Going to spend the money on a LWRC M6-IC-SPR with the 16.1 inch barrel.

Since I am spending the money, you can get it with some Surefire or AAC flash hiders or muzzle break installed.

Have any of you seen a big improvement over the standard birdcage flash hidder/ break? Is it worth the money?

I am going to use this gun for hunting and 3 gun. (Hunting to justify its place in my safe to my wife.)

The biggest reason I ask is that my SCAR 17 has an awesome muzzle break... but it is LOUD and devistating to be next to. I don't want that effect on an AR-15.

Help.

Brother, there's so many different ones out there, its ridiculous. IMO, many of them are bought and sold based on the "cosmetic bad-ass effect". If you plan on ever putting a can on your gun, obviously you have to use a compatible and/or proprietary muzzle device. What I like for 3 gun is a MB bushmaster sells that mimics the one that is on the AK74, but built for the AR15. I have one on my Larue stealth carbine that I use for 3 gun. It runs around $30 I want to say. Its not pretty, and I want to say its 2.5" long or so. Its also fairly loud and has a significant "side blast", so its definitely not something you would want to use in a shoot house as a member of a team- they would probably bitch about it. I know this because I have had complaints from range personnel after match stages who were standing too close with the pro-timer the first time I used it, but as the shooter it never bothered me. I just told them that guns were loud and if they don't like it not to stand so close to my muzzle, and I let them know before I start that its going to be loud. Either they do it or they don't.

lol nice. Any improvements over the standard birdcage flash suppressor?

I actually installed a BattleComp 1.0 on my gun last week. It's my first muzzle brake on an AR (since I always used A2 or bare muzzle for High Power Service Rifle).

http://www.ocabj.net/mini-review-battlecomp-1-0-muzzle-brake/

As far as I can tell, it's not a huge increase in terms of noise or concussion than the A2.

As far as your selection of Surefire or AAC, from what I understand, the Surefire is acceptable in terms of noise and concussion compared to a competition grade brake (e.g. 3-gun).

Any muzzle brake you get will be LOUD, due to the baffles/slots on the side. SJC Titan, Surefire MB556, Lantac Dragon would be my choice if going into 3-gun. For flash hiding, there is no better than the B.E. Meyers 249F-IMHO

Do a little research on 3-gun points leaders and see what they are running on their rigs