Does anyone know of any pros or cons on adding a muzzle brake vs cutting the barrel and adding one? I spoke with SSK about their arrestor brake. I can keep the barrel at 14in or add the brake which will increase the length to around 16in. They said there would be no difference in velocity with either one. Thanks in advance for any advice.

BS

If you cut 2" off your barrel and add a brake it will shoot slower than it did before.

Thats kinda what I was thinking. I asked them specifically about the velocity and thats what they told me. They said they get that question a lot.

They might be refering to the fact that simply adding a brake to your barrel will not slow it down, which is true. But, if you cut the barrel shorter to do so it will lose velocity, there is no denying that.

What chambering are you thinking of putting this on?

I am looking at putting it on my 358 JDJ.

Bigger bores lose less per inch than smaller bores so you have that going, but it will lose a little steam. How much you won't know until you shoot it. Perhaps a compromise is in order, cut it to 13 and then add the brake ;-)

Or just magnaport it and keep overall length unchanged....but in all honesty, the amount of velocity loss will be a moot point in my opinion. You will not lose any effectiveness in velocity terms and bullet performance from my way of thinking. If it helps you put the bullet where it's supposed to be because you aren't anticipating the recoil, that's worth way more than 30 fps in my opinion.

Agreed. 2" of barrel would net more than 30 fps, but your point is 100%

I guess the question is how much velocity. If you cut off 2 inches of barrel and lose 70 FPS is that significant enough to worry about?

If you get the barrel length to at least 16 inches you can add a stock if you want and have a dandy short packing rifle or leave it as a pistol and still not be overly long. Just be sure to wear muffs every time you shoot it ,my 14 in .358 with magna ports is loud as hell!!!!!!!!!!

Junebug how much did the magnaport help out with your 358?

My 358 jdj with ports still popped your hand pretty good. The arrestor will be more effective in reducing recoil by far but the porting can help. If I have a choice, I go with the arrestor.

Thanks for the advice GlennS

it would need to be permanently attached to make that work. it its removable it does not as to the length of the barrel

The Magna ports hold muzzle rise down pretty well but the arrestor brakes work better for taming recoil. The only real side by side comparison I have done was with my 45-70 .One barrel was magna ported and my barrel has the arrestor brake .The arrestor was notably more user friendly on the hands than the Magna Port ,noise was about the same.

I think you will like the Arrestor break. I had one on my 338JDJ barrel I had and it made it very pleasant to shoot. I had my 309JDJ Magnaported and have a 375JDJ with Magnaport. They kick a little more but don't have the muzzle rise.
You won't lose enoght velocity with a break in a JDJ round to make any difference I don't think.
Here is my 338 JDJ with arrestor break. You can always take the break off and put the muzzle protector on and see how much difference it makes. It comes with the break, muzzle protector and little tool for removal of the break.

Hawkeye, that looks like a magnabrake; not Arrestor. My Arrestor didn't come with any removal tools or accessories. I don't think an Arrestor is made to be removed easily. But, I may be mistaken.

Yeah, none of my arrestors look like that. Mine look seamless so they don't get screwed off.