Howdy all,

We have a couple of lighter 12 guage slug guns that are a little lively with slug loads, and a buddy who has been having shoulder problems. We are going to put a brake on his at least, but just womndered if anyone has any practical experience with them?

There used to be a brake that was available as a screw in brake that threaded into the choke threads. I've fired 870's with these mounted on them, they really cut the recoil down. Check with Brownells, they used to sell them. - Dan

Yep Dan, it is made by Gunners Choice I think. That is the one we'll probably get, the end gets threaded to 7/8 X 24 I think. However, I may just turn them off and silver solder it to the barrel instead, once this goes on it won't be coming off. I was just wondering if they reduced recoil all that much, and I'll take your vote as a yes then?

Mark:

Nothing to add -I just wanted to say that I wish I had known of you guys when I was shooting slugs (3" shells) from my Rem.870 years ago. I had never, I repeat, never, been bothered much by recoil (and I had fired perhaps 1500 rounds by then from a Ruger in 375 H&H) I shot my PH's 470 NE about a dozen times and he complimented me on the fairly quick 1-2 shots. Muzzle blast in HV rifles bothered me but never recoil. I thought the recoil from those 3" slug shells was fearsome! I have no other word for it. I think anyone who uses a brake is well justified. (The great thing is that in the usual hunting circumstances where a 12 ga. slug might be used, the shooter is likely to be alone - so he doesn't have to think about the hearing damage to someone standing near!

I'd try it, it can't hurt, but frankly, my experience shooting trap guns with brakes has been that they produce very minimal recoil reduction (admittedly with much lighter loads than slugs). They MIGHT help a bit with faster recovery, that is, lower barrel rise, but that's about it.

I sure don't claim to have any expertise in the matter, but I'm guessing that the gas velocity at the end of a shotgun barrel is so much less than that of rifles that the effect is quite a bit less as well.

Mark:

The following is from the Tarhunt Slug Gun website:

"The industry standard at the time was to use porting as a muzzle break system for recoil reduction (i.e. Trap and skeet shotguns). Research and development showed us that a 360 degree muzzle break was more efficient at reducing recoil and it enchanced the accuracy by creating better separation of the sabots."

The link for the site is www.tarhunt.com/tarhunt

The guy that owns the company is a personal friend of mine and has extensive experience in this area. There is a "contact us" link on the site, too. Randy answers his emails.

knobmtn

Definately a yes, when it comes to reducing recoil Mark. The effect is striking (no pun intended). - Dan