Can muzzle brakes change point of impact?

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akshooter18

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I am curious about muzzle brakes changing the point of impact (particularly with the ak). Would changing from a slant brake to a flash hider or vise versa mean the rifle would have to be re-zeroed?
 
And I am just postulating but:

I believe muzzle breaks are intended to reduce muzzle climb and recoil; it seems to me that perhaps on a follow-up rapidfire shot that P.O.I. could be altered (improved).

I do not think that they would affect the first shot.
 
Thanks for the info.

well its not rifled so i wouldnt think so

Good point. This plus the fact that the bullet is on it's way out before the gas behind it is effected by the muzzle brake probably means it makes no difference on POI.
 
If it weighs the same no prob. Adding or removing weight at the end of the barrel or moving that weight forward or back changes harmonics. On an AK unless it's a huge weight difference I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I've been reading extensively on this very subject because I'm planning on having one (or several) installed.

Here is what I've found :

If a high-quality brake is installed properly and "tuned", it has almost zero effect of velocity or point of impact. Have it installed by someone who has a lot of experience in muzzle brakes - not your neighborhood gunshop owner.
 
Just be sure that the bore on the brake is in alignment with the bore o the gun, a friend of mine put one on an SKS that was misaligned so much that the bullet actually hit the end of the brake, that caused the POI to be way off.

He sold the "POS rifle" but decided to shoot it one more time, that is when the brake snaped off due to the pounding it had taken, he showed it to me later, and when I pointed out the copper stain on the inside of the bore he was a bit P.O.'ed, but went thru with the sale anyway.
 
Just as shooting different loads/bullets etc. can affect POI, anything doing with barrel harmonics can do so too such as a muzzle brake. Your results will vary.
 
You betcha different muzzle devices can change the POI and even group size.

I tried a brake, a thread protector, and a flash hider on my AK, a Arsenal SLR107FR with AK-74 type brake. The brake and thread protector gave me the smallest groups and the least shift. The flash hider opened the groups up considerably.

Since I get the smallest groups with the brake and it's effective at reducing recoil and muzzle flip, I use it. BSW
 
I tried a brake, a thread protector, and a flash hider on my AK, a Arsenal SLR107FR with AK-74 type brake. The brake and thread protector gave me the smallest groups and the least shift. The flash hider opened the groups up considerably.


Interesting results. I am going to have to try my ak with and without the slant brake and see if it changes the groups any.
 
Nope, can't change a thing. The projectile is long gone before gas venting can affect it.

You logic is impeccable, sir. Unfortunately, you're wrong.

These targets were all shot with the same rifle, same day, same shooter. The sights were not adjusted between changes in muzzle devices. BSW

The brake.
brake.jpg

The thread protector.
threadprotector.jpg

The flash hider.
flashhider.jpg
 
briansmithwins, it'd be interesting to see this experiment run again with a thread protector, muzzle brake and flash hider all having the same weight. Or put another way, could you work up loads for all three conditions where the group size was basically the same thereby proving that the difference is due to harmonics. Many muzzle brakes are "tuned" or "indexed" so there's probably a lot more to this than meets the eye.

:)
 
briansmithwins that is much more drastic than I would have thought, it should be interesting to try a similar experiment myself. Your post pretty much answers my question. Thanks for sharing.
 
My questions are about the Mini 30.
Does a brake hardly reduce muzzle rise?
Apparently they are used mostly to reduce recoil.

The added weight on the end of the thin barrel would probably worsen the groupings when the barrel heats up (?)
 
Just be sure that the bore on the brake is in alignment with the bore o the gun, a friend of mine put one on an SKS that was misaligned so much that the bullet actually hit the end of the brake, that caused the POI to be way off.

Sounds potentially dangerous. I have also heard of this happening with a cheaply made 74 style brake on an ak.
 
I've also been wondering this exact question within the month. I was wondering if the propelling/venting gas had an effect on the bullet as it was leaving the muzzle. I had also considered the slanted brakes of the AK especially. Thanks for posing the question and thanks to Briansmithwins for the experiment and pics.
 
IMO any time you change something like a brake on a rifle your zero will never be “exactly” the same. You might find the difference to be minimal, but depending on the ranges you shoot that will vary and with certain brakes on certain rifles the difference is more than minimal. So IMO if you do go with a certain brake re-zero every time…at least I would.
 
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