NCHornet
12-01-12, 16:44
I wanted to try a compensator on my Spikes M4gery Mid Length AR. It is very obvious that the Battlecomp is the most commonly used compensator today. I purchased a 1.5 but was not greatly impressed with it. It did keep muzzle rise down but sound increased quite a bit, this is simply the nature of the beast. I sure wouldn't want to be around one without hearing protection. I began to look and see what else is avalable and that is when I found the Griffin Armament Tactical Compensator (M4 SD II ). I had a few questions and Mr. Green (Evan) provided answers to all of them so I placed my order.
I mounted it via a peel washer. I used a crush washer on the 1.5 Battlecomp and it was a true pain to get it indexed properly. I had to pre-crush the washer several times before I got to where the 20-30lbs of torque was enough to index it correctly. It is my belief that a peel washer is the best way to install a muzzle devise such as this. I highly recommend purchasing the proper vise blocks to install this device. Even if you are only going to use it one time, you can always sell it and recoupe 95% of your investment. I first tried the vice blocks that Lowes sells. They have different cutouts for whatever you are clamping. I clamped just the barrel but when I tried to remove the standard flash hider the barrel would just spin. I have a very large industrial vice that is properly bolted to my bench and I didn't feel comfortable applying any more pressure to the barrel. I know many have used these with good luck, but I wasn't one of them. Get the correct receiver vice blocks and feel safe that you have the right tool for the job. Griffin Armament provided a peel washer with the purchase of the compensator. I used a propane torch and heated the washer while holding it with a pair of pliers. It doesn't take much heat to get the washer red hot so be careful. What the heat does is to help separate the layers that make up the washer. I was amazed at just how many there were. Using the proper muzzle device wrench and my torque wrench set to 25 ft lbs it didn't take long to get the perfect thickness and have the compensator indexed properly. For those that are worried about it coming loose you can add some Blue Loctite to ease your fears. Here is a crappy cell phone photo of it on my AR.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q32/NCHornet/M4SDIICOMP.jpg
The fact that it looks a lot like the Battlecomp is no big secret . I am not going to get into which came first because it simply isn't important to me. Now that I have said this, let's get to how well it worked. If you simply shoot paper and aluminum cans with slow deliberate shots a compensator isn't really going to do anything for you. The comp comes into play during rapid fire. There are some excellent videos on YouTube that demonstrate the difference in muzzle climb with and without a comp. I wanted to do a video for this review but my buddy who usually goes to the range with me was sick the day I went and there was nobody else at the range. As I said in the beginning of this thread, I had used the Battlecomp 1.5 previously. I can say without a doubt that I feel the M4 SD II controls muzzle climb better for me than the Battlecomp did. I realize that this is like praising Satan in a Baptist church, but the truth is the truth. I don't know why this is when they do closely resemble each other. But with the Battlecomp the end of the muzzle was drifting to the right under rapid fire. The same rate of rapid fire with the M4 SD II kept the muzzle fixed on target. Before you ask, I will assure you that the Battlecomp was indexed correctly, why it drifted to the right I cannot exactly say, but it happened. It was a lot of fun to stand on the 25 yard pistol range and load a full 30 round PMag and completely tear a giant hole in the center of the target doing a full rapid fire mag dump. I could never do this with the standard A2 or the Battlecomp. I had a blast at the range and now I am wanting to put a M4 SD II on my two other carbines. The noise was also increased with this compensator. This is standard with all compensators. So please make sure you have the proper hearing protection before going to the range. The one thing that I haven't discussed is the price. It shocks me why a device as simple as this should cost what the Battlecomp's do. The Battlecomp will cost you $150 from most distributors, while the Griffin Armament M4 SD II can be had for well below a "C" note. I thought about waiting to write this review until after I sold the Battlecomp, lol!!!!!! , but I decided to go ahead and shoot myself in the foot. [:D]
When doing my research prior to buying I found tons of information on the Battlecomp but found very little on the M4 SD II. But everything that I did find on it was 100% positive and I must say that I agree. I don't want to see this thread turn into a bashing of one company by folks saying so and so stole the idea from so and so. I don't know who was first to manufacture one of these compensators, it doesn't matter to me. I know how each one performed on my rifle with me shooting it. One is being sold and the other is staying on my rifle. If you have any questions that I haven't answered please email Mr. Green at Griffin Armamant he is excellent at answering all of my questions. Let me also say that I am in no way connected to Griffin Armamant or Mr. Green in any way. I am simply a shooter just like you, who found a great product at a good price that performed extremely well, so I thought I would tell others about it. I hope this thread has helped those wanting to try a compesator but didn't know which one to purchase or the differences between A and B.
Take Care
NCHornet
I mounted it via a peel washer. I used a crush washer on the 1.5 Battlecomp and it was a true pain to get it indexed properly. I had to pre-crush the washer several times before I got to where the 20-30lbs of torque was enough to index it correctly. It is my belief that a peel washer is the best way to install a muzzle devise such as this. I highly recommend purchasing the proper vise blocks to install this device. Even if you are only going to use it one time, you can always sell it and recoupe 95% of your investment. I first tried the vice blocks that Lowes sells. They have different cutouts for whatever you are clamping. I clamped just the barrel but when I tried to remove the standard flash hider the barrel would just spin. I have a very large industrial vice that is properly bolted to my bench and I didn't feel comfortable applying any more pressure to the barrel. I know many have used these with good luck, but I wasn't one of them. Get the correct receiver vice blocks and feel safe that you have the right tool for the job. Griffin Armament provided a peel washer with the purchase of the compensator. I used a propane torch and heated the washer while holding it with a pair of pliers. It doesn't take much heat to get the washer red hot so be careful. What the heat does is to help separate the layers that make up the washer. I was amazed at just how many there were. Using the proper muzzle device wrench and my torque wrench set to 25 ft lbs it didn't take long to get the perfect thickness and have the compensator indexed properly. For those that are worried about it coming loose you can add some Blue Loctite to ease your fears. Here is a crappy cell phone photo of it on my AR.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q32/NCHornet/M4SDIICOMP.jpg
The fact that it looks a lot like the Battlecomp is no big secret . I am not going to get into which came first because it simply isn't important to me. Now that I have said this, let's get to how well it worked. If you simply shoot paper and aluminum cans with slow deliberate shots a compensator isn't really going to do anything for you. The comp comes into play during rapid fire. There are some excellent videos on YouTube that demonstrate the difference in muzzle climb with and without a comp. I wanted to do a video for this review but my buddy who usually goes to the range with me was sick the day I went and there was nobody else at the range. As I said in the beginning of this thread, I had used the Battlecomp 1.5 previously. I can say without a doubt that I feel the M4 SD II controls muzzle climb better for me than the Battlecomp did. I realize that this is like praising Satan in a Baptist church, but the truth is the truth. I don't know why this is when they do closely resemble each other. But with the Battlecomp the end of the muzzle was drifting to the right under rapid fire. The same rate of rapid fire with the M4 SD II kept the muzzle fixed on target. Before you ask, I will assure you that the Battlecomp was indexed correctly, why it drifted to the right I cannot exactly say, but it happened. It was a lot of fun to stand on the 25 yard pistol range and load a full 30 round PMag and completely tear a giant hole in the center of the target doing a full rapid fire mag dump. I could never do this with the standard A2 or the Battlecomp. I had a blast at the range and now I am wanting to put a M4 SD II on my two other carbines. The noise was also increased with this compensator. This is standard with all compensators. So please make sure you have the proper hearing protection before going to the range. The one thing that I haven't discussed is the price. It shocks me why a device as simple as this should cost what the Battlecomp's do. The Battlecomp will cost you $150 from most distributors, while the Griffin Armament M4 SD II can be had for well below a "C" note. I thought about waiting to write this review until after I sold the Battlecomp, lol!!!!!! , but I decided to go ahead and shoot myself in the foot. [:D]
When doing my research prior to buying I found tons of information on the Battlecomp but found very little on the M4 SD II. But everything that I did find on it was 100% positive and I must say that I agree. I don't want to see this thread turn into a bashing of one company by folks saying so and so stole the idea from so and so. I don't know who was first to manufacture one of these compensators, it doesn't matter to me. I know how each one performed on my rifle with me shooting it. One is being sold and the other is staying on my rifle. If you have any questions that I haven't answered please email Mr. Green at Griffin Armamant he is excellent at answering all of my questions. Let me also say that I am in no way connected to Griffin Armamant or Mr. Green in any way. I am simply a shooter just like you, who found a great product at a good price that performed extremely well, so I thought I would tell others about it. I hope this thread has helped those wanting to try a compesator but didn't know which one to purchase or the differences between A and B.
Take Care
NCHornet