Which muzzle break for my Weatherby S2 308?
 

I am looking to put together a rifle for my western elk and deer hunting. Like the Weatherby Vanguard S2 in .308 Winchester. To make shooting a bit easier on me I want to add a muzzle break. There seem to be so many variants of muzzle break. Any suggestions re how to analyze and or differentiate between them. Cost is not a major factor.

Sure am open to suggestions and or experience you might have.

Regards,
elkshane

I know you say to make it easier on you, but unless you are very very recoil sensitive, to put a break on a .308 with no more recoil that a properly fit rifle of that caliber would have would seem to me to be overkill. Also, you would need to wear ear protection to shoot it in case you haven't thought about that aspect of putting a break on one.

Yes ... I do seem to be recoil shy ... It has been suggested that I go to a semi-auto or perhaps AR platform ... but I kind of like more classic rifle lines. I had a muzzle brake on my previous Weatherby 7mm weatherby and I did enjoy shooting it and was quite accurate with it ... but I was forced to sell it a few years back...

The quietest brake is the Vais. It's also very effective, and will tame your .308. I had the Vais on one of my guns, and it worked great. It was recommended to me by my gunsmith.

http://www.muzzlebrakes.com/

I'm not a big fan of muzzle brakes but I have had a 350 rem mag magna-ported and it tamed that little beast down pretty good.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a .308 is going to be way milder than your 7mm Weatherby.

No doubt about that.

A .308 is the same as a .270 for recoil.

break a 308 ? Really.

Before I comment lets just say I don't own a break on any rifle I own. Muzzle breaks do work well for being able to help you watch the impact of the bullet. They also work well for taming recoil on rifles that have excessive recoil. I do not like them for hunting but a lot of people do and they also pin point your location more than a rifle without a muzzle break.

As far as putting on a 308 win I totally understand that one. Some rifles where the stock is not fitted to the shooter or stock styles in general can effect perceived recoil. Even though it may only have 20 lbs of recoil it's kicking like it has 40 lbs of recoil. Shooting a 308 in a feather weight rifle with 180gr bullets in a ill made stock or a stock with excessive drop in the comb of the stock will kick the living day lights out of you. The Weatherby Vanguard stock is for sure one of my avoid at all costs stocks.

I bought my boy a Remington SPS in a 243 win for a first big game rifle. Lets just say the felt recoil on that lil gun using 100 gr bullets was approaching my 300 win mag. I have also bought at one time a Remington 700 ADL 300 win mag before. Lets just say after 3 shots I sold that gun. That gun just plain hurt all the way to the bone. I've shot a large amount of magnum guns and there are some standard calibers in certain rifle setups that are just plain nasty to shoot.

You can push me around all day but slap me in the face and punch me in the shoulder and I'm going to get upset real quick. And if you don't understand that sentence then you haven't shot enough different guns to know the difference or understand why a man would consider a muzzle break on a 308 rifle.

Putting a brake on one of the lower calibers has many reasons for doing so. Some hunters just don't like recoil. In my younger days I thought recoil was fun. I had a Win .458 magnum shooting 500gr bullets in Alaska. I thought it was fun to shoot. I was only 30 years old then.

Things change as you get older. I had cancer removed from my left cheek. 75 stitches to seal it up. It left the nerves in my cheek very sensitive. Recoil was very painful. Especially, if the gun was a cheek slapper.

I had a Rem 700 in .270 that I wanted to tame the recoil on. I put a Limbsaver recoil pad on, and had my gunsmith install a Vais muzzle brake. It was a pleasant gun to shoot after that, and my cheek thanked me. The recoil was similar to a .243. Maybe even softer. I used 150gr Partition, and it was an excellent deer and elk gun.

The Vais brake is the way to go. I heard no increase in noise level when shooting. Of course if you were standing next to me you got blasted, but I hunt alone, so that wasn't a problem. I'd go to the range very early in the morning when nobody was there. I highly recommend the Vais brake if you're thinking of buying one.

Here's the gun with the brake installed.