I just finished looking at Wild West's page and was immediately drawn to the proguide rifle. That was at least until I saw the muzzle break sticking out past the front sight.

I have a friend with a breaked .375, and twice now he has sustained severe pain when fast shots were required on polar bears at his house. I also fired that rifle once forgetting about the break, and found that the break induced pain was far worse than any surviveable recoil. He hid his rifle when I went looking for a chop saw! Another memeorable experience I had was when I stood behind a fellow shooting a breaked .30/378 Weatherby.

What is the concensus among big bore shooters out there? Do brakes help, or do they just exchange one problem, (recoil) for a worse one, (redirected muzzle blast)?
Mike