Muzzlebrake a good idea?

[bigbrother]

you guys are really anti-brake aren't you. Let me ask you this: if you're at the range why aren't you wearing hearing protection? You should be, therefore a brake doesn't make a bit of difference. In reality, good brakes throw the gasses, and noise to the side so the increased noise to the shooter is not that noticable. Standing along side could be down right horrendous however. But who stands beside someone's muzzle???? If you look at any 1000yd benchrest match, virtually all of the guns have brakes. That is so the gun will ride the bags straight back and return to the original firing position easily. If you want to see what you're hitting, you have to have a brake. Why would you want to carry an 11lb gun around the hills instead of a 9lb gun with a brake?

If you're worried about dust, debris etc. try a "varmint" or prone style break without ports on the bottom. Or look into an OPS inc. break with large ports on the sides only. KDF or VAIS are probably the top 2 you're going to see and both do a great job of reducing recoil and muzzlejump.

All that said: I don't own a rifle with a brake. But also wouldn't hesitate to own one or talk someone out of it. In this day and age of people not shooting enough practice, who wants to talk someone into getting beat up and the bench?