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Posted: 4/27/2006 9:44:39 AM EDT
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Recently a buddy of mine went down to the local gun shop/sporting goods store to check out the new Smith & Wesson AR. He commented on the flash suppressor and the sales guy quickly corrected him by saying "It's a muzzle brake, NOT a flash suppressor". When I think of muzzle break I think of that little lip-looking device on the muzzle of an AKM. What makes one a brake and another a flash suppressor? |
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To be as ambiguous as possible, it is typically defined by it's "Primary" function. Some muzzle brakes function as flash hiders equally well. Some flash hiders also function as muzzle brakes. In states that have bans on such objects I typically define flash hiders as having slots, and brakes having holes. This would be a generalization, not all hiders have slots, not all brakes have holes. Brian |
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A muzzle brake does nothing to suppress the flash. Typically a flash suppressor has an open port on the front end to allow the expanding gases to disapate, while a brake will have a closed front end for the gases to impact upon to redirect the recoil (forward, down, or both for a recoil reducer). Subsequently, blowing the hot loud gases to the sides makes being behind or to the sides undesireable. One simple test is that if you can stick your pinky finger into the front end of the muzzle device, it is a flash supressor, if you can not, it's a brake. Also, enclosing a muzzle brake within a "can" would turn it into a sound suppressor by redirecting the gases into another chamber. A mini-y comp shot through a motorcycle muffler made some interesting results....but that is for another forum. |
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