[Copland]

I have noticed that many of the German tanks from WWII had muzzle brakes, but very few Allied tanks had them. The M26 Pershing did have a muzzle brake. The Panther, Tiger I, Tiger II, Ferdinand, Stug, Nashorn, Wespe, Jagdpanther, and a few more, all had muzzle brakes. However, the Jagdpanzer IV/70, did not, and neither did the massive JagdTiger. I do know that the muzzle brake would lesson recoil, which helped in cramped turrets. I am assuming that the presence of the muzzle brake was linked to the power of the gun. But the Jagdtiger fired 128mm shells, and didn't have a muzzle brake. I am again assuming that the absense of the muzzle brake in the Jagdtiger was because there was plenty of "recoil" room in the turret. I'm sure some of you guys have some info on this. Just wondering.

[wmosner]

I don't believe the brakes were there for recoil, they were to disperse the dirt and powder effects from the muzzle blast for better visiblilty for the following shot.

[Copland]

Thanks for the reply. I did find info that the muzzle break was used to lessen recoil, but the down side was that alot of smoke and dirt was stirred up, blurring the gunner's vision. Again, thanks for the info.

[Rubberduck]

In fact, the main reason for adding muzzle breaks WAS the recoil. The Tiger I's m.b. eliminated about 70% of the recoil force! It helped to keep the size of the turrest small. Usually the gun would be damaged when fired without the muzzle break as it hit the rear of the turret. In tank destroyers there was usually more room the muzzle break was not always necessary. One reason why the Jagdtiger didn't have a m.b. was that the gun itself was rather heavy which also reduced the recoil. You will see that some naval guns have massive breech blocks to add weight.
If it was for better visibility or not depended on the construction of the m.b. Sometimes it was better with, sometimes better without a muzzle break. But when a heavy gun is fired, there is always a lot of dust!

[A3driver]

Originally Posted by Rubberduck

But when a heavy gun is fired, there is always a lot of dust!

Most Jagdpanzer IV did not have a muzzle break because the profile of the tank was so low and the gun was so close to the ground that the dust cloud would simply have been too big - at least that's what is said here.

[tankguy]

Originally Posted by A3driver

Most Jagdpanzer IV did not have a muzzle break because the profile of the tank was so low and the gun was so close to the ground that the dust cloud would simply have been too big - at least that's what is said here.

The jagdpanzer IV with the 7.5cm L48 had a muzzle break. This was the same gun as the Stug III & IV. The Hetzer had the same gun at approximately the same height and no muzzle break. However, the Jagdpanzer IV with the 7.5cm L71, the same gun as the panther and much more powerful than the L48, did not have a muzzlebreak. I'm not sure how the distance of gun to ground would be the case as all these vehicles had the gun mounted at about the same height. And the Jgdpz IV was about 3x the weight of the Hetzer and about 25% longer, so I don't know why it and the Stugs would need for reasons of recoil space and/or chassis protection if the Hetzer didn't.

[Copland]

Below is info. from a couple of sites:

Newton's law says (to paraphrase) that for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction. Recoil (kick) is the rifle's reaction to the action of the bullet being accelerated down the rifle barrel. Recoil is caused by two factors. The first is the bullet itself, which cannot be interfered with. The second is the expanding powder gasses that are pushing the bullet and must also exit the barrel. Muzzle brakes reduce recoil by diverting part of these gasses to the side so that they do not add to the rearward recoil.

A muzzle brake or recoil 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.

[A3driver]

Originally Posted by tankguy

The jagdpanzer IV with the 7.5cm L48 had a muzzle break.

Yes, initially.

"Originally the Jagdpanzer IV/48's gun had a muzzle brake installed, but because the gun was so close to the ground, each time it was fired, huge dust clouds would rise up and betray the vehicle's position, leading many crews to remove the muzzle brake in the field. Later variants dispensed with the muzzle brake." Source: Wikipedia

Osprey's "Sturmartillerie & Panzerjäger" shows a drawing of a early Jagdpanzer IV of the Panzer Lehr Division (Normandy 1944) with the muzzle break removed:

[chascbv]

Wikipedia has this on muzzle brakes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_brake