Difference between flash hider and muzzle brake under a suppressor?

[BAC]

Question is as the title indicates: What's the difference between a flash hider and a muzzle brake with a mounted suppressor? Does one help or hinder the suppressor more than the other? No difference at all?


-B

[M16MANIAC]

I don't think there is much if any difference between the two.

[KimberMike]

They both sound the same and meter the same. Some people think that muzzle brakes serve as an additional blast baffle and will increase the life of the suppressor. I could see this being true, but I have never personally seen a difference in suppressor life based upon whether it was mounted over a flash hider or muzzle brake.

The only things I have seen effect suppressor life were the length of the barrel and the firing schedule. Lots of FA and shorter barrels will increase wear on a suppressor.

The only real difference I can think of off hand would deal directly with AAC suppressors. The Blackout flash hider has a slight "ping" after the shot due to the prongs resonating in the same fashion that a tuning for does. The muzzle brake does not have this "ping". Thats the only real difference that I can think of, other than the belief that the muzzle brake will extent the service life of a suppressor.

Hope that helps a little bit, and maybe someone can provide some real world experience where they have seen a brake extend the life of a can.

Mike

[Mongo]

From the suppressor design side it does make a difference. The brakes will cause high pressure impingement on the sides of the can and can actually bulge a suppressor that is just fine with a FH mount unless the can has been designed for it. I have not seen any data generated on the suppression differences between a brake and a FH mount but the flash hider does help reduce can muzzle flash. The same internal design suppressor with a thread mount vs a FH mount will generate a large muzzle signature. Even the effectiveness of the flash hider helps reduce muzzle signature for the suppressor.

I would speculate that a muzzle brake might actually make a can louder in some cases. Not all cans use a flat blast baffle and rely on their geometry for suppression. The first baffles in a suppressor are the one that do the majority of work when it come to suppression so introducing a flat baffle in front of the geometrically complicated can blast baffle might actually hurt suppression performance. Muzzle brake mounts that are slant ported will most likely cause a funneling effect and cause the gas to train through the first baffle more efficiently than the FH mount. This obviously would have to be tested to be verified and would vary with each type of design concept.

In summary, don't take conventual Internet wisdom to heart, there are many factors most wannabe Internet designers have no concept of when it comes to suppressor design.

[Robb Jensen]

In the few suppressors I've shot with brakes/comps and with flash hiders all the cans used with brakes/comps were actually slightly quieter to my ears.

These included SureFire 556K, AAC M4-2000 and Gemtech G5....Those few guys I know with OpsInc cans tell me the same thing....YMMV.

[rjs100]

From the suppressor design side it does make a difference. The brakes will cause high pressure impingement on the sides of the can and can actually bulge a suppressor that is just fine with a FH mount unless the can has been designed for it. I have not seen any data generated on the suppression differences between a brake and a FH mount but the flash hider does help reduce can muzzle flash. The same internal design suppressor with a thread mount vs a FH mount will generate a large muzzle signature. Even the effectiveness of the flash hider helps reduce muzzle signature for the suppressor.

I would speculate that a muzzle brake might actually make a can louder in some cases. Not all cans use a flat blast baffle and rely on their geometry for suppression. The first baffles in a suppressor are the one that do the majority of work when it come to suppression so introducing a flat baffle in front of the geometrically complicated can blast baffle might actually hurt suppression performance. Muzzle brake mounts that are slant ported will most likely cause a funneling effect and cause the gas to train through the first baffle more efficiently than the FH mount. This obviously would have to be tested to be verified and would vary with each type of design concept.

In summary, don't take conventual Internet wisdom to heart, there are many factors most wannabe Internet designers have no concept of when it comes to suppressor design.

Is it your experience that flash suppressor mounts also reduce FRP in general compared to either brakes or thread mounts? If FRP is due in fact to secondary combustion in the can, a flash suppressor should help to mitigate this, presuming it is still effectively disrupting the "flash" while constrained inside the small volume of the can.

[BAC]

In the few suppressors I've shot with brakes/comps and with flash hiders all the cans used with brakes/comps were actually slightly quieter to my ears.

These included SureFire 556K, AAC M4-2000 and Gemtech G5....Those few guys I know with OpsInc cans tell me the same thing....YMMV.

Very interesting.


-B

[Mongo]

Is it your experience that flash suppressor mounts also reduce FRP in general compared to either brakes or thread mounts? If FRP is due in fact to secondary combustion in the can, a flash suppressor should help to mitigate this, presuming it is still effectively disrupting the "flash" while constrained inside the small volume of the can.

I would speculate that there would be a difference but w/o testing there is no way to determine this. Suppressor testing is expensive as it is but doing FRP testing becomes very expensive due to the amount of time involved to get reasonable size data sets.

Once again, as far as I know there has not been any real testing on brake verse FH mounts effects on suppression and the Mk1 ear survey is not worth a damn when it comes to evaluating suppression performance.