Gear Review: 5.56 Muzzle Device Shootout

1. Sweet graphics, bro.

   • Thanks again for the assist! The charts really help visualize things. Sorry… I’m going to hijack this comment thread since it’s up at the top.

     WHAT BRAKES DO YOU WANT TO SEE IN A FUTURE RECOIL TEST?

     SJC Titan
     Lantac Dragon
     YHM Phantom Brake
     Spikes Dynacomp
     JP Bennie Cooley
     Benny Hill Rolling Thunder
     American Precision Arms bastard of some sort

     WHAT FLASH HIDERS?

     Smith Vortex
     YHM
     Strike Industries Venom
     Seekins Precision
     Noveske KX3?
     PWS Triad?
     OSS CHRISTIAN?
     Troy?
     AAC Blackout FH?
     Black Rain Ord?

     Please click “reply” right below this post and add any suggestions you may have. If I do a flash hider test it’ll probably be late Q1 or early Q2. Same with a recoil test #2.

     Thanks!

     Jeremy

     • And I forgot to mention, good luck with the pending child delivery!

     • How come no love for Griffin Armament? I picked the Tectical Comp over the battle comp for the cost and they look very similar. Ive never seen them go head to head in any review.

       • I’ll include Griffin next time. What two brakes/comps would you want to see and what flash hider(s)? They make an awful lot of stuff so it’s too much to try and test all of it, but I will definitely include one of their FHs in that test and maybe one comp and one brake from them in the next brake/comp test.

       • I am curious when you think you will be able to add the Griffin Armament Taper Mount Muzzle Brake (with or without shield) to your results? I am trying to decide between that and the FERFRANS QCB.

         Thanks for sharing your results.

     • I was sad to not see the Lantec or Spikes on this Review, As well I have a question, Was the mag loaded the same on every test?
       So after each rd/test was it reloaded to match the weight of each test?

       • Lantac Dragon was supposed to be in this test but there was some apparent confusion between Lantac and myself. It will be in the next test no matter what. Dynacomp is on the list.

         I did mention it in the video, but the rifle only had a single round in it for each shot. The magazine was inserted just to act as a sled to make loading that one round easy. The gas block was turned off so the action remained locked and 100% of the gasses went out the muzzle. 16″ bbl.

     • I would like to add the Rock River Arms Operater muzzle break, the little chubby by RAT worx, and the JEC AR compensator to this list. Great video, Great data, can’t wait to see the next video.

     • Jeremy, It would be amazing if you setup an experiment that measured muzzle rize as well. After looking at this video, I feel like there’s a direct correlation between the recoil elemination and muzzle rise. The M4-72 Severe-Duty Compensator has no porting to direct gasses upwards, yet, it had no muzzle rize, even when compared with the JP Recoil Eliminator which does have a mechanism to direct gasses upwards. This makes sense because muzzel rise isn’t necessarily a given, it’s just that the fulcrum point of where guns are held is what dictates that they rise so if you eliminate recoil then you’re eliminating muzzle rise, probably better than attempting to eliminate muzzle rise through an upwards gas direction.

       • Actually the M4-72 is narrower on the top than on the bottom (the “top strap” is narrower). This means more gas will expand upwards than downwards. It was extremely effective at reducing muzzle movement in any direction and it did not appear to over-compensate like the Battlecomp.

     • I would be interested to see how the Lancer Nitrous Comp performs.

       • Wow, that’s a sick brake. I’ll include it next time for sure. I actually just picked up a Lancer lower receiver plus a carbon fiber handguard to review them. When I’m done with those I’ll try to get that Nitrous brake for the next test. Considering the design of the blast baffles and the rearward angling on the large first port, I’d expect it to do extremely well.

     • I’d like to see the other SilencerCo brakes and flash hiders. Specifically the Saker Trifecta RS flash hider and Saker Trifecta muzzle break. I’m planning on putting the Saker break on a 300 Blackout SBR and the Saker flash hider on my 5.56 so I can swap the Saker 7.62 suppressor between both guns.

       • I’ll try to get their FH for the next test. However, the Saker Trifecta brake is totally identical to the Specwar Trifectra brake that I tested here except one has a mount on the back for a suppressor. They should perform 100% exactly identically in this test. Just like the SureFire one I tested is identical to their SOCOM and MB556 except for suppressor mounting parts. The design of the brake portions is totally unchanged.

     • Witt Machine Muzzle Rise Eliminator

     • I would like to see the spikes tactical barking spider

     • I would like to see a couple more silencers in the test, just to give a better range. They may be the same as the mystic, but it would be interesting to see.

     • How about the Ops Inc. break, but no the one used with the suppressor.

     • First off, thank you for this very informative review! I am in the process of building an AR, mostly for precision but with the fun factor of 3-Gun in the back of my mind. I have been shopping for a brake for a while now and have looked at almost all that you have in your review, so again your review has been very helpful in narrowing down my choices. As it is the down season, I am in no major rush to complete the rifle and only buying parts as funding permits. Last two items on that list are the MB and Hand guard.

       The last build that I did, I bought one of the Amazon units and was very impressed with its price:value ratio and personally feel the recoil reduction! It reminded me of what is on an AMD 65 and how effective that brake is. Also watching Jerry Miculek shoot in competition, he’s just fast and smooth naturally but it is obvious that his Brake helps him excel. It was nice to see you quantify both of those units in your video.

       All that being said, I am leaning towards one of the “chambered” units, be it the Amazon, best price, Miculek, 2nd best price, or one of the Precision Armament or maybe the Gamma, what I am most interested in is the effect on accuracy that these units have. You mention that the M11 was designed with that in mind.
       Maybe you could take the “Top 5” brakes and do 3, 3-5 shot groups with each. (?)

       PS, here is a brake for you to look at. http://www.amazon.com/Skull-Tactical-SkullComp-Stainless-Competition/dp/B00MG3HT76/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_13. It is very similar to Jerry’s and the other Amazon one, only in stainless which I would prefer to use for my build.

       Many thanks,
       Del

     • Thanks for all of the suggestions! Looks like there will be another pretty impressive collection of brakes here for the next test! Also flash hiders for that separate test. I’m hoping to actually run the tests sometime in March and the ensuing article will then publish in April, but I’ll update if this plan changes. Brakes are showing up already though so we’re on the way.

     • Awesome test. For test #2 you could retest the two best brakes and the A2 and bare muzzle as four control tests for the rig, ammo, etc. In the future test, I’d like to see more forward comps. Kaw Valley Precision, Troy Claymore, Kineti-tech with and without the sleeve, KIES, and Levang to name a few.

     • Id love to see the lantac tested too! And they are releasing a concusion divice like the frefrans very soon

       http://www.lantac-usa.com/AR15-M16-M4-Rifle-Accessories/DGN556B.html

     • i would like to see the Knights Armament MAMS tested

     • I would like to see where Daimondhead falls into this list
       http://www.diamondhead-usa.com/collections/accessories/products/t-brake-muzzle-compensator-5-56mm

       Thanks

     • I would like to see these three:

       1. Lantac Dragon
       2. Long Range Design (Swedish company, http://longrangedesign.com/)
       3. Lars Hagemann (danish top shooter selling his own brake, look him up at FaceBook).

       I have tried numbers 2 and 3 with great results and hold them equal to the JP Recoil Eliminator.

     • I would like to see the PWS CQB, Spikes Barking Spider, and Similar (forward blasting) muzzle devices compared. Perhaps put against the Ferfrans CRD in an sbr/pistol version of this shootout.

     • Flash Suppressor: B. E. Meyer 249F

       It will WIN!….. ? It has come out on top in past tests, can it survive?

     • I’d love to see the fortis RED(rapid engagement device)

     • Wilson Combat- Accu-Tac Flash hider

     • Any chance you could test the ALG Defense Sidewinder?

     • https://albertatacticalrifle.com/hikashop-menu-for-categories-listing/product/49-at15-eliminator-flash-hider/category_pathway-95

       http://www.spexdefence.com/SPEXBrand.html

     • Any recoil testing on Nero 556 and 762?

2. Thanks for the nice write up about muzzle devices! i imagine this took a good deal of time. i appreciate all the effort!

   • I must echo these sentiments. Lots of useful info, well presented.

     Great job!

3. Nice write up.

   Some of those prices are little ridiculous though, it’s a hunk of threaded metal with holes in it.

   And, good to see not too many were portly, anything over 4oz and you need to take it back to the drawing board, says I.

   • No love for the engineer’s paycheck from you, eh?

     • I am an engineer.

   • In some cases these brakes were designed using expensive software programs for computational fluid dynamics virtual testing and other similar things to truly engineer the end result rather than just cut some holes in a piece of round stock and hope for the best. That is not the case for all or most of them, of course, but it is for a few of the more expensive ones. Just like a download of an XBox game or computer software costs the company $0 to provide you (per unit cost rounds to nothing), they charge for it because they invested massive money in R&D. So even if the profit margin on a single brake might look excessive just based on that one unit’s actual manufacturing cost, some of these companies are also recouping significant R&D investment that is justifiably factored in…

     Not saying that’s a reason for the consumer to spend 5x as much, though. That’s up to you. Everyone will weigh the results of the recoil test differently against design looks, quality, finish, size, weight, concussion, flash, price, etc etc…

     • I know all this. The company I work for as an engineer makes a “highly engineered” part for our equipment for $4 total cost, and charges the customers $650 retail…

       So, I know ridiculous when l see it.

       But, that said, I have a Griffin M4SD II on my AR and I dig it. I just think anything over $100 for a muzzle device is highway robbery.

4. A2 is the best bang for the buck.

   • Well given that the A2 is basically free, you’re pretty much dividing by zero with that statement..

   • Considering it performed the same as a bare muzzle, but still costs money, I would say a bare muzzle is the best bang for your buck. When it comes to the A2, it is not at all.

5. Excellent comparison, but with a title like this I expecting some kind of comparison on flash suppression too… Any plan on writing one in the future?

   • If there’s enough interest, I’ll do a flash suppressor version. This one was going to concentrate only on brakes and comps, but then some linear comps were added to the mix due to specific requests (and a desire to see how they compared with recoil against brakes) and Strike Industries sent their flash hider so I decided I might as well test it. It’s the only dedicated FH in the test, really.

     The other issue is that it’s a lot harder to objectively quantify. If I do a flash test it’ll probably just involve better slow-mo footage and then just visually comparing screen grabs from each FH at its brightest frame (maybe I’ll get a new GoPro that does 240 fps instead of mine that only does 120, or I’ll grab another camera that films in decent quality up to like 900 fps). Actually getting some sort of light meter and trying to put numbers to it probably wouldn’t happen.

     • I’m looking forward to the flash hider test. Suggestion: shoot super slo-mo from the side with a black backdrop graduated with white lines like graph paper style to capture how far out the flash projects from the muzzle and how wide it gets.

     • Simplest method might be a camera in a dark room. Lock the shutter open and fire(manual settings). From the front, and side, you should get a quantifiable amount of flash with the correct camera settings..

     • If you do the flash suppression – please also measure noise for a person to the side of the shooter. Compensation is great, but if it blows away your buddy, then maybe not so good. A balance of compensation, noise, and flash is what I am looking for. Thanks in advance.

       • I was also hoping for more information on concussion. Some of the reviews mention impacts of the muzzle device on concussion, others don’t…

       • I can’t quantify concussion. There were a couple that stood out as being particularly strong while I was standing off to the side next to the table. Other than those, all of the brakes felt about the same. The linear comps and flash hiders (A2 and Venom) have less than any of the brakes or the bare muzzle. From behind the gun, shooting outdoors with ear pro on, it doesn’t much matter to me.

       • Do some schlieren photography. (Detects changes in density) The concussion will be easily noticed.

     • great review, but I was mostly interested in flash suppression.

6. Great review, good work and I really appreciate the effort and enthusiasm that you obviously put into this. My biggest issue with muzzle devices is the increase in noise that’s thrown back to the user and bystanders, hence I use a linear compensator. I get that its hard/expensive to test for noise reduction to the user, but it may be a good next round? That’s if the above bleating of the lambs doesn’t put you off.

   • Agreed, I’d happily drop $90 for the M4-72 (or one of the other ones reviewed that significantly reduced recoil) if I could get an idea for how much it increased noise. My AR is my HD rifle so the last thing I want to do is increase the amount of hearing damage I’d experience God forbid I ever had to use my rifle without hearing protection.

     • recoil and muzzle rise, as reducing muzzle rise is more important to me

     • From behind the gun with ear pro, outdoors, it really didn’t matter. For shooting indoors and especially if your home defense scenario doesn’t involve putting ear muffs on, I wouldn’t want to fire an AR-15 no matter what’s on the muzzle. Even if I ran a brake for recreational shooting, I’d put a linear comp on it for HD… but only assuming I didn’t have or didn’t want to use a suppressor for HD and wanted to use an AR-15 rather than a pistol or shotgun or whatever. In actuality using a suppressor is my preference, and the few times that the Tavor was in the HD firearm location it was wearing a suppressor. I realize people feel that there are potential legal negatives to suppressing an HD firearm, so if you aren’t comfortable with it then don’t do it. I usually choose to but in no way am I suggesting you should as well (I’m attempting to avoid the two pages of comments that usually ensues after anyone mentions a suppressor in an HD scenario).

       • I’d love to suppress my AR but the whole NFA stamp thing turns me off for a variety of reasons. Then there’s the additional fact that a good suppressor is going to set me back about $600 at the least.

         Also, from the numbers I’ve seen, an AR shooting .223 / 5.56 is no louder than a 9mm…

7. Holy Muzzle devices Batman!

   That looks like fun, it will take some time to look at everything youve written. Should be fun. Thanks

8. 3rd place comp can be found for only 30 bucks? Hrmm… I think I found a christmas present for my shooting buddy.

9. Dag, you didn’t test the one I’m currently most interested in, haha. Ah well. I may have to pick up your winner here if I ever get a black rifle. Sounds awesome.

   • Which one?

     • Have you tested the Kahntrol Solutions 3 Gun brake? I have a feeling it would come in first or second.

10. Great work, Jeremy.

11. Umm…. Isn’t this an old article? I swear I read this months ago.

    • Yeah, but it was pulled down like an hour after it went up. There were only 10 or so muzzle devices in that test, all from “small” manufacturers, and I made an error by including one in the notes section but not in the recoil test. We decided to take the piece down and do it again, but this time with big name brakes as well so we could all compare the performance of less well known ones to known quantities, etc. And this time I included the one that was missing from the recoil sled thing the first time around.

12. No SJC Titan?

13. First off, congrats on being close to #2, and get ready as you no longer outnumber them, hope everything goes well.

    Second… WAYYYYY better than your first shootout, clear empirical test criteria and straightforward transparent data and results. Would be even better if there was a repeatable easy way to objectively test side blast (my Fav the FSC556 indeed has very little compromise as you said but it definitely loosens up the crud in my sinuses, sucker is LOUD). Overall great review!

    • Like Tex300BLK, said, the FSC556 is incredible at recoil reduction but sweet Jesus is it loud. I’m considering having mine cut off my 14.5″ barrel and have something else out on there. The FSC is too damn loud for me.

    • Thanks, Tex! I was extremely happy with how consistent the results were, despite the “pen of science” and “rock of science” (and I had a bunch of boxes of 10mm ammo with me, so I’m not sure why I didn’t think of using some of those as a weight instead haha).

      Originally I had intended to hang a paper target a few feet off to the side of the muzzle but in the view of the GoPro so its movement was visible in the video. I had also considered trying to get a chronograph reading on every shot so the sled results could be weighed against velocity deviation. In the end I just decided to keep it simple so I didn’t have to try and juggle a bunch of things simultaneously and make a mistake more likely. I was also pressed for time due to the wife’s due date and my shooting area being just over an hour from home haha… as it was this already required like 4 hours out in the woods. I did actually try to get it done while the temperature was consistent, so I started setting up at like 11:00 AM and wrapped at close to 3:00. I even tested bare muzzle at the beginning and again at the end to make sure nothing had changed, and the averages were right on.

      BTW — if there’s any way to tell from the video what kind of concussion a device is good for, it’s easier to see it on the ‘main camera’ video than the GoPro (which surprised me, because I saw the GoPro’s tripod bounce/rock a few times). Brakes with decent concussion knocked that camera around on the tripod and caused it to swivel a bit. Unfortunately for this purpose I edited out excessive delay between the shot and me calling out the distance (I intentionally waited a few seconds because the microphone “clips” and muffles sound for a few seconds after a loud noise), but you can still witness the camera rotating upon firing and then see it rotate back into the original position afterwards. Only brakes with decent concussion made it do this.

14. Two questions, one general the other specific to this test.
    1. I figure there are two compents to the recoil.
    A. Clasic Newton 1/2 MV^2 type stuff bullet mass accelerated vs the mass of the rifle
    B. After the bullet has left the muzzle/physics system, the light but extremely fast moving gasses act like rocket gasses and increase the recoil unless directed backwards.Since these gases can significantly reduce recoil when directed backwards, they must contribute significantly to the recoil when not redirected.
    Anybody know what the velocity of the gasses are when the bullet gets out of the way and what proportion of the the recoil is attributed to the accelerating bullet and to the gasses?
    Now for the nit picky question.
    If a compensator is directing force downward, would that not increase the coeficient of friction between the sled and slide table thus making it appear it is reducing recoil because the test bed would move less? Yeah, nit picky but I like physics and I will accept STFU responses.

    • JP Rifles claims that about 70% of recoil is from the gasses. Interestingly enough, the top brakes in the recoil test here that attempt to redirect these gasses as much as possible and “brake” them so as much of the gas force as possible “pushes” the brake forwards to counteract recoil, reduced recoil as compared to a bare muzzle by right around 70%. In fact, this “70% of recoil is from the gasses” thing is on JP’s product page about the Recoil Eliminators. Just so happens that in this very test the Recoil Eliminator eliminated 70.4% of recoil. I really cannot tell you if this claim is true or total BS, but my non-professional woods of N’Idaho sled test definitely corroborates JP’s suggestion that this brake reduces about 70% of felt recoil!

      …and yes, I’d have to agree with you about the friction thing. Most of the comps don’t actually push down (don’t increase the weight on the sled vs. a stationary rifle), but they do prevent the muzzle from rising as much. There’s no way I can tell you today if that affects how far the sled slides back at all. Compared to the weight of the rock and the sled and the amount of surface area, etc etc… no idea. I also have no idea if 1mm of handguard-off-the-rest rise would be any different in this regard to 15 mm of handguard-off-the-rest rise. Most of the good comps still had a tiny bit of lift. The Battlecomp *might* have been the only one to clearly push down on the muzzle, but I’d have to look at all of the slow-mo clips again to be sure. Maybe I’ll run a single test next time I go out to the woods and do the Battlecomp installed properly and then installed upside down, as it would definitely prove any difference here.

      • Thanks

    • 1.5 times projectile velocity is often used for the velocity of the escaping gasses. Others use 4000 fps.

      Using 1.5 times projectile velocity and a 55 gr bullet at 3100 fps (wild guess for an example) I get 41.6 lb-ft/s of ejecta momentum. Remove the mass of the gasses (equal to charge weight… 26 gr in my guess) and I get 24.3 lb-ft/s for momentum. That means gas was responsible for 17.3 out of 41.6 lb-ft/s… or about 41%.

      JP and anyone else beating a ~41% reduction gets their additional reduction by redirecting some portion of the gas to the rear at some velocity resulting in a subtraction of momentum. Max theoretical reduction would be 82%, but you can’t really achieve that due to losses, etc. Getting 70% or better of an available 82% is probably flirting with the practical limit.

15. An amazingly comprehensive review, Jeremy S! Great work.

    As far as your wife expecting, I hope everything comes out all right.

16. Gald you included a supressor. Your data lines up nicely with theoretical values as well… Free recoil calculation would show that a perfect supressor (no gas involved in recoil, weightless) would give about a 40% reduction in free recoil over bare muzzle i.e. 5.5 inches in your scale. The supressor you used gave slightly better results due to the real weight of the can being added in. In order to beat the perfect supressor scenario, some of the gas must be forced rearward.

17. Any chance we can please get a flash hider comparison?

    It would actually be cool is you also tested flash of these devices as well. You could do a graph with compensation on one axis and flash on another so you can see where each lands in relation to each other. Would be a great tool for people to pick based off their preferences..

    • Recoil, I can control. But flash is in they hands of the machinery.

    • A flash hiding test would likely just involve screen shots from slow-mo video. Actually using a light meter in order to quantify empirical data necessary to create a graph would presumably be quite difficult. Obviously I’d have to come up with the sort of equipment for measuring those brief bursts and logging the peak brightness, but I’d also have to go out to the woods on a moonless night in the middle of winter (it has been like 14 degrees at night). Did I mention I don’t get paid for this? 😉

18. Not one from Yankee Hill?

    • If there’s a next time, which one would you want to see? They’ll definitely be included in a flash suppressor comparo, as they’ve always been very popular for that, but nobody mentioned them and I didn’t think of them for a muzzle brake comparo (which was the intent of this piece, even if the SI Venom slipped in).

19. SCIENCE!

    Nicely done, man! I love it.

20. Dragon?!?!?!?!

    I must have one.

21. Really great write-up and video. Would’ve liked to see a Lantac thrown in but beggars can’t be choosers. Thanks for putting all this together.

    • I really wanted to include a Lantac Dragon as well! I’m sorry it was missing. I probably shouldn’t be this candid in an open forum here, but I had chatted with Lantac and they said they were sending me one, but after a few weeks it wasn’t here so I talked with them again and they said they forgot and would drop it in the mail right away…but it never showed up. I couldn’t delay the test and by the time I realized the Dragon still hadn’t shown up I no longer had the time to purchase one, so I just had to run the test without the Lantac piece. My guess is it would do favorably along with the other 3-port brakes in the test, but not as well as the winner — the Precision Armament M4-72 — because it doesn’t have reverse-angled ports, which definitely give the M4-72 an edge in ultimate recoil reduction.

      To be clear, most of these brakes were donated by the manufacturers with the full understanding of what was going to happen, which I think is awesome. A few of them I already owned personally. One I borrowed. A few of them were purchased by TTAG just for this test. At this point I’m shipping nearly all of them off to Dan Z, who will be using them as TTAG contest (e.g. “weekend photo caption”) and giveaway prizes.

      …FYI, I have zero expectation that any company will donate a product for a head-to-head test like this, so was happy at the excitement and cooperation among most of these manufacturers while also totally understanding of the companies that chose not to provide free product (or as a matter of course, choose to never provide free product for any purpose). That’s totally fine. No favor was given to free ones (which, again, was the vast majority) and no extra scrutiny was given to ones I got through other means.

22. Jeremy’s reviews are always my favorite. This, combined with Vuurwapen Blog’s reviews, are an indispensable resource for the average Joe, who likely could never amass this wide of a collection of muzzle devices together. Perfect. The testing must have gotten tedious, and taken some time. We appreciate all the hard work! Useful data, this testing proved fruitful.

    Question to TTAG’ers…. anyone who uses their AR-15 or similar tactical carbine for home defense, with no earpro or suppression, do you feel comfortable using a muzzle brake in your home? I love brakes on the range, but I am quite concerned about the concussion causing very serious, permanent damage were I to ever have to use the rifle indoors for CQB… What’s the best option? Thoughts appreciated.

    • My opinion, based on hearing a few centerfire rifle shots (including M16/5.56mm) inside partially- and fully-enclosed ranges WITHOUT ear protection, is that it won’t matter one whit. Yes, you could set up a digital microphone and measure the sound pressure levels to 3 decimal places, but the difference in the sound you’ll HEAR in your bedroom between a bare muzzle, a brake, and a flash suppressor, will be no different at all, as far as your ears (and any damage) is concerned. Once you get past a certain point, loud is just LOUD.

23. Was hoping to see the SJC Titan on the list. Still, great test and write up! Thanks!

24. Very informative…I chose a JP Supercomp XL Ti for my Ruger GSR, tamed that short barreled .308 right down…

25. I was slightly surprised to see Surefire and AAC but not Yankee Hill Machine on this list. All three companies run QD systems on their muzzle devices. Additionally, Yankee Hill offers a compensator or flash hider for theirs.

    Of course I obviously run the compensator, hence mentioning it, but it seems pretty decent. It does need to be timed and I’m imagining it helps muzzle movement and recoil but can’t know compared to the competition because you pretty much cornered the market by using a control rifle and running 3 dozen devices. I haven’t seen this much muzzle device data that isn’t filled with company tag lines and guarantees.

    I am impressed no doubt. I am just asking if you can maybe add addendum sort of additions to still keep the format but include more muzzle devices as they come out or into vogue.

    • I’m going to be keeping a few of these muzzle devices so I can do that in the future. Future tests will not result in the same amount of sled movement, but the percentage reductions in recoil vs. the bare muzzle should not change much at all (with the same ammo especially). This way if a few more things end up here — and I’ve already seen multiple requests for SJC Titan and something from Yankee Hill (which specific brakes/comps from them would you want to see?) — we’ll be able to run the Precision Armament M4-72, VG6 GAMMA, bare muzzle, A2, and a couple others from this test that I personally own and see where the new brakes fall into place comparatively, which will hopefully also allow comparison to all of the other ones from this test as well.

26. Two nits about the “41.40 tool steel:”

    – There should be no decimal point, the AISI designation is 4140 steel.

    – It also isn’t “tool steel,” but merely “alloy steel.” “Tool steel” usually starts at 0.50% carbon, and has more moly in it to provide keep the steel hard as it gets hot.

    • Yeah. Plenty of these things don’t always align with reality in some way. In past reviews I’ve put Nitrate instead of Nitride in the stats for something and have put in information like 41.40 even though I know it’s incorrect or typo’d or whatever. I’m just choosing to copy the information exactly as written on the manufacturer’s website when the information is available. I suppose I could include [sic] or something, but I don’t feel it’s right for me to presume corrections and override the published info…

      YES… I realize that’s precisely what I did with the length, diameter, and weight measurements haha. In that case I wanted a consistent comparison across all manufacturers though, especially after seeing extremely obvious errors on some websites (as though they listed shipping weight instead of muzzle device weight, etc etc).

27. Please please please do compare sound and flash!!! Also it would be great if you could get a few more, and maybe some more suppressors added in the mix just for comparison.

    We want all your time, the baby and wife get none -sincerely everyone.

28. It is great to see folks backup my claims on the VG6 lineup. I have both the Epsilon and The Gamma. They are my go to muzzle devices. VG6 makes a damn good product and have some new hotness coming in 2015.. very excited.

29. Maybe I missed it, but did you record muzzle rise along the lines of how you recorded the recoil distance? I’d be very interested in those stats as well.

    • No, I made no attempt to measure that. It would be possible with a different rig and a much better slow-mo camera off to the side with a graph behind the gun, or something attached to the gun that physically traced the muzzle’s path on paper, but this test was solely created to measure rearwards recoil energy.

30. Well, all of these are Tact-Cool, but for 5.56, I would be looking more at flash suppression.

    • I think I’ll do a flash suppressor test in late Q1 or early Q2.

      BUT… I pretty much disagree with your suggestion that these are tacticool and flash suppressors aren’t! When I’m shooting I care about muzzle rise and recoil and I don’t care about flash or concussion. That’s because I’m shooting for fun and I’m not an Operator. It seems to me like ‘normal folks’ concerned with “flash signature” are the mall ninja ones 😉 . God forbid your enemy locate your firing position based on your muzzle flash. You wouldn’t want to damage your night vision. Wouldn’t want concussion to affect your teammates and other surrounding personnel. ….hahaha I kid, I kid. But only a little.

31. I’d like to see the SilencerCo Saker and/or SpecWar Trifecta flash hider tested to see how it stacks up.

32. I was excited to see the Ares Armor EFFIN-A MKII listed, but disappointed that you didn’t test it with some of the holes plugged. As far as I know you are the only reviewer on the web to review the “MKII” version of this thing with any kind of quantitative data.

    I think it would make the comparison with other devices more fair if you included with and without specific holes plugged (like the FERFRANS). That’s how most people would use the device. It would be interesting to see if it increases or reduces felt recoil.

    Otherwise, epic post!

    • As the test was about how much felt recoil reduction a muzzle device was good for, I chose to leave them all open. I simply assume that plugging any of them would result in more felt recoil. Plugging all of the bottom ones, for example, would reduce muzzle rise but should also increase how much gas goes straight out the front of the compensator and should, I would expect, therefore increase recoil. There must be thousands of combinations of plugged and unplugged holes possible on the EFFIN-A. I could see testing open plus a couple of likely configs but also had to watch how much time I was spending…

33. +1 on SJC Titan.
    Would also like to see comparison of the JP Standard Bennie Cooley brake.
    Thanks for doing this!

34. This is really a very nice and comprehensive article. Thank you. I only wish it had the Rolling Thunder in it.

35. Love the review, but was hoping to see the Fat Bastard, Little Bastard, or Micro Bastard.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMLMof4P8Hk

    • I’ll do it again, and will try to include one or more of these.

      • Looking forward to it. I need a break for my AR and 308

    • …just watched the video and LOL’d pretty good haha…

36. Nice review
    For the concussion, if you wanted, you could pretty easily get a first order approximation of the change between devices by using the microphone on your phone to measure the blast in various locations. I know it wouldn’t be the most accurate test, but at the very least you could get a qualitative order of best to worst in terms of annoyance to the guy in the next lane. And the best part is that you could do it concurrently with whatever test you perform next.
    I got thinking about how you could test muzzle rise. I’m assuming you do this mostly on your own dime so building a rig may be a little too much, but the gears have been turning. And now I’ve been nerd-sniped…to the drawing board!

37. PLEASE DO A .308/7.62×51 VERSION OF THIS TEST!!! GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

38. Fantastic work! I’m now going to view many of your other reviews.

    There are a lot of factors in choosing such a device:
    – Recoil, Noise, Weight, Muzzle rise, Muzzle flash, Diameter, Cost; Cool looking.

    I don’t know that you could have measured and provided a graph, but muzzle rise and noise measured 2ft to the side of shooter; that data would be super useful.

    No purpose to showing the 2nd shot. We can just trust you.

    Again, thank you very much for your hard work and great review / video.

    • We are a skeptical and cynical bunch here. I know the video is really long, but I wanted to include the shots so there would be much less reason to doubt the integrity of the results. On the slow-mo footage, I did actually cut out the 2nd one when they both looked identical. With rare exception, if I couldn’t see a difference between the two shots, I only included slow-mo for one of them, but if something was different (usually it was the amount of muzzle flash) then I included both.

39. Excellent Test! Flash test would definitely be interesting especially on these “combo” devices that claim to do it all. From what I can see in the video it looked like that AFAB was the only combo brake that didnt show a visible flash…

40. Amazing to see one of the best overall muzzle devices that does best of both worlds not even make the list. The TSD Combat Systems Extended Kompressor when on sale is under 70 and is superior to any of these. Nice to see the Jerry brake which he also uses on his tavor priced right.

    • I’m not exactly sure how amazing it is to see it missing here, honestly. I’ve never heard of it and can’t seem to find any place online that carries it or has any info on it other than a YouTube video. It isn’t even listed on the manufacturer’s own website…

41. Jeremy, this was fantastic.
    That was a LOT of effort.
    I dig my Silencerco trifecta.

    PS- hope delivery goes well for mama and baby.

    • Dude. Home birth. All natural. Momma was absolutely amazing. Our “little” daughter was 11 lbs, 14 ounces!!! Total shocker; no explanation. Neither of our families has any “history” of big babies, our little girl #1 was 7 lbs 4 oz and born at the exact same point in relation to the due date, momma is fit and healthy and has zero blood sugar or other issues, etc. I think we’ll be enrolling the little one in peewee football this spring 😉

42. I really enjoyed this competitive evaluation. It was completely objective and (for the most part) scientifically valid … except for that rock flapping around the sled. I know that you got some pretty consistent (and impressive) results, but the rock was observed often shifting during the tests – not always, but nevertheless, it does introduce variances in the results because when the weight shifts, it alters the entire sled assembly’s inertia and can act as a delay in recoil aspect that is hard to deny. The shift in inertial momentum negates the purpose of locking off the gas block.

    In a formal testing scenario, the tests would have to be performed again using a device to assure that the rock does not dislodge in subsequent tests (like velcro, hot glue or mammy’s old pancakes). I’m not saying that you should re-test all of the devices – just the ones when the rock moved. Otherwise, a variance such as this would be grounds for protest by the potentially-affected product manufacturers.

    I also live in MA (Lunenburg), so if you ever need a local willing volunteer to critique your evaluation criteria and methodology, I tend to think outside the box, have an inventive engineering background and can contribute as needed. Hats are off to the test data coordinator “NotoriousAPP”, who compiled a lot of data into an easily-understandable format.

    • I’m in WA. Similar to MA but you have to switch the first letter upside down 😉

      I know… the rock is janky. I had a bunch of boxes of 10mm in my rig so I should have used some of those instead. Not sure what possessed me to use a rock. At any rate, I absolutely understand what you’re saying AND I agree with it 100%, but the results were rock solid. Running the A2 and bare muzzle over a dozen times each (and one of those again at the end another 5 times to make sure things were still consistent at the end of testing as they were at the beginning) showed very consistent results and sometimes the rock shifted a little and sometimes it didn’t. There are also many other variables like temperature and ammunition (10% variance in energy level wouldn’t be a surprise) and others and it’s too hard to account for all of them. This is supposed to be a representative but not fully or legitimately scientific test and I have no expectations whatsoever that it could hold up to any scientific scrutiny. I briefly considered trying to chronograph every shot so recoil could be weighed or adjusted against velocity deviation, but I really think my results would go downhill if I started trying to overcomplicate things in the name of science.

      At any rate, I was super happy with the 0.19″ average difference between shortest and longest shot for all muzzle devices. That’s pretty freaking tight. “Rock of Science” or not 😉

43. Too bad the Lantac Dragon wasn’t part of this test. I would have loved to have seen that result since I’m in the market for a brake. I have the Ferfrans and like it but need relative data to the Dragon.

44. Great review, Jeremy! Glad to see the VG6 pair do as well as they did. Wonder if you had a chance to run the Precision Armament EFAB through your protocol. I believe it came out since you ran this exhaustive test. Wonder how its stacks up against the Epsilon. Thanks in advance,
    Mark

    • Yeah, it came out after I got the parts from PA. I didn’t try to get the EFAB because I intended to only do brakes in this test and it sort of spread out into comps and linear comps and a FH on accident haha. I’ll try to get an EFAB for the upcoming FH test and may also include it in the next recoil test just to see what’s up.

      I believe the EPSILON would have placed better (closer to the GAMMA) in the recoil test if I hadn’t installed it upside down haha.

45. Jeremy,

    Since you seem open to including more comps/brakes in future testing, here is another:http://dynamicresistancellc.com/products.html
    Main advantages are small size and claimed 60% reduction in recoil.
    Thanks,
    Mark

46. What a fantastic effort to test all the comps you did get to. I am in the process of removing my Titan SJC, not because it is not effective, but because the concussion is getting really old. Loud is fine I can fix that but I am so tired of fellow shooters coming over to ask if my AR is a 308. If you could develop a test procedure for concussion you would really hit the nail on the head. I just ordered the Effin A, and was so glad to see it made the 50% bracket on your test scale, you have done a great job and deserve much praise from us shooters….

47. Didn’t read all the responses but, what about the 2A-T3 Compensator being tested?
    Like the reviews.

48. I use Precision Armament’s M41A2 Severe-Duty Muzzle Brake on my 300BLK, and I couldn’t be happier. By far one of the best brake’s I’ve used. Thinking about putting one on my Noreen BN36 to see if it works better than Noreen’s brake. Great article, shared with everyone I know who is in the process of building an AR.

49. Griffin armament M4SD

50. So I have a slide fire upper and all I’m really wanting is a device thats ported at the 10 and 2 or the 12 o-clock. Not a break, just something to control muzzle climb. What is best?

    • Likely some of the compensators. The Ares Armor one allows you to have the ports where you want them and allows you to tune it to your firearm and ammo. The Precision Armament AFAB is a super effective comp (keeps the muzzle steady) that is also a great flash hider and reduces blast and concussion as well, and is going to perform amazingly out of the box with no tinkering. The GoGun/JP SuperComps are very effective comps and they do it with a lot less blast and concussion than any of the brakes, but with more than the AFAB and they’re also larger. But maybe they suit your aesthetic preference better.

51. In regards to the last sentence of the Hera Arms LC Gen 2,

    “It could be a sweet option for permanent attachment to a short barrel in order to bring it up to the 16″ minimum while running an extended handguard without worry of singed digits.”

    I want to do this but am unsure what length barrel to get. It being 3.55″ I thought I could just get a 12.5″ barrel, but I guess it does not work like that. Can someone with more experience help me please?

    • Hi Nathan, sorry for the delay (haven’t checked the comments here for a while). You have to account for the overlap of barrel and muzzle device since the muzzle device screws on and covers the threaded end of the barrel. It’s the total length that counts one your muzzle device is permanently affixed, so you have to subtract that overlap. Find out how long the threaded section of the barrel you plan to use is. Since the Hera linear comp doesn’t have to be installed with a specific part pointing up, it’s going to get tightened all the way down to the shoulder at the bottom of the barrel threads. The distance from the muzzle of the barrel to the shoulder is what you’ll have to subtract from the length of the Hera piece. For example, if the threads are 0.5 inches long (which is likely shorter than most AR threads actually are) then the 3.55″ Hera will extend the barrel by 3.05 inches once installed. I would honestly err a half inch on the cautious side to be totally sure you’re compliant. Even major manufacturers very often do 16.5 inch barrels just to be safe and to hedge against possible different ways of measuring, etc…

    • FYI Lan World, the U.S. HERA Arms distributor, told me: “Using the GEN 2.0 comp as our sample it would add 2.76” to the length of the rifle.”

52. Great review Jeremy, thanks!

    I also like the smaller devices but have stayed away from designs like the battlecomp due to reports of overcompensation by pushing the muzzle down. I’ve heard the VG6 Gamma behaves in a similar way and it’s obviously heavily ported on top. Did you experience this in your testing of the VG6 Gamma?

    • This is all highly variable, as the amount of gas and pressure exiting your muzzle is quite variable and the amount of compensation and recoil reduction depends almost entirely on that. For instance, if you’re running a short barrel there’s going to be a lot more pressure than a 16″ bbl which will have more than a longer barrel. If you’re running full-power 5.56 like I did in this test you’ll have more gas & pressure than if you’re using .223. I don’t feel like the VG6 products overcompensated for me on the 16″ bbl though, and you can compare the GAMMA slow-mo footage to the Battlecomp footage and see an obvious and large difference as the Battlecomp literally bends the barrel downwards and the GAMMA has very little barrel movement at all.

53. Vary helpful review. I have one i would like to see tested the TEMPLAR MILITARY COMPENSATOR-ENHANCED (MC-E) BRAKE From Templar Customs.

    • I’ll contact them and try to get one for test #2.

54. In your opinion how did the Surefire and silencerco breaks measure up to each other on muzzle blast, concussion, and muzzle rise? I currently have a surefire MB556 that I bought shortly before the FA line of surefire cans was discontinued. It was purchased for an AR build I was doing with the intent of suppressing the rifle at a later date. I went with surefire because I had been exposed to their cans in the Army and knew what I was getting. Now I am stuck with a break that no longer has available cans. So I either buy a surefire socom break and half the price for break and can I can get a silencerco and just wanted your thoughts on them.

    • Just buy a SiCo suppressor. Surefire is pretty far behind on performance of cans. If you used them in the military, you will be shocked at how much better a SiCo can is. SiCo cans come with the brake included in the price.

      Or you could just by the compensator, but why would you choose that comp, instead of just buying the can?

      Just buy a Saker 7.62 or 5.56K and call it good. Or wait until the Omega comes out, as it doesnt use the Trifecta mount, it uses the Spec mount. Either way, the can comes with the comp. Or you can buy the comp if you are waiting.

      Seriously though, research it. SiCo has better performance on cans, and has WAY better customer service in the event something goes wrong.

55. In the distance I hear my statistics and chemistry professors wincing in pain!!

    Significant. Figures.

56. Jeremy, I really enjoyed the video and write up and think you did a great job of being consistent and fair. As you know the AR platform is very popular and comes in a full range of prices from low end budget rifles to high end extravagant show pieces. The only suggestion that comes to mind would be to divide the results into at least two price categories. Maybe $50 or less and $50 up to show the best bang for the buck so folks could use the review to not only choose the best device but also the best device for the price. Turn your hard, although enjoyable work into not only a review but a buyer’s guide too. I would’ve loved to had that kind of info when I was shopping for a comp a while back. Thanks for the info.

57. If you test flash hiders, see if White Sound Defense will add their FOSSA-556 into the mix. I’m curious how it stacks up to the likes of AAC and Smith’s Vortex, as it supposedly doesn’t have any ping to it.

58. It would be really great to see these brakes compared in any follow up testing you might do:

    LANTAC Dragon
    ALG Sidewinder
    R&D MRAD
    SJC Titan
    Benny Hill Rolling Thunder
    APA Fat Bastard

59. Oh, and if you test more brakes and comps ask if AR15performance will add their “Vortex Comp 5.56” in the mix.

60. These too:
    Ross Schuler
    APA Gen II Little Bastard
    Smith Enterprises

61. Witt Machine and Fortis RED AKA Rapid Engagement Device.

62. Can you do a similar test with clamp-on muzzle brakes?
    This is for anyone that doesn’t want to send their barrel to get threaded.

63. Jeremy, great reviews! I even read through the comments. Have you already done the second test? Would love to see how the Witt Machine stacks up and also the Dragon by Lantac. Keep up the good hard work brotha!

64. It would be useful to for you to measure the db rise in blast & concussion wave and compare that to their performance in recoil reduction. I am sure they are related given the physics, but I’ll bet some make less noise but still reduce recoil more than others. Is there a free lunch? Maybe not, but a free brake-fast 😉

65. CURIOUS IF YOU WERE GOING TO TRY STONERS BRAKE IN A COMPARISON. I DID NOT SEE IT IN EITHER LINEUP. I HAVE ONE ON A 16″ HVY BBL AND REALLY LIKE IT. WOULD LIKE TO SEE HOW IT DOES AGAINST THE WINNER.

66. Outstanding!!! Simply outstanding. Truly. Kudos.
    I know I am late to the party but I am now in NEED of a muzzle brake. After two retina detachment surgeries, I have to reduce recoil as much as possible so I am looking for the BEST recoil reducer as possible. I also don’t want to hurt/ bother my fellow shooters at the range so I am also interested in blasts management device as well, Altho I will mainly be using the gun in competition.
    All that said, I am REALLY looking forward to your next review as I am also interested in the Dragon and its blast control device and how it stacks up. The price I’m sure will be a bit salty but I have to do the best I can in order to (hopefully) continue to shoot.
    Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH as this is very important to me. You have a new follower. ????

67. Curious why none of the older school (perhaps? SEI brakes were reviewed. They work, they’re reasonable priced and they are local to AZ. And available thru Brownell’s if you can’t get thru on their phones….

68. It would be interesting to see a recoil test of flash hide only breaks. Determine of there is a significant difference in breaks designed NOT to reduce recoil.

69. Love that you took the time to do all this. Would be interesting to see charting on how some of the flash projectors reduced decibels at the shooters position.

70. Next shootout should be a 7.62×39 brake/comp. Also I would like to see a Spike’s Dynacomp 2 on the test.

71. It would be nice if you had a decibel meter set up with your test. I’m looking for a compensator and I’m stuck between the m11 spr and the Miculek. I want the m11 but would like to see sound data to justify my choice.

72. Hi Jeremy. When are you doing the new test video? Thanks.

73. I’m trying to decide between the M11 SPR and M4-72… Seems like the M4-72 is better at muzzle control and cheaper. Just wanted to verify

74. Deciding between M11 and M4-72. M4-72 seems like better at muzzle control and it’s cheaper…. Any verifying thoughts or otherwise?

75. You never tested point of impact and group size increase! The reason JP goes with Super-comp on all his custom builds is because shot groups stay the same. Any Muzzle break with rear facing ports causes to much Turbulence for the bullet to consistently travel through. Recoil reduction is important but not as Bullet path and group consistency! Super-Comps expansion chamber & variable side facing ports remain the bench standard with breaks all the while keeping side concussion to a minimal.

76. Hey if you end up going out again to test muzzle breaks would you consider retesting the VG6 Epsilon installed correctly. Just curious how it performs.

    Thanks

77. I’m torn between epsilon 556. Vg6 and the griffin armament m4sd2 thoughts?

    • I use the Griffen Armament M4SD and really like it…

78. What a great post! Thank you for giving so much of your time and efforts to make this review! Now it is much easier to understand what muzzle device to choose. But it would be good to see follow up tests of the new muzzle brakes.

79. Good blog post . Apropos , if anyone wants a GA T-56 , my assistant edited a template form here https://goo.gl/0tZmHr

80. This is a great video. Tons of work went into this. Super informative and helpful. That said, I believe you got the AAC Blackout and AAC Brakeout mixed up.

81. I am definitely going with the vg6 gamma over the surefire socom after finding this test. I leaned towards the surefire because of the warden that could be placed to help with loudness and compression. But then I saw vg6 makes the cage for it. Done deal.

    My question is I live in California and have a 14.5 barrel so I need to use the gamma EX. Which is just slightly longer. Do you think the results would be the same or would it change. Because if it’s worse I would just go with the epsilon.

    Btw thanks for taking the time to do this.

82. Awesome video, lots of info, my question to you, how do those muzzle brake work with a SBR 7.5″ and would you do a video on this subject.

83. Great info and straight to the point. I am not sure if this is
    truly the best place to ask but do you guys have any ideea where to hire some professional writers?

    Thx 🙂

84. Very interesting info!Perfect just what I was searching for!

85. It is really a great and useful piece of information. I’m satisfied that you shared this helpful
    info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.

86. Thanks for finally talking about >5.56 Muzzle Brake / Comp / Flash Hider Shootout!

    <Liked it!

87. Great reading. I shoot a few M4’s in different calibers and some bolts. I have never worried about recoil before never seem to bother me. But this is some very good info reading thanks!!! really good article!!

    Is there a device that has some effect on recoil and also channeling the noise away from shooter, My wife is into my M4’s but loud for her. She wears muffs too but she dont like to wear them. As a Marine I seldom wear mine and at 55 I stll have NO loss of hearing. NO really worried about flash too much.

    I was looking into KAW Linear but thought their design would never reduce recoil so wondering if something like that and the VG6 combined are out there. Been looking at alot of reading and videos and trying to make a decision. Thanks

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    Thank you for any considerations.

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