Dumb question...

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_brake

A muzzle brake or compensator is a device that is fitted to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon to redirect propellant gases with the effect of countering both recoil of the gun and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire. Muzzle brakes are very useful for combat and timed competition shooting, and are commonly found on rifles firing very large cartridges (often big-game rifles), as well as some artillery and tank guns. They are also commonly used on pistols for practical pistol competitions, and are usually called compensators in this context. On the AKM assault rifle, the brake is angled slightly to the right to counteract the sideways movement of the gun under recoil.

Muzzle brakes often take the form of a short extension of the gun's barrel, and they are often slightly, if not significantly, larger in diameter than the barrel. For these reasons, many people, especially those not very familiar with firearms, mistake muzzle brakes for so-called silencers (suppressors.) The two devices are actually entirely different and serve totally different purposes
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brake.

If it were a muzzlebreak - it would be breaking -as in making inoperable - our muzzles.


Not a dumb question - in fact, this is something linguists like to "eggcorn's" (eggcorn sounds like acorn).

One of the Eggcorn's in this past months Atlantic Monthly (they have a very nice language article/column every issue) was the term "Land Line". This woman's husband insisted that when people refered to their "land line" (as opposed to their cellular telephones) they were mistakenly saying "land" when they should be saying "LAN", as in L.ocal A.rea N.etwork.

The wife was correct, it is "landline", but it's funny the way we hear words and reason our way backwards to our original premise (a kind of anti-algebra) - you could have made quite a few interesting rationale's why it could be "muzzlebreak" (because it "breaks" the gases being released...).


Language is wonderful.
 
"...saying "land" when they should be saying "LAN"..." Nope. A 'land' line is a POTS(Plain Old Telephone System) running over copper wire. A LAN is a bunch of computers connected by cables or wirelessly(notoriously unreliable. It's a radio signal. Anything that interferes with a radio signal will also interfere with a wireless signal) to share files, printers and sometimes(more often now) an internet connection. A LAN has nothing to do with telephones.
It's a 'brake'. Not a 'break'. 'Brake' means to stop or slow. 'Break' means to rend into pieces or otherwise damage. Mind you, a muzzle brake doesn't slow or stop anything. It just redirects the gases.
 
And let's not forget the infamous "muzzel break" which I have actually seen advertised.

And some gunwriter's response: "Do you really want to buy a muzzle brake from someone who can't spell it?"

BTW, one more gin&tonic and I'm liable to start yelling about apostrophes. It's not that hard, people.

But if it makes you feel any better, I had to look up "liable" in Webster's. :eek:
 
Last year the Fox news site featured the headline "Snow Wrecks Havoc Across U.S." There were a million references to "breeches" in the levees during Katrina.

You'll loose your mind if you let things like that effect you.;)
 
And here I was under the impression that the locals had heroically tried to stave off disaster by stuffing their pants into the levee holes. Hmmph.
 
Must be time for my gun-related spelling "rant" :D

  • Muzzle Brake not break (it slows down recoil, it doesn't damage anything)
  • And it goes on a muzzle, not a muzzel or mussel.
  • A gun has a breech not a breach. A breach is an opening or break or the action of making a break or opening; "to breach". A breech is the back end of the barrel where a cartridge is inserted in a non-muzzleloading firearm.
  • Aperture Sight, not aperature site
  • Beretta, not Baretta, Bereta or Berretta
  • varmint hunting, not varmit
  • Scope reticle, not reticule or recticle (a reticule is a purse and a recticle is a cubicle that's not perfectly square :D)
  • 12 gauge, not gouge or guage
  • Iron sights include open sights AND aperture or peep sights, but peeps and apertures are not open sights.
  • Handgun DOES have a 'd' in it.
  • Biathlon has only one 'a' in it.
  • Receivers have lightening cuts, not "lightning" cuts. To make them lighter, not to make Thor jealous.
  • Misfire, not missfire
  • Patridge sights (named after the inventor) not Partridge (the bird)
  • Second Amendment, not ammendment
  • Ordnance is guns and ammo, ordinance is a law or statute.
  • The extractor pulls the round from the chamber, the ejector kicks the round loose from the extractor and out of the ejection port.
  • Men on horses = cavalry, men on crosses = Calvary.
  • Turret has no 'n'
That always feels so good... :eek:

We now return you to your normally scheduled forum surfing.

You'll loose your mind if you let things like that effect you.
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AGGH! You did that on purpose! :eek: Of course, you meant to say lose your mind, not loose your mind. :D And you're right, of course. But it still feels good to get it all out once in awhile.
 
Neither Merriam-Websters or Britannica had a listing.
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'cause it's not one word muzzlebrake. It's two words - muzzle brake. Like the brake on a car, it decellerates the recoil.

To make things more confusing, my air rifle is a break-barrel action, which doesn't make it inoperable, just the opposite. You have to break it to shoot it.

Muzzle brakes are fine, unless you're next to one at a range. Then they just amplify the noise.

Regards.
 
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