I decided to see if the Hart brake on my semi-custom Remington 700 rifle bled off bullet speed. So I loaded up 10 identical rounds of ammo...5 were shot with the brake screwed onto the barrel, and the other 5 with the thread protector in place.

The Speer bullets were molycoated by the Midway method. The barrel was anointed with KG6 moly.

FYI, I have been brow-beaten in the past about not keeping pics/info posted forever. Such will be the case with this thread. If YOU wish to view it into the future, then I suggest YOU save it to YOUR computer. That procedure, for the computer challenged among us, would be, Right click, Save image as... Give each a name and click OK.

All the data should be self explanatory. If not, just ask.



Here is the brake. Hart only makes stainless barrels so 12 years ago I painted the barrel and CM action with Brownells Aluma-Hyde spray paint. The combustion gases have blown some paint off the brake.


Here is the thread protector.


The next 2 pics are the test results with the brake installed:



The final 2 pics are the results with no brake:




I don't see any worthwhile difference. But having the brake in place certainly saves my shoulder while on the bench, although each group measures 24.5 ft/lbs recoil. The formula does not take into account the reduction afforded by the brake. But my shoulder can tell.

Groups 1 and 2 were fouling shots waiting for the shade of giant oak and black locust trees to move away from the chrono. That's why these groups are labeled as 3 and 4.

The group size was the same but the NO BRAKE group moved down and left within the red acoustic target triangle relative to the BRAKE target...the same aiming spot was used for both groups.

I did not chose the reloading components on the basis of past accuracy with this rifle, but for uniformity. I consider a standard deviation of <10 good.

If you don'y mind my asking, what weight bullets and what powder?

All components are listed. But just for you,
200gr Speer, IMR4350.