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Originally posted by Mike Bellm:
That's what the boys at the range will probably say when Mark Dumais whips out a whomping ole .375x.338 Win. Mag, loads it in his 21 1/2" tapered octagon Encore barrel with my brake machined in it and lights if off.

Instead of his body rearing back and his head shaking while the barrel knocks the slobber out of his mouth, he's going to sit there all comfy like nothing happened.

Have to admit that I looked all over for my Encore buttstock and could not find it. I had apprehensions about hanging onto that thing with just the handgun grip to test fire it, even though I was only starting out with 65 gr. of IMR 4350 and a 235 gr. Speer bullet.

Frankly, Jules, if you are onboard, that big mag shot with the handgun grip is little different than shooting your .308 Bellm 20" barrel with my brake. See what I mean about a sissy gun?

Virtually no muzzle flip and absolutely no pain or strain. A .444 Marlin Contender Hunter barrel is much, much worse to hang onto.

I had only made up 3 cases to test fire with to verify the dies were matched to the chamber to suit me, and the last load was 70 gr. While I could have gone hotter, I got enough expansion of the cases to be sure of the size difference between chamber and sized cases.

I then fired one of the commercial rounds Mark sent, which was notably hotter than my 70 gr. load. But the felt effects of firing were hardly any different from my handloads.

Bear in mind, this brake only takes up 1.1" of barrel!

I had shot a couple of these I built some years back. One was a restocked Ruger No. 3 22" .375 Win barrel I had rechambered and added my add-on brake to, which had much more venting and was much longer also. Recoil from it was not bad at all. In fact, it was plenty comfortable to shoot.

But that was from a well stocked rifle, and Mark's I had to shoot sans stock and sans the weight of the scope, to boot. While I used both hands to fire it, I certainly did not need to, other than to support the weight of the long barrel.

I, myself, don't feel I have the need for a stomper like the .375x.338 Win. Mag., but I wouldn't mind having one for elk or bear anyway. Nice shooting caliber when braked with an effective brake. Usually tack drivers also.

Mark, ole buddy, you are going to love this one. It is not only a good looking, well machined work of art, but darned "user friendly."

If anyone does call you a sissy, just stomp on them.

(And yes, there are about a half dozen barrels here waiting their turn for my brake being machined into them.... coming.... soon.)

Mike

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Originally posted by Jules:
Ha,Ha,Ha,Ha I hate when that happens Mark.
And indeed Mikes brake is a winner. I have O muzzle flip in that 308Bellm that he wishes he still had<grin>
I shot a load in the 444 hunter that Mike rechambered for me.....Wait...that didn't sound to good did it?<LOL>
Anyway this load pushed a 200gr HP XTP at 2600fps in that 14" barrel. And it hurt to say the least. That load was with AA1680 and I got it from the Accurate Arms no.2 load book. I shot 3 rounds and thats it. I pulled the bullets from the other 17 rounds. That was enough for me.

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Thats funny Jules...I got into a discussion..at the pond... about the 444 Marlin and the guy had just bought one in a 10" barrel....His reply was it was NO problem,,,Hardly no recoil and fun to shoot??? My 14" 444 Kicked like a Wounded Mule! I cannot imagine a 10" barrel chambered for a 444....but then.....the mentality of some of those catfish

Fireball

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Originally posted by Jules:

I shot a load in the 444 hunter that Mike rechambered for me...

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