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How much worse? The M1A is usually enough to make people walk over to my lane to see what I've got. Will a muzzle brake make them walk over to my lane to beat me up instead? I assume by worse you mean the sound, not the flash? How much easier will it be to recover on shots?
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Never really shot rifles at night, so can't comment on the flash. I'll make a guess that the Smith brake actually dissipates flash pretty well, but that's based on nothing but a guess. I've never shot a rifle with and then without a brake to make a comparison on recoil, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't a substantial difference. My friend's AR-10 has a brake, weighs about 10lb, and feels a little less recoil than my 10lb Garand, but it's a different rifle with a lower barrel and that makes it an apples-to-oranges comparison.
They other shooters won't beat you up, but it's always a nice thing to stay at the end of the line, and maybe stand up a target backer next to your position to deflect a little bit of the sound.
How bad it is depends a little on the design of the range and the style of the brake. Because the brakes are sending muzzle blast to the sides and probably up too, if you're shooting under a roof, the roof will deflect some of the noise back down in addition to the blast from the sides.
I was shooting at the Rio Salado Highpower rifle range (covered positions with a tin roof) with my Garand and a buddy's POF AR-10 (also with a brake). His rifle definitely seemed louder than my Garand from about 10ft to the side, but it's wasn't punishing. Some guy rolled in and set up 20ft away and put a couple of mags though his M1A with a brake and maybe 18" barrel, and it was a little jarring, and it would have been miserable to be right next to him shooting. It was certainly louder than the guys shooting silhouette with .45-70s 40ft down the line. How much of that was barrel length, brake design, ammo, and positioning, I don't know.
I won't shoot at the public range because when the guys set up with their bolt action magnums with a monster muzzle brake two points down, I can't enjoy shooting my target pistol anymore. I just switch over to the CCW gun and work on that instead.
I think that the brakes are fine, and they seem to make the rifles very pleasant to shoot, but it's nice to be aware that you're sending a blast up and down the line and to try to be polite about it when you shoot. I only really noticed this when I saw a guy set up his bolt rifle/brake combo and then put a target backer up to block the noise from the rest of the line a little...class act.
NRA won't let you use a brake in competition:
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3.16.1 Compensators and Muzzle Brakes - The use of compensators or muzzle brakes is prohibited.
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Nor will the CMP:
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• Vented barrel extensions with the same external dimensions as the M14 flash suppressor, but without the bayonet lug, may be installed. A muzzle brake designed to reduce recoil is not permitted.
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These rules are probably there because of the advantage to the shooter from reduced recoil, but I'd be mad if the guy next to me was shooting prone with a brake, and I had to deal with the blast and the dirt.
-J.