If your goal is to reduce recoil (assuming your just hunting) you might want to simply try shooting a lighter bullet. I don't know what your shooting now but I know a sporter rifle in 30-06 running mild to hot loads with a 165gr or larger can create significant recoil. If you know someone that hand loads you can have them test with different powders and powder charges.

Maybe try and find some reduced recoil loads

Maybe put a good pad on it and practice enough that recoil doesn't bother you anymore.

We put a KDF on a Stainless Stalker in 300 Win Mag for my wife and it recoils like a 25-06. Absolutely nothing wrong with a break. We wear the cheap Howard Leight sport ear muffs. We hunt in blinds, on the ground and in hi racks with them, no problems at all. I think a break is a great tool. All of my kids grew up hunting with breaks. If you are a parent working with young shooters they should be taught to use ear protection at all times in the field. I wish now that my Dad had done so. The break allows my wife and kids to shoot the .300's with 180, 200 and 210's. The break allows them to see the bullet impacts on animals, reduces recoil so there is no flinching, closing eyes or jerking the trigger. The muffs allow us to communicate quieter and takes all of the muzzle blast out of the equation. We use bipods and have never really had dirt kick up. Never noticed it. Also, if you feel concussion or muzzle blast while hunting then you probably are not concentrating on the correct things. I shoot 80-100 rounds of 300 Win Mag a year at game and have never felt that.

I shot my .300 win mag with a brake at an indoor range one time. After the 2nd shot, they asked me to leave.

To answer the question about recoil, I'll first counter with a question of my own: does anybody reading this enjoy hard recoil?
I do not, and I don't think that's unreasonable...but reason is seldom found when certain users are bent on unreasonableness.

It's not that I need a muzzle-brake. The same way no one needs an AR 15 or a $400,000 shotgun or anything integrally suppressed. It's that I find the concept interesting and wanted to learn more about it and how I would go about putting one on a rifle.

The Vanguard comes with a pretty good recoil pad and is decently heavy enough for absolutely manageable recoil in .30-06 150gr factory loads. Even a skinny guy like me can shoot it as long as I have rounds.

You’ve got a lot to learn

That's why I'm here!

Did you walk out of school in protest?

I personally have a very high opinion of muzzle brakes. I couldn't believe what it did on my 6.5CM. Literally about the same recoil as my 223 after the brake was added.

The bigger issue that you might run into on a sporter barrel is being able to thread it for 5/8-24, which is what most 30-cal brakes are going to be set up for, if I remember correctly. So that's something I would ask a gunsmith about before ordering anything.

The self-timing brakes really are the way to go. There's no reason to pay a gunsmith to time a brake now that those are available.

Unlike patrioto7 and others, I despise brakes and will not purchase a rifle with one on it. When I was guiding I would not guide a hunter that was toting a rifle with a brake. Brakes may be a help to the shooter but very harmful to anyone near the shooter.

http://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/08/21/muzzle-brake-summary-of-field-test-results/

I have a brake on one rifle. A Gen 1 Little Bastard on a 300WM.