Never having owned one and also never reading much about them, I never gave much thought to muzzle breaks. My understanding is they were mainly used to redirect some of the recoil forces and annoy others at the range.

So, if a portion of the gases are being shunted off through the ports, that portion is not being used to push the projectile. This would mean that a 26" barrel with 2" of porting **should** be a lot closer in velocity to a plain 24" barrel than to the apparent 26" length. Is this correct thinking?

The reasons for asking is, let's say a feller ended up with a Super-Mega Blaster with a 26" ported barrel and he decided after shooting for a bit it really was just too obnoxious. If he were to cut the barrel back, my theory is he really wouldn't lose much velocity-wise.

Sounds like a good theory. I'd guess that the brake loses slightly less velocity than the shorter barrel just due to ports having smaller volume than the bore. Probably close enought that you couldn't tell. Only brake I have right now is on my20" .308 it's threaded corky an and the brake is basically a thread protector.

thread protector. Arizona Ammunition has data, LOTS of data on the same rifle loads used with &without the break (usually Tom Vias break...best there is that I am aware of) external temp, barrel temp, internal temp and velocity measure on two chronographs... Not enough difference to worry about.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

It's kinda pricey and has a long wait but it works very well! Not as loud as most brakes, either...

Whackin' off a couple of inches off a 26 in will just make it handier. The shootee downrange won't notice a difference. I do not want a muzzle blast enhancer on anything other than as stated before, "a thread protector".

WELL People are mistacking about what a break does and how it works. NO you will not loose a lot of velosity,
A break works in two ways to reduce recoil. FIRST is redirecting Exiting gasses This makes the gun louder usually,Things moving faster than the speed of sound hitting an inmoviable object tend to do this, SECOND! This is where people don't understand the REAL RECOIL REDUCTION, when the gasses exit there is a VOID-VACCUUM, The gasses (air) rushing in to fill the void cause felt recoil when they hit the bolt face and slam the gun back into your sholder. The Brake will allow gasses back in from several diffferent angles swirling them and slowing them down to some degree This reduces felt recoil. Let the flames begin! J.Michael

I don't know what makes recoil in your guns but in mine recoil is generated by A) launching the bullet and mass of the gas/powder charge, remember newton, action = reaction. B) Action=reaction of the gas exiting the muzzle and pushing against the air just like a rocket nozzle. A muzzle break will mitigate the recoil generated by the gas jet by redirecting the high pressure gas jet in a lateral or rearward direction. Thus recoil is reduced. there is also mitigation of recoil due to the mass of the exiting gas impacting on the muzzle brake baffle plates.

all true

have used KDF (see their site) and Magna Port. Magna Port also makes a similar to kdf style but the KDF is the most effeicnetn on the market and Weatherby uses them on their guns. Had KDF's n 7mm and 338 win mags and Magnaports on 300 and 338 win mags. The magnaport is not as noisy and you don;t bet the consussion wave coming back from the device. Much preferred. the KSF cuts the dickens out of recoil but felt the cussion wave coning back to be palpable...did not like for beans and is shooting prone the vents would thorw back a mouthfull and eyefull of debris...dust gravels weeds etc, no thanks. Go with Magna Porting as its liveable, for me, but the screwon devices although effective as all get out are not liveable....now that said...I usea comp device on my competition FNP-45 pistol but in order to get the compt to work have to have velocity above 1200 fps...I shoot 185 Nosler JHPs at 1250 and again the blast and conussion are noticeable but managble under range condkitions and using ekectronis muffs. love this comp, cuts my times and enhances accuracy. shoot one before you commit is my best advice.

I wasn't looking to install a muzzle break; I purchased a rifle what has one. I just got to wondering, **when** I decide it's too noisy, if there would be any velocity change worth worrying about.

I s'pect not.