Another muzzle Brake question

[JJB11B]

Is there any functional difference between Muzzle brakes designed for AR type rifles vs bolt guns? I want to put a brake on my wife’s .308 it is already threaded 5/8X24 I thought about just grabbing one off midway like a JP brake but not sure about it yet.

[Yondering]

Is there any functional difference between Muzzle brakes designed for AR type rifles vs bolt guns? I want to put a brake on my wife’s .308 it is already threaded 5/8X24 I thought about just grabbing one off midway like a JP brake but not sure about it yet.

No functional difference other than styling; the shoulder on the brake will probably be larger outside diameter than your .308 barrel, but that's just aesthetics. The brake doesn't care what kind of rifle it's on, and doesn't matter if it's a bolt action or semi-auto, so you should be able to use something for an AR if you want to.

Caliber matters for a brake, but if you're looking at 5/8-24 threads then most of them will be for .30 caliber anyway so I don't see any issues there.

Is that .308 a RAP or something similar?

[JJB11B]

Is there any functional difference between Muzzle brakes designed for AR type rifles vs bolt guns? I want to put a brake on my wife’s .308 it is already threaded 5/8X24 I thought about just grabbing one off midway like a JP brake but not sure about it yet.

No functional difference other than styling; the shoulder on the brake will probably be larger outside diameter than your .308 barrel, but that's just aesthetics. The brake doesn't care what kind of rifle it's on, and doesn't matter if it's a bolt action or semi-auto, so you should be able to use something for an AR if you want to.

Caliber matters for a brake, but if you're looking at 5/8-24 threads then most of them will be for .30 caliber anyway so I don't see any issues there.

Is that .308 a RAP or something similar?

its a RAP compact shoots pretty good but 2 boxes of 165 Gr American whitetail bruised the hell out of her.  For this year that’s what she is shooting, after deer season she’s gonna burn through the rest and I’ll use a Redding S type bushing die to knock the shoulders back .002 and stick some ELD-X bullets in em, gonna have to get a neck turning rig and some bushings to mess with neck tension.

[Karl Blanchard]

Throw a brake on that thing. I put a seekins on my RAP for my daughter. Went with the seekins  because I found one cheap but a 4 port beast self timing brake would tame that thing down to nothing.  Lots of self timing brakes out there to choose from.

[Yondering]

Is that .308 a RAP or something similar?

its a RAP compact shoots pretty good but 2 boxes of 165 Gr American whitetail bruised the hell out of her.  For this year that’s what she is shooting, after deer season she’s gonna burn through the rest and I’ll use a Redding S type bushing die to knock the shoulders back .002 and stick some ELD-X bullets in em, gonna have to get a neck turning rig and some bushings to mess with neck tension.
[/quote]

Gotcha. I asked partly because I have a RAP too. They have a thicker barrel shoulder out at the threads than most other hunting rifles, so that's a good match for a brake that's intended for an AR.

One thing to know about brakes - some of them need to be timed so they're right side up; usually they'll come with some method of doing that but if not, you can buy peel washers, which is a thing that looks like a one piece washer but you can peel off thin layers of it to clock the brake the correct amount.
Be advised, a crush washer is generally not a good way to install a muzzle brake; some companies include them with their brakes these days but it's not a good way to keep a muzzle brake straight and concentric. That does affect accuracy if the brake isn't concentric so it's worth doing right IMO.

[BULLBLASTER]

Much better to just get a self timing brake instead of dealing with peel washers. 

[JJB11B]

I ordered one the night I posted this, the one I ordered came with a Jam nut to time it, we'll see how it works

[Bushcraft]

FYI...Area 419's self-timing brakes are superb.

Easy to perfectly install and if you occasionally run a can their adapter mechanism to switch back and forth is fast and flawless.  Stroke of genius.

[huntandjeep]

Be advised, a crush washer is generally not a good way to install a muzzle brake; some companies include them with their brakes these days but it's not a good way to keep a muzzle brake straight and concentric. That does affect accuracy if the brake isn't concentric so it's worth doing right IMO.

You do know that 95% of Brakes for ARs use crush washers right ?

[Yondering]

Be advised, a crush washer is generally not a good way to install a muzzle brake; some companies include them with their brakes these days but it's not a good way to keep a muzzle brake straight and concentric. That does affect accuracy if the brake isn't concentric so it's worth doing right IMO.

You do know that 95% of Brakes for ARs use crush washers right ?

Of lower end stuff, sure. It can work OK if the bore is enough oversize.
And we're not talking about flash hiders here; brakes and flash hiders are different things. Most flash hiders do use crush washers and that's fine.

[JJB11B]

Well, I got the brake installed on Thursday and we went and shot yesterday. The brake was an inexpensive brake off of Brownells. Works like a champ! She really likes shooting it now! I didn't get around to doing any handloads for her this year, wasted too much time messing with my .270 and .243.