barrel on my custom Contender are examples at hand. Bartlett's Vais brake (accepted as the current "very best" for bolt sporters) is likewise symmetrical, requiring no "indexing". Granted: a brake that vents only to the top would reduce what you call "dust signature" (my previously mentioned problem with debris disturbance from the ground), but most brakes made for sporting-type guns are not done as such. I believe that a "directionally vented" brake, as you claim is "universal" is actually quite unusual amongst suppliers to the sporting-bolt fraternity. I think this is the case because a full-radius brake may actually do its job (of recoil reduction) better. A directional brake (to the top) would perhaps reduce muzzle-climb during rapid (semi-auto or full auto) fire better, hence its frequency in the military-gun offerings.

I'll agree to firmly disagree

 

[Spitpatch]

Okay, but without examples or specifics, I can only begin by assuming you disagree with my first five words, and go from there.

 

[jer fly]

It's not hard to take a look at the large selection of brakes at brownells and see for yourself that a lot brakes do have a top and bottom. Muzzle rise and dust signature are very important features for sporting rifles, if you ever shoot prone, or want to see bullet impact at extend ranges. My personal brake was installed by curt mendenhall of sutherlin OR. it looks similar to the holland brake but has a extra baffle and no ports in the top. My friend has the holland and mine has less muzzle blast effect.