However, the parts of a gun you are in contact with - the fore-end, pistol grip, and butt - are typically below the bore’s centerline. Instead, the purpose of a compensator is to minimize muzzle rise, also called “muzzle climb” or “flip.” When you fire a gun, the recoil causes the weapon to move rearward. CompensatorĬompensators aren’t designed to reduce recoil the same way that muzzle brakes are. The alternatives include adding weight to the rifle, hydraulic and spring buffers, hard-rubber recoil pads, and wearing a padded shooting jacket to dampen the blow to your firing shoulder. This is one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing the recoil of a rifle. Muzzle brakes are usually attached to powerful rifles. This is why some brake designs have baffles that taper in diameter from the rear to the front. The first set of baffles takes the brunt of the gas impact and is the most critical to recoil reduction. When the bullet leaves the barrel and passes through the brake’s baffles, the gases, which follow the bullet impact each set of baffles, exerting pressure on the brake opposite to the direction of the recoil impulse.

This rearward force can be uncomfortable or even potentially harmful, depending on the caliber of the weapon and other factors. When the bullet and powder gases leave the muzzle, this ejecta creates an equal and opposite reaction, which manifests in the form of recoil or “kick.”

The primary purpose of a muzzle brake is to reduce rearward recoil.

Muzzle brakes are usually square, cylindrical, or rectangular devices consisting of integral or removable baffles and horizontal exhaust ports. However, there are important differences between the two, complicating the “muzzle brake vs. Both use the escaping propellant gases to affect how the recoil influences the gun. Both muzzle brakes and compensators are devices you attach to a gun’s muzzle, usually by threading. Shooters often use the terms “muzzle brake” and “compensator” interchangeably.

Compensator vs muzzle brake sound