45/70 muzzle brake questions

[moooose102]

i have a marlin 45/70 guide gun. light,short, nice little gun. but it kicks like an ornery old mule! i think it kicks harder than my 300 win mag to be honest. i have been thinking of a muzzle brake, or magna-porting it since the first time i shot it. this past weekend, i put 40 hunting loads through it (see post "beat up") anyway, i have a couple of questions about this. i know it will reduce the recoil, at the expense of sound. how loud is it going to be??? will i need hearing protection to hunt? i am not concerned while target shooting, i always use hearing protection when i am doing that. i just don't want to hurt my ears for the rest of my life by shooting a couple of deer or elk. also, if anybody has experience with this, i wonder how much difference there is between magna-porting and a traditional muzzle brake, both noise wise, and recoil reduction. any REAL WORLD advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

[elmerfudd]

I'm not that familiar with 45/70's, but my experience with muzzle brakes is that they do make the report significantly louder. I'm sure that it will do some minimal damage to your hearing firing it unprotected, probably a little more damage than would occur without the brake, but if you're firing a centerfire without hearing protection even occasionally you're going to damage your hearing a little anyway.

 

[Gator]

I have one of the 45/70 Guide Guns with the ported barrel and I wish I didn't. The ports make a lot louder and don't do much for recoil, IMO.

 

[VA27]

My experience is just the opposite. I have a GG with ports and it works just dandy, especially with 'hot' loads.

Shooting off the bench with Garrett's or my reloads (400gr Speer, 51grains of H322) the muzzle barely lifts off the rest.

Even with hot stuff it shouldn't kick any harder than a 12ga with slugs.

Get an old NEF 12ga, cut the barrel off to 18" and shoot a few slugs with it. The GG will seem like a pussy cat after that.

 

[eldon519]

I've got a ported GG. I think the porting works great, especially with Marlin loads as VA27 has said. I haven't noticed it being particularly loud either.

 

[redneck2]

I've got an 1895. Put a Decelerator pad on it before I fired the first shot. I whip up some handloads with a 400 grain Speer at maybe 1,800. Recoil isn't bad at all. I'd try the pad first.

 

[Coltdriver]

See if you can find a Limbsaver recoil pad first.

I have one on an Encore that only weighs 7 1/2 pounds. A full house 45/70 round generates some serious kick.

The limbsaver makes it possible for me to shoot it. I can not imagine a hard butted rifle and shooting a serious 45 70 round.

My Encore also has a ported muzzle and I am sure that helps too. I never shoot anything without hearing protection.

 

[moooose102]

coltdriver, do you hunt? if so, how do you hunt with plugs in (or muffs on)?

 

[Coltdriver]

I definitely hunt.

I got a set of peltors with the holder that goes behind your head. That way I can still wear a hat.

I learned from ruining my first set that if you take the ear pads off and put a piece of saran wrap between the ear cups and the electronics that they will stay dry. Trapsing around the woods makes me work up a good sweat. The saran wrap does not affect the function a bit.

And because they do cover my ears they keep my ears warm too.

Slightly inconvenient but definitely workable and they formed the cups so that you can shoulder a rifle and not have the cups interfere with the stock.

 

[JNewell]

I have one of the early ported ones.

In general, I hate ports.

However, with one qualification, the ports really don't affect the noise. And, they do definitely reduce muzzle flip, which makes the recoil seem more manageable.

That qualification? Don't shoot indoors, under cover or next to something solid (example, a large rock). Quickest way to move yahoos down the line at the range, if shooting on the covered section, is to get the GG out. Otherwise, no real difference.