Does anybody remember the old KBI muzzle brakes?

[Deaf Smith]

I apprently have one on my 357 max barrel. The barrel came with the MB and no sights a the front sight screw hole was lost due to MB mounting (its threaded onto the barrel) the rear screw hole for the front sight is still there but no rear sight at all was there. I got the barrel a few years back (about 10) for $100 cash and carry at a gun show I also got a bull barrel and forend in 22 LR as well for the same price this is now a 6.5 " custom barrel now. I now have a weaver scope base on the barrel and use either a red dot or one of my leupold eer scopes for it sometimes my tasco pistol scope to. anyway I was wondering about the Muzzle break and if anybody had any info on the KBI mb break system and just how good it was and is? in 357 max its not too serious a caliber to test it to its fullest. does anybody else have or had one if these? Please any info is welcomed.
thanks
Jim L

[Lone Star]

I had a copy of an article comparing various brakes, published about ten years ago, but can't seem to find it.  IIRC the KDI was in the upper half of the 5-7 tested, but all were pretty close in effectiveness.  What matters is how much powder momentum there is in the cartridge versus the bullet momentum.  The .357 Max with 180-grain bullets has 2.1 sp of momentum ( bullet and powder ) with .53 ps from the powder.  If the brake was 100% effective in re-directing the escaping gasses, the maximum recoil reduction would be 25%.  In reality no sporting brake is anywhere near that effective - I'd expect closer to 15% reduction in total recoil. [Some will want to use energy rather than momentum - the results are not that different in practical trems. ]

A cartridge which can really see a recoil reduction from a brake is the .257 Weatherby.  With a 100-grain bullet it has a total ejecta momentum of 2.82 ps, but 45% of that is from the powder.  A really good brake can reduce total recoil by over 30%.

[all data from Accurate]