Almost every AR 15 leaves the factory with the worst muzzle device ever designed. The A2 birdcage, which is designed to provide down-pressure to counter against muzzle rise when firing. Replacing the A2 is usually one of the first significant upgrades a new AR owner makes and is a very important consideration at the onset of every build. Depending on your state laws, you may have a “pinned” A2 that must be cut off your rifle and you may need to consider “pinning” the new brake with a spot weld to maintain legality. Check local laws. I will be the first to admit that there is no one brake that works best for every scenario or use. What I wanted to do though is provide a comprehensive set of tests to visually show potential buyers what to expect from each brake. I will disclose now that we sell ALL of them so we are unbiased. Below, you will see Part 1 of our Video Muzzle Brake Review Series. In this video, we used the same gun each time. A Specop MFG Ultralight Billet lower and forged Specop upper with a HERA Quad Rail using a standard barrel and a factory trigger. A Fortis MFG S.H.IF.T Vertical grip was installed as well as a Burris Fast Fire Optic to provide maximum control while keeping the weight very light. Each brake was filmed at the same range, with the same conditions, firing in the same stance by the same operator (me). Magazines were always topped off to capacity and all the same ammo was used. We have added a stationary RED LINE to the video during editing to provide you a point of reference from which to judge the first factor we are looking at; Vertical Barrel Movement. You will clearly see that some of the brakes create down pressure forcing the barrel downward. Others create barrel rise forcing the barrel upward and yet others do what I prefer and that is remain flat and push only backwards.
I am NOT going to remark about each brake and my findings. They are all fine pieces of engineering. I will let you draw your own correlations from what you watch . Feel free to add comments below or on our youtube channel. I encourage a healthy discussion.
In future videos we will look at these same brakes during night fire to measure muzzle flash. We will also be using modern technology to give you a shooters perspective through the optic and map the movement of the red dot on the target.
Muzzle Brake Comparison Video
Lantac Dragon 556 vs Primary Weapon Systems FSC556 vs VG6 Epsilon & Gamma vs APF Armory Butcher
Lantac Dragon Review, PWS FSC 556 Review, VG6 Epsilon and Gamma Review, Tactical Shit Butcher Review
Enjoy: