What do these things actually do? From the front, I don't see how they can hide anything. Some education please.
Peter.

They're dissipators... they spread the blast/flash out. By letting the gas escape in smaller amount here and there (out the sides), rather than all in one spot (out the front). Kind of like having a garden hose with holes in it. Less water comes out the end.



By spreading it out, it's less intense, less prononced. it's as much for the shooter, if not more so, as anyone who may be down range looking at the shooter.



There's many different style, most don't let any gas/flame out the top, to keep the flash out of your line of sight. Some don't let any out the bottom either, to keep debris from being blown around when firing from the prone position.

Peter,

The "flash hider" is there to reduce the muzzle flash from the shooter's perspective. It is exists so that a shooter will not "loose" their night vision due to muzzle flash.

It is not meant to hide the flash from those being shot at i.e. the guys in front of the muzzle.

Personally, I think many of todays flash hiders suck! They seem to be more about looks than function.

Some modern assault rifles (I am speaking of military rifles and yes these are ASSAULT rifles), actually use muzzle brakes now which double as flash hiders. The purpose of the muzzle brake is to improve the shooters control of the weapon during full auto bursts.

ASS_CLOWN

The term is actually "Flash Suppressor" and that is exactly what they are designed to do...Suppress the muzzle flash...not hide it or absorb it.

M14's had flash suppressors, while M16's (starting with the A-1's used a similar device known as a compensator. Larger weapons like the Barrett .50 calibers use an actual muzzle brake which uses a portion of the gas escaping from the muzzle to counter-act some of the felt recoil by applying a forward acting force to the weapon.

The original M16's came with open ended three-pronged flash suppressor that was the perfect shape and size for twisting and snapping the bailing wire used to hold cases of C-Rations closed. It didn't take many accidental discharges, broken pistol grips, and tweaked weapons before they came out with a closed ended model that pretty much ended the practice.

Rick

Quite so - a 'flash hider' is different from a 'flash suppressor' - which is different again from a 'suppressor'.

A flash hider is a cone attached to the muzzle which shields the flash from the firer to preserve his night vision. So they were used, for instance, on defensive guns on WW2-era night bombers. A flash hider was also fitted to the (in)famous Lee Enfield No.5 'Jungle Carbine', as its short barrel resulted in a big muzzle flash. You don't see then much nowadays.

A flash suppressor is an open-sided device as already described, which just tones down the flash as seen from all angles.

A suppressor is a cylindrical device attached to the muzzle in which the gun gas can expand and be absorbed to some extent - it thereofre not only reduces to a minimum any flash, but also reduces the noise of the muzzle blast.

A silencer is very much like a suppressor, only more so - it almost entirely eliminates muzzle blast.

A compensator is a device which deflects some of the escaping muzzle gas upwards to counteract 'muzzle flip' on firing, so it's useful in pistols and automatic shoulder guns.

A muzzle brake is similar to a compensator except that it deflects as much gas as possible to the sides or even the rear, to try to reduce recoil.

A muzzle booster is the opposite of a muzzle brake - it is designed to increase recoil, and has been used in recoil-operated MGs to increase the rate of fire or improve the power needed for belt feed.

I think that's just about all the various muzzle add-ons I can think of offhand, ignoring grenade launchers etc!

Hope this helps,

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
forum

Thanks for the education. I agree that the flash 'whatevers" were designed to reduce the flash from the perspective of the shooter. Now the question is: "Do they work"? I have a ruger AC556 that came with a 'flash suppressor". At dusk, I am not sure it ever really worked. I never shot it at night!
peter.

Peter,

Cannot speak to your Ruger, but I have experience with two flash hiders which do work well, not perfect, but well. They were both entered service over 60 years!

As Mr Williams accurately pointed out a flash suppressor ain't a flash hider, and personally I do not know what useful purpose they serve. I have noticed no benefit to them anyway.

ASS_CLOWN

There is a good picture on page 145 in the book: U.S. Rifle M14...from John Garand to the M21...that shows a side by side comparison of an M1 Garand firing three shots and a T47 (one of the test versions of the M140 emptying a 20 round magazine.

The shot is taken at night with both rifles firing tracers. The muzzle flash from the M1 (no flash suppressor) appears to be about two feet by two and a half feet when compared to the size of the rifleman, while the T47 has a muzzle flash that appears to be only about twice the diameter of the muzzle and only extends a few inches past the muzzle.

In fact the muzzle flash from the M1 lights up the guy laying next to it firing the T47 and lights up the ground a good four or five feet to the front.

So, in answer to your question YES they do work but since the gun bans they also are being used to identify weapons as "assault rifles" by those that don't know any better.

Rick

Way back in 1977 I bought and installed a "muzzle brake" for my Mini-14 that is really an M14-style flash suppressor. It makes a HUGE decrease in the muzzle flash by spreading out the gas into five radiating flat sheets instead of one big jet of gas. It cools faster, so it doesn't autoignite and make a big fireball of a secondary muzzle flash. As it really is also a muzzle brake, it does increase the perceived blast a lot, and since it's got the bottom slot uncut (just 5 slots of what would be a 6-slot pattern), it prevents muzzle climb as was claimed. Since mine's not full-auto, that's immaterial. It does reduce the dirt kicked up by the blast when firing prone.