Just curious about the necessity of a flash hider on semi AR's?  The only time the rifle would really be used at night would be worst case tin foil hat SHTF scenario or desert fun (once every blue moon).  Would a muzzle brake be better off all around?

Just looking for some opinions to stir my mental pot of thoughts and decisions.

Thanks,

Jonathan :)

brakes are very loud for the most part. If you do any shooting at night/dawn/dusk a FH would be nice other wise your NV is shot.

flash  hider   hmmmmm  

They protect the crown without adding ridiculous amounts of noise like a brake, so no, a brake is not the better all around choice at all.  No reason not to have one unless you live in the PRK or something.

Flash hiders also scare the sheeple and piss off the Brady crowd.

The A2 type do a dandy job of keeping the dust down when you are shooting prone.  

I'm going out on a limb here and guessing you don't shoot at dusk/evening time?

I hate brakes, I've never owned one with a brake. But I shot next to someone with a brake and it drove me nuts, ended up moving several benches down.

An 5C2 Phantom will remove dust signature from prone plus it works much better on the flash.


TS

They look cool and dress up a boring barrel, and than you can mount a bayonet, assuming you have a lug.

That is what the weapon was designed with.
You shouldn't see flash hiders on SKSs, and you shouldn't see bare muzzle or brakes on ARs.

Shooting short AR's (like 10" barrels) without a flash hider, a visible flash will be prominent even in daylight.  In low-light conditions, or in the dark, it would be extremely distracting, if not blinding - especially with ammo like XM193.  A regular A2 flash supressor reduces the flash considerably, and more advanced ones like the vortex and phantom almost completely eliminate it.

Carbines like 14.5" or 16" AR rifles will also have quite noticable flash in low-light conditions without a flash supressor (again, especially with particular ammo types)

While most of the use for most of our rifles is on well-lit ranges during the day-time, it is nice to know that you will not be blinded or distracted by muzzle flash if you ever had an emergency situation in which you NEEDED to use an AR under poor lighting conditions, or in the dark.


Like a seatbelt, it's nice to have just in case, even though you might not ever need it, and certainly do not expect to.