Some of you may have seen the E-bay auction of January ’06 for a seller offering muzzlebrakes that he manufactures in his own machine shop. He just happens to be a fellow “Keystonian” as well. My curiosity was peeked, so I e-mailed the vendor and asked if I could try one of his brakes, and in return, I would write an article about the fit, finish and performance of the brake. He happily agreed.

In a copy/paste of his ad on E-bay, the vendor states:
“Reduce recoil with a muzzle brake, I offer a muzzle brake that reduces recoil dramatically. (sometimes over 50% reduction.) Here is how it works, send me your barrel, I will custom build a muzzle brake for the barrel to fit the brake and return it to you.
I offer a wide array of finishes to include, polished stainless steel, blued steel. bead blasted stainless for a non-glare finish or, a low profile brake with a smaller diameter.
The front sight needs to be removed either by you or I can do it for you and return the sight. Once a muzzle brake has been fitted the front sight is inoperable, I can also cut and crown your encore barrel if you would like a shorter length with or without a brake (all ATF laws apply) for blued models there will be a extra charge to cover the cost of blueing. If you have something wild in mind or a special custom item feel free to e/mail me and I'll let you know what we can do for you. If you are interested in parkerizing or teflon coating of the muzzle brake I can send it back to you fitted in the white and you can send the brake to a vendor of your choice to have coated with teflon or parkerized. I will not have it done in any finish other than blued, polished stainless or bead blasted stainless. Contact me via e/mail for price increase for blued, there will be no extra charge for low profile. e/mail to finalize details on getting you a brake”.

The vendor’s name is Dave Belinda, and I sent him my newly acquired 444 Marlin factory 15” barrel on Saturday the 14th of January. USPS must have been having a bad week, because Dave rec’d my payment the following Tuesday, but the barrel never arrived until Thursday the 19th, even tho it was marked for Priority Mail and they were both dropped off at the same time!!!
Here is an e-mail I got from Dave on the 22nd of January. Note…the brake was manufactured the next day after receipt of barrel, the 20th, and the cap and all bead blasting was done the following Monday! It was put in the mail on the 23rd. That is only 5 days in house…including the weekend!! Pretty quick turn-around if you ask me.
“Jeff, good news!! Your brake has been completed since last friday except the bead blasting. That was done today and everything is in the tube and will be mailed out tomorrow. A few things to report on the job, instead of knurling the thread protector I also had it bead blasted to match the brake. It looks nice but honestly if it were me, I would have went with the polished stainless finish but that is just my preference. either way it all came out great.”
I asked that the total length of the barrel, including muzzlebrake be 16.25” long, in the low profile bead blasted S.S. finish, and to also fabricate a screw on thread protector as well. The price for the muzzlebrake itself, including the shortening of the barrel if desired is $85, and the optional screw on thread protector is an additional $10. This is a fantastic price if you look and see what the going rate is from various manufacturers……just a little more than ½ the price!! This is a removable muzzle brake, and as Dave’s ad states, is available in low and regular profile, and in a number of different finishes as well. The only add-on price is if you want it blued to match your gun, then Dave sends the brake out to his bluer, and the nominal charge is only an additional $25.

Here are some spec’s. of the brake and forend cap:
The cap is a screw-on thread protector and the muzzle end fits neatly over the end of the threads. It is basically a threaded ring, and can be used to shoot with, as the crown from the end of the barrel is flush with the end of the cap. The brake is cut with an 11* crown, and the opening is .030 over the size of the bullet….in my .444 it is .460 opening. Mine is a “low profile” brake….it looks pretty wide, and it is because of the larger bore size. Dave said anything over 30 caliber, and it would be this big. Anything 30 cal. and under would be a slimmer version as you can see in one of his pix. The brake itself is just about 2 ¾” long, and only ¾” of barrel was removed to make it 16.25” total length.

The workmanship is very good to excellent for both the brake and cap. The threads are sharp and clean, and the end of the barrel was cut true to center before the crown was added, and the threading of the muzzle end of the barrel is very clean and precise. There were no marks left on the barrel from securing it while the work was being performed. The bead blasting looks good and is uniform, and I am partial to the blast finish as opposed to shiney anyways!!

Overall, I am very happy with Dave’s workmanship, and will use him again…..when the need arises. All that is left for me to do is to go out and get some leadslinging done to test the effectiveness of his design. But as of right now, I will whole heartedly endorse his work, and recommend his services to anyone, with-out hesitation.

Well, just got back from the range, and the endorsement is official! I had loaded up 50 rounds with 240 gr. Sierra JHP’s over a book max. load of IMR4198. Shot the first 5 without the brake, and snappy/painful is a good description!!! With the brake on, I proceeded to shoot the next 45 rounds without stopping. Felt recoil was at least 30% less (just a guess, but it was much easier to handle), and was pleasant to shoot. Instead of a snappy, twisting recoil, it was more like a shove. Oh, you know the gun is going off, but ENJOYABLE is the key word. There is still muzzle jump, but not nearly as bad as w-out the brake. Tell you what, it was much more effective than the brake I had on my 444 Competitor, and that was listed as a “Maximizer”!
Obviously, each person’s idea of felt and perceived recoil is different, as well as which caliber of gun and bullet weights used, but I already have the next barrel picked out to receive a 2nd brake from Dave.
So, GO FOR IT!!!!! Dave can be reached by e-mail at this address: db821@hotmail.com

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