Recoil, What is it?
There are
two kinds of recoil present in every firearm.
First is the
recoil produced by the bullet being sent down the Barrel. It can only be
affected by Reducing or
increasing the velocity of the bullet or adding or subtracting weight to the
firearm.
Next is the
gas produced by burning powder pushing the bullet down the barrel and exiting At The Muzzle. This causes a jet effect (Thrust) causing Additional Recoil . This is the recoil that can be
managed by some type of muzzle brake or recoil device.
What kinds of recoil devices are there?
The most common is the recoil pad. Recoil pads mostly increase the contact area to the shoulder and distribute the recoil making it less painful. As far as actually reducing recoil, It is very inefficient . While doing the recoil test we found at most, the recoil was reduced by 1 to 2 ft/lbs. There are many different types of recoil reducing devices starting with a Mercury device that installs in the butt stock. These devices don’t effect the recoil as much as they effect the recoil velocity by adding weight. The amount of recoil reduction is hard to measure with this device. Next would be when vents are machined into the barrel. This type of recoil management will improve recoil by somewhere around 15 to 20 % depending on the method used. Then there are muzzle brakes. They normally range from 30% to 50% depending on their design. This is a lot if you think about it. The ability to remove 50% of the gas recoil is huge, and will enable people to manage a much more powerful firearm comfortably.
What makes your brake different from the rest?
With a totally new concept design we were able to improve the recoil reduction by 10% on average and with tuning the brake to a specific cartridge we added another 10% for a total of 72 % and 98% gas recoil reduction.
With gas recoil being the only recoil we can improve on (The inertial recoil is effected by other things discussed earlier and for all practical porpoises fixed). We are left with the amount of gas recoil available depending on the ratio of gas to bullet recoil. We have found the range to be around 50:50 to 73:27 in the largest over bored cartridges. So the most recoil reduction can only be 97 to 98% of the gas recoil.
An example would be a rifle that has a ratio of 70:30, 70% being the gas recoil and 30% being the bullet recoil. Said rifle has 100 ft/lbs of recoil energy as is. If the muzzle brake has a 98% efficiency it would reduce total recoil of the rifle around 68 Ft/Lbs reducing total recoil to 30.0 ft/lbs. If the brake is less efficient and can reduce gas recoil by 45 Ft lbs the rifle would have a total recoil of 55 Ft/lbs.
In the case of some very powerful cartridges a muzzle brake can mean the difference of Shooting it or not. The 50 BMG is a fine example of this. In some rifles the recoil would be about 115.0 Ft/lbs of recoil without a brake, and with a brake that managed to reduce that by 60% recoil would be reduced to 55 Ft/lbs (Not pleasant but very manageable)
How much recoil is to much?
Most people find anything over 20 to 25 Ft/lbs is beyond there comfort level. (They can handle More but prefer the 20 ft/lb range).
I have read many articles about recoil tolerance and I don’t believe that size and toughness has anything to do with anyone’s ability to handle recoil. I think it has more to do with your nervous system. I can and do handle up to 80 to 85 ft/lbs of recoil but don’t consider myself any tougher than others. Also the bigger a person is the more recoil he has to absorb, so big has nothing to do with it ether in my opinion.
What makes your brake any better?
My muzzle brakes are designed to be Tuned to a cartridge and load for maximum performance.
The Assassin is a custom brake and not a generic muzzle brake (one style fits all) It was designed to squeeze every bit of recoil reduction out of a rifle/cartridge combination .
It also re directs the gas and sound away from the shooter, reducing the DB level and the muzzle blast effect.
The un tuned version can average 60% as is, compared to 35% to 50% of other brakes. The tuned version can add another 10 % making it capable of 72 % on some cartridges.
No other muzzle Brake can/has been Tuned because they are made for all calibers/cartridges.
So If you have a custom rifle or just a very hard kicking rifle, it is the most efficient muzzle brake available.
This is not just talk, Test have proved it over and over and the videos show proof of such claimes
Why are muzzle brakes louder?
Sound is another issue with muzzle brakes. Like many people, I always thought that muzzle brakes were louder than firearms without brakes. Through testing with a DB meter we found that there was no difference in the level of noise just a difference in the perceived noise level because the brake directed the sound backwards or closer to the shooter.
The conclusion was that ear protection should be worn on all firearms brake or no brake because DB levels over 80 can do permanent damage to the ears and the lowest DB levels we saw was 105 DB with the tuned Assassin Still too much without hearing protection.
The main benefit to any type of recoil reduction is that it allows shooters to enjoy shooting more and in many cases accuracy is improved because of shooter comfort and the ability to concentrate on the task at hand without concerning himself with recoil and the effects of it.
There are lots of claims of reduced recoil that are inflated and some that are very close to the actual claimed. Only testing will give an accurate % and because of the different tolerance of recoil by different people, Perception is not a good way to measure the performance of a brake or some type of recoil device. Our recoil test bed, test the rifle as it is ready to shoot with everything on it in order to give real world results. everything you place on a rifle can/will effect the recoil value.
What is the smallest barrel contour I can install a brake on ?
This question has come up time and time again, So hear is the rule of thumb I use to be on the safe side. Start with the caliber and then measure the barrel diameter at the muzzle. This chart is based on a MINIMUM barrel wall thickness after threading to safely handle the pressure. .224 bore needs .563 barrel diameter./ .244 bore needs .583 barrel diameter./ .257 bore needs .597 barrel diameter. .264 bore needs .604 barrel diameter./ .277 bore needs .617 barrel diameter./ .284 bore needs .624 barrel diameter. .308 bore needs .648 barrel diameter./ .323 bore needs .663 barrel diameter./ .338 bore needs .678 barrel diameter. .350 bore needs .690 barrel diameter./ .375 bore needs .715 barrel diameter./ .400 bore needs .740 barrel diameter. .416 bore needs .756 barrel diameter./ .425 bore needs .765 barrel diameter./ .458 bore needs .798 barrel diameter. Muzzle brakes do assist in supporting the barrel wall thickness. but can't be relied on because of different threads and thread fit. Safety is the main reason I share this information and whether it is used or not is up to the reader.
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