Hi,
An issue of Rifle magazine was singing the praises of the new VA muzzle Compensator. It stated that it reduced recoil but did NOT increase muzzle blast. I went on the website www.bp-tec.com and its construction seems so similar to other brakes that this seems unlikely.
Do any of you have experience with this brake?
Is it just quieter than other brakes, or really the same as shooting an unbraked rifle?

In my opinion, "quieter" and "muzzle brake" are mutually exclusive terms. It may be possible to maximize the muzzle blast caused by a muzzle brake, or to minimize same through altering the design (and effectiveness), but ANY muzzle brake will produce a louder report than an unbraked muzzle. This is an immutable (pardon the pun) law of physics.

There was a lengthy thread on this topic, perhaps in Big Bores, with some of the owners of the company contributing. I believe that the comp is tuned to your gun ie. you send in the gun and 6 rounds of ammo. I believe they also guarantee no more than 2db increase in sound. You might want to search for it. They were advertising negative muzzle rise! I conclude that the comp IS different from the conventional ones. It is also not cheap, around $360 as I recollect.
peter.

Stonecreek,

There is no immutable law of physics that a muzzle brake has to increase sound.

If you have ever shot a supressed weapon, you will notice a significant decrease in recoil.

I have two muzzle brakes on my rifles (404 Jeffery and 375 wildcat) that act as supressors to a limited degree (4 dB sound reduction), with good reduction in recoil (made by American Safe Arms).

The BATF won't allow more than a 4 db decrease in the report of a weapon without calling it a "silencer" (their terminology).

Garrett

N. Garrett

4db sound reduction is significant, do you have an address for American Safe Arms? Cannot find them through google. Thanks.

I will get the address for American Safe Arms and post it here. (I'm at work and don't have it with me).

I don't know whether you would consider it bulky or not.

It is a tube that is sleeved over the barrel, to match the diameter of the shank (so it now looks like a straight shotgun-size barrel coming out of the reciever).

I am sure there is some sort of drop in velocity with the brake, but it is small, and in the order of 20 to 50 fps.

It is an interesting story about how ASA started making these...
short version is the BATF torched the first 4 or so that they sent in for testing.
Browning Firearms then got interested, and "loaned" ASA their legal department to work out an acceptable compromise with BATF.
Browning was interested at one point in offering rifles (from the factory) that included this, but haven't gone forward with it.

(I wonder if the anti's would've had a field day with the publicity from that: Gun manufacturer makes silencers to kill Bambi)

Garrett

So, the ASA is a silencer that doesn't do a very good job of silencing, I take it. And yes, I would call a device that increases the effective diameter of a sporter rifle barrel to the size of a shotgun barrel "bulky". How much does this device weigh?

Here is the link to the previously mentioned thread I started in the African Big Game Forum.

VA Compensator

As soon as I get my Montana Rifleman long action I'm going to build either a .416 Rem or a .458 Lott and send it to Rick to install a VA Compensator.

If someone from the Forums gets one installed sooner, please give us a report.

[ 07-10-2003, 00:36: Message edited by: Mark in SC ]

WOW, that discussion in BigBores really got me excited. If this device really works, the market will be wiped clean in a couple years! I always believed that the next step in technology would be to reduce muzzle blast (the second biggest cause of flinching) but looks like US law will prevent the biggest companies marketing such devices....
This brake could do with some better testing though...the Petersen's article contained NO numbers, NO scientific tests...just a half-deaf gunwriter's opinion based on one gun.
If someone gets to test it, Please post all results on these threads...

The address for American Safe arms is:

1240 Riverview Drive
Garland, UT 84312

Phone (801) 257-7472
Fax (801) 785-8156

(check the area code...it changed for that part of Utah a couple of years ago, and I don't remember if I wrote down the new code or the old one)

I don't know how much it weighs...I guess about what a 23 inch shotgun tube does.

Actually, it worked pretty darn good as a "silencer", which is what got the BATF in such a huff.
That is why the only allowed reduction in sound is 4 db (the BATF's rule)...I believe that is a regulation, and not a law.
The law forbids "silencers", but doesn't specify how much sound reduction is a silencer.
They were getting more like 40 db sound reduction on the first models...and out came the cutting torches at the government office.

Garrett