What Are You

Compensating
For?

A 2nd
Look At
Compensator
Performance
BY PATRICK KELLEY, TY-14401

M
ost every multigun com- sue of Front Sight. This article contin- duction and down force using test fix-
petitor's rifle has some ues where that one left off, only adding tures that I created to collect objective
kind of compensator or a space-age twist. (The original article data. I stress objective because if you
muzzle brake adorning appears at www.multigun.com/arti- peruse the internet halls of AR wisdom
the end of the barrel; but how well do cles.) you will find dogmatic allegiance to
they work? Some of you may remem- brand "X" or "Y" based solely on feel
ber the article "A Question of Com- For that first article, seven different and opinion. My effort then and now
pensation" from the Nov./Dec. 2007 is- compensators were tested for recoil re- is to bring you clear and repeatable
data and let you do the feeling and
opining after you have made what I
hope is a more informed decision. As I
stated near the close of the first article
"one size does not fit all" and that
maxim has not changed. There is no
ONE best brake. Too many variables
exist between competitors and their
choice of equipment. The top 20 3-

Kelley’s recoil “sled.” The trigger is

pulled by way of an inflating bal-
loon. The transparent air line leads
to a pump. The laser pointer used
for the remaining tests is shown at-
tached to the handguard.
46 FRONT SIGHT • November/December 2009
Gunners use five or six different compensators to win on any given day. Honestly, you could just pick one, practice, and
never look back. However, competitors always seem to be looking for an edge. My endeavor here is to help you look.
My first article relied heav-
ily on a test fixture called "The
Sled." I took a Caldwell rifle
rest with a set of wheels at-
tached, and set it up to roll
rearward under the effects of
recoil. The trick here was to
balance the affair to offer
enough scale of movement to
make effective comparisons
between the un-braked
(naked) rifle barrel and that
continued on page 67.

November/December 2009 • FRONT SIGHT 47

 WHAT ARE YOU
COMPENSATING FOR? continued from page 2.
with each compensator attached. The not immediately clear to
Sled proved it could repeat this accu- me. Keep in mind that the Compensators Tested:
rately over many tests. I expressed laser is moving within my Street Price Recoil Reduction
those differences as a percentage of wobble zone before and af- Arredondo 120 RR=60%
rearward movement, e.g. if the un- ter the camera shutter is Nordic Corvette 47 RR= 55%
braked carbine moved the sled 10 opened. After calling (to Nordic Tactical 35 RR=50%
inches, and with brake "X" the sled my lovely wife) for the McArthur PGRS-1 175 RR=65%
moved 5 inches, that's a 50 percent re- shutter's release, I took the Carlson Flash 55 RR=20%
duction. shot as soon as possible. Levang Linear 32 RR=0%
You might think that I SJC Lund 90 RR=75%
While the Sled worked mar- could just leave the shutter TTi Eliminator 90 RR=75%
velously for measuring gross recoil re- open for a long period. I DPMS Miculek 35 RR=65%
duction, I was not wholly pleased with could, and I did, but the JP Cooley 94 RR=62%
the test fixture for downward and lat- results were unusable. Dreadnaught F2 85 RR=57%
eral movement used in the first article.
Triangle Rolling Thunder 82 RR=57%
While it did show subtle differences We as competitors are
PWS DNTC 65 RR= 50%
between brakes, it did not tell the "programmed to hold cen-
Middlebrooks Jet 85 RR=65%
whole story. ter and follow through to
center." With the shutter After many hours comparing images,
Sometimes working too many 12- open the laser "draws" my pre-shot
hour night shifts (at my real job as a here is how I interpret the informa-
wobble zone, the muzzle's movement tion. In each photo, you will notice
power plant operator) can lead to in- through pulling the stock military trig-
teresting ideas! One of my transitions well-defined sections, and sections
ger, and finally, driven by the effects of that are less dense. This less dense area
from night to day shift had me awake recoil, traces the graph you see here in-
when sleep was truly needed, musing is due to the "screen door" effect that
cluding my follow-through. Too long results from the laser passing though
on the downward-and-lateral data col- a shutter duration had my follow-
lection problem. I'd also been tinker- the pre bullet impact powder gas. Un-
through drawing back over the recoil derstand that the fastest thing out of
ing with capturing muzzle flash im- impulse trace, rendering it useless. I
ages, so it wasn't long before my in- the muzzle is the expanding powder
settled on one half-second as a good gas that drives and passes the bullet
somniatic mind put the two together. I compromise, minimizing my trace-
reasoned that by employing a dark- out of the muzzle. The "screen door"
over due to follow-through. patterns shown in the selected photos
ened range, still photography, a laser
equipped carbine and a target, one Three test sessions (with slight represent the best and most concise re-
could show exactly where the muzzle variations in protocol) were com- coil trace pattern for each of the
moves during recoil! Great idea, pleted with multiple graphs created brakes. Study the photos and you will
brain, now shut off and go to sleep! for each brake. This re-
sulted in a lot of photos! A closer view of Kelley’s firing balloon system.
To bring that sleep-deprived
idea to life I affixed a handheld
laser to the hand guard of the
test rifle -a 16-inch leftover
parts-built Frankenstein gun fir-
ing IMI 55-grain FMJ-BT am-
munition at 3050 fps. Then fir-
ing offhand I would trigger a
shot immediately after giving
the command to open the cam-
era's shutter. A tripod mounted
camera and I stood 12 feet from
the one-inch black aiming
square pictured in the graphs.
The meaning of what you
see in the graphs may not be
readily apparent. At least it was

November/December 2009 • FRONT SIGHT 67

see a short defined starting point (pre-shot), the compen-
sator's initial influence on muzzle movement (screen door) "If you think it makes a
and a second longer defined (post-shot) follow-through.
Each image is a complete "bang, extract, eject, feed and difference, it does."
close cycle." What I have not shown you is the trace created
when bolt locks back on the last shot fired. I do not have the Tips for tuning your AR compensator.
time at this point to cover it, but carrier weight makes a dif- BY PATRICK KELLEY, TY-14401

I
ference! Not necessarily good or bad, just a difference. It did believe Jim Clark Senior (the patriarch of Clark Cus-
however give me an additional tool to better interpret the tom) was the first to apply that title quote to firearms.
graphs once contrasted with the others, as it illustrated when Following that logic, I will outline a few methods to
each compensator had "finished" compensating. change the way your muzzle brake behaves.
Having tested, designed, built, tuned and retested many It is about moving gas, or more specifically directing
varieties of rifle compensators over the last couple of years, I gas movement. If you want to your comp to influence the
am confident in being able to predict what attributes are ef- muzzle to the left you must release a greater percentage of
fective in reducing recoil. But I learned the rest of the story gas on the right. Keep in mind you are working with a fi-
after digesting what was revealed in the graphs. nite amount of gas. Any change in flow favoring one di-
rection reduces the gas flow and its ability to produce
The greater the recoil reduction the less the muzzle
work in all other directions.
moves, right? Not necessarily. Several of the comps ranked
near the bottom in the recoil reduction tests proved very con- How do you adjust gas flow? Break out a drill,
trollable in the graphic tests. Recoil reduction may be THE Dremel®, mill or file and remove material! Make a port
factor for a .338 Lapua bolt gun, but not for our AR bullet bigger; drill a "jet port" through a baffle or two. Tim Ubl
hoses. Our performance criterion places a greater emphasis of Nordic Components offers this "by incrementally
in making fast and accurate follow-up shots. To this, the drilling out the hole in the last baffle you can adjust the
graphs tell much but not the entire story. amount of down-force our Tactical Comp produces".
Master gunsmith and all around good guy Benny Hill vol-
It is a safe bet that each brake that holds its tracing within
unteers this advice on the tuning of his Rolling Thunder
the one-inch square would serve you well, but unless you
comp. "I've built this new comp to be tuned….While at the
share my physical attributes, shooting technique and equip-
range, drill the jet ports at 12 and 3 o'clock a little at a time
ment the same result is not a given. A tall and lean competi-
until the muzzle quits moving". The JP Enterprises "Benny
tor may want a compensator that does drive the muzzle be-
Cooley" comp can be found with a jet port located at 9 or
low the aiming square. Reduced mass tends to offer less re-
3 o'clock depending on which shoulder the shooter uses.
sistance to recoil, and muzzle lift would be more pro-
The DPMS Miculek brake has created a legion of tuners.
nounced. A compensator tracing that moves to the right (a
Due to its reasonable price and early entry into the mar-
normal physical reaction for a right shoulder shooter) may
ket, this brake is often found in some modified form.
the cat's meow for the southpaw. Spend some time looking
Heck, I use the 223 version, reamed, re-threaded, and
over the data, I bet you will find a combination based on the
tuned to fit my Spring-
information that will fit you!
field Armory M1A!
The ubiquitous
Provided the performance is there what other aspects are Miculek comp.
You can make effective
important to you? Short, long, heavy, light, loud? Brand,
changes without remov-
cool factor or price? As stated previously too many variables
ing material through
exist for me to pronounce one brake the best, so I will not. I
"Clocking". This is sim-
will say there are some excellent values if you take cost into
ply indexing where the
account. There are other factors that affect controllability
comp is positioned at fi-
but we'll leave those for the subject of another article. For
nal assembly. Many a
now, I would suggest that you pick a couple of brakes and
right shoulder shooter will report an "up and to the right"
conduct your own subjective field-testing. In the end, it is not
movement in recoil. To combat that, "clock" the comp
whose compensator you are using, it is using the right com-
(very near the 1:30 position) to vent its upward gas flow
pensator for you.
in the same direction.
Whatever the comp or method,
Clock and try,
Drill, cut or buy;
Only you know what you are compensating for!

68 FRONT SIGHT • November/December 2009