I hear a lot of people talking about removing their pinned muzzle brakes to put back on their flash hiders.   This might be a stupid question, but please explain.  
Wouldn't you want a brake instead of a flash hider for non military used plinkers?

Thanks and please excuse the potentially stupid question.

Why not have a threaded barrel where you can choose to use one or the other?


Part of the wording of the ban was such that it wasn't just flash suppressors that were banned but any "common thread for the purposes of attaching a flash suppressor."

Having a regular threaded barrel could be considered as being as bad as having the flash suppressor.

Atleast now, we have the choice to put the brake on or put the flash suppressor on.

Flash suppressors are good for low light shooting where you don't want to temporarily rob yourself of any night vision aquity you have built up.

Those brakes tend to re-direct the blast back towards the shooter.... they are louder than FSs.

Another problem with some brakes, such as the Mini-Y Comp from Bushmaster, is that they are very "hard" on the ears, even with ear protection, as the blast is vectored backwards, towards the shooter.

Thus, a weapon with one of these brakes is a bad choice for a defensive weapon because I assure you, if you fire a rifle with a Mini-Y Comp w/o ear protection, your gonna have a painful experience and loose your ability to "press the fight."

A FS offers the shooter a reduced "flash" that in some cases is a must, such as when wearing night vision or shooting in low-light conditions.  

No question is a stupid question.

While a muzzle brake decreases the amount of felt recoil, it directs gases back to the shooters face and is much louder than a flash hider.

A true flash hider or flash suppressor reduces or eliminates muzzle flash. It does not soften felt recoil. But, the .223/5.56 round has very little recoil anyway, so why not go for the flash hider?

HS1

My Oly has the smith ent. brake, and it allows me to bump off a 30rd mag without loosing my sight picture.

However, it's as loud as anything if you make the mistake of firing it without hearing protection, and it directs that muzzle blast right back towards ya.

I think the best of both worlds would definately be having a standard threaded barrell.   Big time!

Thanks for the info guys, I was just wondering.  Maybe I'll have to go out shooting with flash hider on and see how I like it.

I have a BM with the AK muzzel brake and it does blast a great deal of sound and air to each side as I guess it was designed to do. I have had more than a few comments at the range from people standing next to me. Although almost all of the shooting I do is during daylight hours I have shot off a few mags after dark. The flash coming out the barrel is at least a foot long and is flat out blinding. I would imagine in combat this would show the enemy exactly where you are and would completely eliminate your natural night vision. I don't recall every firing an AR with a flash hider at night but hopefully it would perform better than the muzzel brake flamethrower I now have. I hope you never need your AR in the dark but if you ever do you definitely do not want it capped with an AK muzzel brake.

Anyone knwo which Brake is considered the loudest? Which is the least loud?

a  5.56 ar does NOT need a muzzle break
besides, its LOUD

get a FH

no idea which is the loudest
i heard that the izzy was pretty loud

I dont think the izzy is that loud. Me and my buddy both have XM15s. Mine has the izzy and his has the shorty compensated (2 ports) its is so freekin loud. He completely clears the bench shooting it at the range!

Speaking of which I have seen many threads of people doing post ban conversions on their rifles. Mine has a m4 barrel with a perminantly install brake to make the 16inch barrel requirement. IT is not pinned like many peoples. how is this thing on there? Will it unscrew from my barrel? Or do I risk hurting my barrel by removing it?


**edit**
"Another problem with some brakes, such as the Mini-Y Comp from Bushmaster"

This is the brake he has, and this guy does not kid it will hurt you...