I have thought about a suppressor but have read and been told they don't reduce recoil nearly as much as a good brake - does your experience say otherwise?
It depends on the suppressor, rifle, cartridge, and load that you are shooting.
Recoil is not reduced the same, across the board.
My "primary" suppressors are SilencerCo Harvester .300s -- which are now, unfortunately, discontinued.
6.5 PRC, 6.5-284 Norma, .243 Win, and more all have noticeably reduced recoil. You absolutely can feel it.
All of my AR cartridges (except that aforementioned big bore) also run through those .30 cal cans. .300 Blk, 6x45mm, .223 Rem, 5.56mm, and .17-223. It makes them plenty quiet (especially subsonic .300 Blk, of course). But it also turns them into the softest shooting ARs you'll try. My son was so recoil shy that he wouldn't shoot a 5.56 AR, because the recoil scared him, for every shot. He tried it, and it was too much for him.
I finally screwed a suppressor on to the end of each AR, over the course of a couple months, and had him shoot them. I had to talk him into it, every time. And every time, he would pull the trigger, show a wide smile and bright eyes, and say, "I like that! Is this one mine now?!" I perceive less recoil and can get back on target faster with those suppressed ARs than I can with the 10/22 that my son runs in competition.
But the real sweethearts, for me, are my brother's .308 Win and my .270 Win. It makes his .308 feel like you're shooting .223.
My .270 is a Ruger 77 Mk II "Sporter" (stainless/laminate).
I had the barrel cut to 19" and threaded.
I only shoot full power ammo.
With the short(er) barrel, it is a little snappier, louder, and more prone to fireballs, than it used to be.
But put one of those Harvesters on it, and it is suddenly a tamed *****cat. To me and a couple other shooters than have run it that way, we describe the recoil as somewhere between ".22 Mag" and ".223".
It absolutely changes the recoil impulse of that rifle, reducing it so much that even my 9 year old daughters could shoot it without complaint.
Of course, you get sound attenuation along with that. I have had bystanders 100-300 yards away, on multiple occasions, hear the bullet impact, but never the muzzle report.
Every rifle/ammo/cartridge/suppressor combination is different.
But it always make
some difference, in my experience.
(Also tightens groups for several of my rifles, and only makes them
worse for one (luckily, just a 10/22 and my only rimfire can).)
If I had to put forth a theory based on experience, I'd say that I believe the volume of gas matters. The closer a cartridge is to "over-bore", or the more "over-bore" a cartridge is, the greater recoil reduction potential.
But, of course, the closer you get the diameter of the bullet to the diameter of the hole bored through the baffles, the better it works, too.
