jafo,
Just to clear up one point of confusion. A suppressor, commonly called a silencer, is a can looking thing that mounts on the muzzle of a firearm & lowers the audible noise from the expansion of burning gunpowder. It's a federally taxed item, so you have to fill out paperwork, undergo a background check, & pay a $200 tax to own one - if your state allows it.
A flash suppressor, or flash hider, is a device that mounts on the muzzle of a firearm and while not lowering the noise, effects the burning of the remaining gunpowder expelled from the barrel so that the visible flash is minimized, better enabling followup shots in darkness and attracting less return fire. Generally useless on a deer rifle unless you're poaching, but handy on a hog gun or self-defense weapon. These "evil" devices were included in many of the liberal decreed "Assault Weapon" bans because most "assault weapons" being derived from military guns had them. What the liberals didn't understand was the evil part unscrews, making the newly unflashed suppressored weapon legal under the bans.
A muzzle brake or compensator is a device that mounts on the muzzle of a firearm, or is machined into the barrel close to the muzzle, and consists of ports that provide the rapidly expanding gunpowder another path to go than simply out the muzzle. As the total amount of gasses are no longer exiting the muzzle, recoil is reduced, and if the gasses are redirected slightly to the rear, recoil is further reduced - at the cost of greatly increasing the noise to the shooter. Commonly used on high caliber & competition pistols, the gasses are directed upwards to reduce the flip of the pistol in the shooters hand; also commonly used on magnum rifles & .50" cals, to reduce felt recoil. A .223" AR does not commonly need a muzzle brake; however, under the liberal AW bans (AWB) muzzle brakes were not banned b/c liberals didn't know what they were. As muzzle brakes look somewhat like flash suppressors, muzzle brakes on ARs became common after the AWB's were passed.
Gig 'em,
backbencher