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Posted: 1/18/2004 7:11:50 AM EDT
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I am looking into compensator for post ban bushmaster shorty for use in 3-gun competitions. Any advice? Cheers. bigtwinhog |
| The best comp I have ever seen was the one made by Smith Enterprises. We hapened to have 3 of the same rifles, (all 14.5 Bushmasters) one with an AK brake (mine), one with a Mini Y, and one with a Smith Brake. All firing the same ammo, hands down the Smith brake was the clear winner. It also had the most violent blast to the sides. |
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Bigtwinhog, The JP and the Cooley comps work well, I would rate them a close second, but they have a few design flaws. The JP tank brake comp works very well. It's main flaw is that it's heavy and the sides extend outward making it easy to hook or snag on a window or port. The Cooley comp also works well, but has too many vertical ports. Just about any comp you put on a .223 will keep the rifle flat. The high pressure of the round will overcome poor comp design and still make the rifle pretty flat to shoot. The .223 does not recoil much so there is not a whole lot of muzzle rise. Proportionally, you don't need many vertical ports. One or two at the most. Any more and your just wasting gas pressure and possibly over-comping you rifle. Once you get a rifle to shoot flat, you should focus on a design that uses the rest of the gas to make the rifle as soft as possible. This means having baffles for the gas to strike and pull the rifle forward and having vents that vector the gas out to the sides, preferably back at some angle. The Cooley comp has too many vertical ports and it doesn't vector the gas at an angle, although the baffles are large and do most of the work. The Smith Enterprises brake has only one expansion chamber and too many vertical ports. It may keep the muzzle flat but it is a very poor design. It only works because of the high pressure the cartridge generates. If you put it on a lower pressure round like a 30 carbine, the other better designed comps would work much better. The Bushmaster Y comp I recommended earlier is the best design for 3 gun. It only has two vertical ports, but six lateral ports angled at a 36 degree back angle. It keeps the rifle very flat and uses most of the gas to pull the rifle forward and reduce recoil to that of a 22 long rifle round. It may not make a difference when you are in a good stance and shooting, but it really makes a difference when you are off balance of contorting your body to make a tight shot. You will appreciate the comp in those situations. Get the Y comp, you won't be disappointed. VSP |
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