Any real value of one over the other?

Have a 416Rigby Ruger that has been MagNaPorted. Recoil is reduced and muzzle rise is definitely reduced. Have shot lots of ported shotguns and they show definite reduction and muzzle flip. Have never fired a rifle with a brake that I can remember.

I have owned a couple of guns with each.
Muzzle brake: .458 Win Mag and .338 Win Mag
Magnaport: .416 Rigby and .338 Win Mag

They both reduce recoil.

Muzzle brakes seem more effective at reducing recoil. But they are ugly as sin. They make your gun longer (not something I look for in a DGR). When using in a dusty environment (like an African safari), the blast can kick up an incredible dust cloud.

Magnaporting is not quite as effective at reducing recoil. But they don't kick up as much dust as a brake. They look much better on the gun and don't increase the barrel length.

However, one feature they both display is excessive muzzle blast. After experiencing both in the field and at the range, I no longer use or own a gun with either. I can tell you that my guides and hunting buddies appreciate that.

quote:

However, one feature they both display is excessive muzzle blast. After experiencing both in the field and at the range, I no longer use or own a gun with either. I can tell you that my guides and hunting buddies appreciate that.

I couldn't agree more!

I have 2 muzzle brakes on 15" encore pistol barrels.30-06 has a http://www.probed2000.com really works. The other is a TC Muzzle Tamer on a 454 casull barrel that's worthless just made it noisy w/o reducing recoil.

SOMETHING ABOUT MAgna Porting...
In the course of about 6 months I saw the results of magna-porting on 3 different rifles where the bbls had split from the EDM cuts all the way back into the recievers.
I saw also on one .45magnum LAR Grizzly.
it split the bbl back into the slide and locked the gun up like a bank vault. I was standing next to the guy shooting the LAR when his bbl split. He had just go the gun back from Magna Port and had maybe 20 rounds through it when it split.

NOW, on all 3 rifles they were serious screamers. 2 were 338/378s and the other was a .340wby. All had been shot a lot. One of the 338/378s beloinged to a detective friend of mine getting ready to go elk hunting and it split while shooting off the bench. No injury but it screwed his hunt and I loaned him my .340 for his trip.
the other two I saw at a gunshop waiting to get fixed.
I haven't seen any or heard of any for a few years, but I am not in tha circle that much anymore.
I have not heard of any on the more standard slower calibers.
just some stuff on magnaporting I have seen.

Having dealt with Mag-Na-Port for over 20 years, I have serious doubts about this claim. I have sent hundreds of guns to them since 1984 and I have NEVER heard of this happening. Not saying it didn't but I would like to see some positive proof that Mag-Na-Port was at fault.

That said, Mag-Na-Port WILL reduce muzzle jump but for all practical purposes it does NOTHING for recoil reduction.

Muzzle breaks will reduce felt recoil by about 30-35% on average but the price you pay is increased noise. Just ask an old shooter (if he can hear you).

My experience agrees with DC's. I could never tell any difference in recoil with the magnaport, but it sure reduces muzzle jump on the big ones and speeds recovery time. I never really noticed the noise and blast level either, but I had a KDF on a rifle for my wife and it was miserable soundwise, for shooter and observer.

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
Any real value of one over the other?

Muzzlebreaks have the distinct advantage of being removable. I like them on the firing range for multiple shots. If I'm hunting alone I wear hearing protection. If I'm not by myself I take it off. You don't have that option with a magnaport.

quote:

Originally posted by DC300:
Having dealt with Mag-Na-Port for over 20 years, I have serious doubts about this claim. I have sent hundreds of guns to them since 1984 and I have NEVER heard of this happening. Not saying it didn't but I would like to see some positive proof that Mag-Na-Port was at fault.

That said, Mag-Na-Port WILL reduce muzzle jump but for all practical purposes it does NOTHING for recoil reduction.

Muzzle breaks will reduce felt recoil by about 30-35% on average but the price you pay is increased noise. Just ask an old shooter (if he can hear you).

NOT A CLAIM
a mere STATEMENT OF FACT.
and
I WAS standing next to one of them when it happened.
so
it is also an eyewitness statement.

For all I know since they all seemed to happened around the same time, maybe there was some glitch of some kind at Magnaport, at that time period. I am merely conjecturing.

and I also have used magna port in the past on a S&W .44mag I had and I was very pleased with the job they did and I had no problems with it.

just advising folks of what I have seen in regards to magnaport cut bbls on high pressure rounds. ALL of the bbls I saw looked exactly the same. parallel splits from the back of the EDM cut right back into the reciever ring on the rifles and on the .45LAR it ran all the way back into the chamber.
I didn't tell anyone not to use them, just an obesrvation.

ME, I use muzzle brakes on my biter guns.

My 416 is Mag-Na-Ported had it done back in the early 1990's, have shot a lot of rounds out of it. I like it No problems.

Will someone please explain to me how a muzzle brake (and I am including MagnaPort in this category) can reduce recoil. By recoil I mean the backward movement of the gun when it is fired. I can understand that the brake will either reduce muzzle rise or decrease the time needed for the rifle to return to the original point of aim, but I cannot understand how releasing gases above the barrel will reduce recoil (as defined above).
Peter.

quote:

Originally posted by Peter:
Will someone please explain to me how a muzzle brake (and I am including MagnaPort in this category) can reduce recoil. By recoil I mean the backward movement of the gun when it is fired. I can understand that the brake will either reduce muzzle rise or decrease the time needed for the rifle to return to the original point of aim, but I cannot understand how releasing gases above the barrel will reduce recoil (as defined above).
Peter.

I am no physicist or ballistician but here goes.


The gases produced when the powder explodes are channeled forward (toward the muzzle) and this is what causes the bullet to fly out of the barrel. When the bullet leaves the barrel, the gases are vented straight away from the shooter and the rifle moves directly away from them, back into the shooters shoulder.

A proper muzzle brake is screwed onto the end of the barrel and has an internal diameter that is larger than the bore and this creates an "expansion chamber". When the gases reach this chamber, a certain percentage of them (usually about 30-35) are vented through the holes in the brake. So instead of all the force coming straight back at the shooter, about a third are direct at a 90 degree angle and this "removes" part of the recoil.


Mag-Na-Port puts 4 much smaller "openings" in the barrel, two of which direct the gases upward. This causes downward pressure on the barrel and reduces the amount of muzzle rise or "jump". The other 2 holes vent the gases to either side are are used only on rifles and long (10" or greater) barreled handguns. I'm not sure what function these provide but Mag-Na-Port feels they are necessary for best performance.

Hope this helps.

HERE is a picture of one of the most effetive brakes you will ever find.


As you can see by the design there are differeent slots up front vs rear. There are two different chambers built into the brake. The baffles that separate the chambers allow bullet clearance that measures about .001 around the bullet.
A brake cannot remove the efffects of Newtons law, ie the bullet being launched. THe brake negates the effect of the gas jetting.
The angled rear holes blow of the high presure gas in the first chamber by using that presure to get the best "jetting effect" from that pressure, when it is highest. In that infintesimal part of a second the bullet is almost a plug for the first chamber making it the first part of the efect. When the bullet gets to the second chamber, the larger slots allow for the dumping of the excess gas that escaped the first chamber.

the angle of the holes and slots are to the rear of the rifle not 90degrees. THe effect is to force the gun forward against the normal recoil force of the gun.
The brake in the picture is on a .375H&H that weighs 7 pounds. The recoil is about the same as a hot .243. OR if you fire it one handed, as I have in a demo, it feels like a .357 from a model 19 S&W

If a brake does not have chambers to it it is not getting the most it can from the gas available to counter the rifle recoil.

If anyone is interested...
That particular brake is built by Bruce McArthur of The Flint & Frizzen gun shop of Clarkston Mich. 248 6253333
he has them on hundreds of rifles from action shooters to big game rifles and lots of .50s

I have owned rifle with both.
The KDF is very effective in reducing recoil.

However I prefer Magna Port.
Here is why, as others have stated it does not kick up dirt,grass,snow etc.

Recently I fired two Blaser R 93's one with the safari barrel and a Vias muzzlebreak, the other with a regular barrel [lighter weight] with Magna Port.
The Vias break seemed slightly easier on the shoulder, but the MP had less muzzle rise.
Both rifles were 375 H&H shooting factory Federal 300 gr Nosler Partitions.

On another day I shot two Blaser bbls in 300 Win Mag, one with Magna Port one with out.
The Magna Port bbl was much softer to shoot, with less muzzle rise.

In the field I do not notice the Magna Port bbls to be any louder, Muzzle brakes hurt my ears.

I do not think I would want either one on an African DG rifle.

I personaly love brakes. I have a bad shoulder but still shoot my .300 winny with no trouble. Brakes are very popular at the range I shoot at so everyone has good hearing protection. I have the JP Recoil Eliminator on my .300 and recoil is truely like that of a .243. Its big and ugly but it grows on you fast.
http://www.jprifles.com/

Jacobite is correct. I had a KDF on a 300 Weatherby Fibermark. It kicked like a 243. The recoil was less than a Remington Model 7 in 308. Much less.
But it was loud.

wo months ago I had my 8lb (inc scope) 458Win MagnaPorted. I can now keep hold of the forend after shooting and the recoil feels only a bit heavier than my 11 pound 470 with loads with exactly the same ballistics.

Muzzle blast does not seem to be increased but I always use ear plugs and muffs.

I really like it.