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Suppressors vs Muzzle Brakes

Suppressor vs. Muzzle Brake – What The Pros Use

Most shooters prefer either a muzzle brake or a suppressor. So, when I surveyed the 200 top-ranked shooters in the Precision Rifle Series (Learn about the PRS), I specifically asked each of those top marksmen what they run in competitions.

There are a couple of national-level matches each year that are specifically “suppressor only” matches, like the Box Canyon Showdown match and the Silent Night match. Matches like those dictate what muzzle device competitors can use, and I didn’t want that nuance to confuse those taking the survey or skew the results. So here is how I asked the question:

Do you use a muzzle brake or suppressor

Here are the results of that question:

Suppressor vs Muzzle Brake

On the chart above, the various colors represent where a shooter landed in terms of season rank in the PRS. For example, black indicates shooters who finished in the top 10, the darkest blue is people who finished 11-25, and the lighter the blue, the further out they finished in overall standings. The chart legend itemizes the ranks each color represents, but basically, the darker the color, the higher the shooter’s overall ranking.

77% of pro shooters use a muzzle brake exclusively, 10% use a suppressor exclusively, and the remaining 13% said they might run one or the other depending on what match it is. In fact, 9 out of the top 10 said they used muzzle brakes exclusively. The other 1 out of the top 10 said it depends on the situation. There were only 2 ranked in the top 25 who said they used a suppressor exclusively.

If you’re new to this style of long-range, competitive shooting, you might be confused about why more people don’t use suppressors. First, it’s not because they don’t own a suppressor or don’t want to wait on the ATF paperwork. Virtually all of these guys own suppressors but still choose to run a muzzle brake in competitions.

So why do the overwhelming majority of competitors use a muzzle brake rather than a suppressor? There are several tradeoffs between the two, but I’ll try to briefly hit on the two biggest reasons most of these guys are using muzzle brakes:

  • Muzzle brakes help you stay on target better than a traditional suppressor. Spotting your own impacts is critical in these types of competitions so that you can correct your next shot to center. I performed empirical tests on this first-hand a few years back. The results show several different models of brakes, and you can compare those to a bare muzzle and suppressor at the top of the diagram. The red dot represents the point of aim, and the other dots are where the sights went under recoil. (View the full test on the ability to stay on target)
Suppressor vs Muzzle Brake for Staying on Target Better
  • Some muzzle brake designs are almost twice as effective at reducing recoil as traditional suppressors. Reducing recoil also helps you stay on target and watch your impacts downrange. I performed first-hand empirical tests on this a few years back, where I carefully measured recoil reduction of 20+ muzzle brake designs and compared those to a high-end 9” suppressor. (View the full test on recoil reduction)
Muzzle Brake vs Suppressor in Recoil Reduction

There are a few other factors that may play into the decision to run a muzzle brake or suppressor for some of these shooters. For example, brakes are typically much shorter than suppressors, making the rifle easier to maneuver as you move positions. Muzzle brakes also typically don’t heat the barrel as quickly as suppressors. But the 2 above are likely the biggest drivers among this crowd.

New Products Break The “Traditional” Mold

Historically, muzzle brakes were the far end of the spectrum for performance in terms of recoil reduction and staying on target, but the least shooter comfort. The increased noise and concussion from a muzzle brake aren’t fun. Traditional suppressors could be seen at the far end of the spectrum in terms of optimizing for shooter comfort. It might look something like this:

Muzzle Brake vs Suppressor

Notice I’ve been intentionally referencing “traditional suppressors.” That’s because new suppressor designs have been introduced that seem to blur the lines between a suppressor and a muzzle brake. While they are legally still classified as suppressors, they are shorter and have a muzzle brake on the end of them that can help them further reduce recoil and help you stay on target.

Here are a couple of examples of these more hybrid products that I’m referring to:

Suppressor with Muzzle Brake

On the left, you can see Thunder Beast Arms Corp’s (TBAC) new line of Magnus suppressors, released at SHOT Show 2024. The ones with the brakes on the end are designated by TBAC as their “Magnus RR” suppressors, which stands for “Recoil Reduction” because it further reduces recoil. The first production run of these new TBAC Magnus RR suppressors is just now making it to distributors, so we’ll have to wait to see how many of these top competitors end up using them. TBAC claims these new designs reduce recoil on a 308 by almost 50%!

Thunder Beast Magnus Suppressor Review

The product on the right in the image above is Area 419’s Maverick suppressor, which is a single suppressor that is modular and can be assembled in any of the shown configurations – including a couple of configurations with a muzzle brake on the end. This design was originally released in 2019 and is currently being used by 6 pro shooters in the top 50 in the PRS. (I’ll cover that in-depth in an upcoming article.)

Area 419 Maverick Review

So, are the Area 419 Maverick and TBAC Magnus RR suppressors or muzzle brakes? The ATF legally classifies them as suppressors, so they still require a $200 ATF stamp. But honestly, these designs sport some benefits of both. In fact, the 5.5” configuration of the Maverick increases the noise, meaning it doesn’t suppress the sound any compared to a bare muzzle.

Adjustable Port End Cap on KGM Suppressor

Another suppressor, the KGM’s R65K and R30K, are only 5.8” long and feature an Adjustable Port End Cap. There are 8 tunable ports around the end of the can, and each has a threaded plug that you can remove to tune how much gas is redirected both vertically and to the sides. By porting some of the gas up, you can offset muzzle rise and help the shooter stay on target – similar to APA’s design on their Gen 3 muzzle brakes.

On the muzzle brake side, products like the ACE brake and APA’s Cone of Shame Nut have been introduced to reduce concussion to the shooter, even if they give up a little on recoil reduction. Some shooters have developed a flinch when using muzzle brakes that redirect gas rearward toward the shooter, and those products have helped them mitigate that and keep their eyes open so they can maintain focus on the target through the shot and better see their impacts.

ACE Brake and APA Cone of Shame Nut on Fat Bastard Muzzle Brake

Here is how 2-time PRS champion Austin Orgain describes the ACE brake he helped develop:

Austin Orgain 2 Time PRS Champ

 “We wanted to design a brake that was effective but that didn’t direct as much blast back on the shooter. This was around the time that the APA Fat Bastard Gen 3 Brakes and other brakes with ports angled back at the shooter had become very popular, and we tried those out like everyone else. I’d say I may be slightly more blast-sensitive than some guys, but I didn’t really like using those brakes. At the end of a two-day match, I’d have pounding headaches, and it felt like someone was squeezing my head. We thought that can’t be healthy or good for your hearing, so we wanted to come up with something that kept the muzzle really flat but didn’t direct as much blast back on the shooter.

Now, if you want to strictly optimize for recoil reduction, the pure physics of ports that are angled back to the shooter are hard to beat, but that comes at a cost. And for me, that was that I would flinch. I started videoing myself, and I noticed that my eyes would close for a split second. Well, that recoil reduction was doing me no good. The recoil was reduced, but because my eyes closed for a split second, I still missed part of that bullet flight. With our brake, you don’t get near as much concussion back on the shooter, and I don’t have that finch and keep my eyes open through that first part of recoil. It’s a lot easier to pick up trace, and it’s a lot easier for your eyes to track that target in your scope through recoil and see where your bullet impacted on the target.” – Austin Orgain, 2-Time PRS Season Champion

If you are shooting a brake with ports that are angled back towards the shooter, I challenge you to get a friend to video you over a few stages to see if you react to the blast. I didn’t think I was sensitive to that until Justin Watts took a video of me shooting at the JTAC class. In fact, I had already had my interview with Austin above before the JTAC class, and I remember thinking that I just must not be as sensitive to concussion as Austin was! 😉 Maybe you aren’t sensitive to it, but I bet most people would be surprised by the results. I know that I was. I didn’t react every time, but maybe 1 in 5 shots. But I also knew I didn’t seem to see my bullet impacts as consistently as other shooters, and that can make a more significant difference than you think.

There are slight delays for our brains and eyes to react, and in general, those are extremely fast – but so is a bullet traveling through the air! Here is a rough estimate showing average human reaction times and how that translates to the distance a bullet would have traveled:

The Take-Away

My point is that there are new products on the market that give shooters more options and the ability to strike new balances between competing performance characteristics. Instead of simply choosing one polar extreme or the other, we can fine-tune the performance to our application and personal preferences.

Muzzle Brake vs Suppressor with New Options

I didn’t intend this to be an exhaustive list of new products that fall somewhere between the extremes, but if you know of other products that allow shooters to strike a new balance in performance between traditional brakes and suppressors – please share it in the comments below!

Coming Up Next

The next articles will cover the specific brands and models of muzzle brakes and suppressors that these top-tier competitors are using. This year, I also asked them if they used barrel tuners, so I’ll include that data as well. So stay tuned for those results!

If you enjoyed this content, there is more to come! Over the next few months, I’ll be publishing a ton of data on what the top precision rifle shooters are using. Check out the other “What The Pros Use” articles that have already been published.

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About Cal

Cal Zant is the shooter/author behind PrecisionRifleBlog.com. Cal is a life-long learner, and loves to help others get into this sport he's so passionate about. Cal has an engineering background, unique data-driven approach, and the ability to present technical information in an unbiased and straight-forward fashion. For more info, check out PrecisionRifleBlog.com/About.

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13 comments

  1. Can you include any information about the Without Warning CHAD and or JP Limited Edition brake as well? That new product seems to fit with the spectrum of products intended to reduce concussion while still providing recoil reduction.

    • Hey, John. I do plan to include info on the Strike Without Warning CHAD muzzle brake in my very next article. There are several of the top 200 shooters in the PRS that said they run that muzzle brake. However, I’m not sure I understand how that design could reduce the concussion at the shooter, since it does seem to have ports that are angled back toward the shooter. That’s why I didn’t say anything about it in this article. The physics of it have to be similar to the APA Fat B* brake or MPA’s cowl induction brakes (like the MPA DN5), which are very effective at reducing recoil … but that comes at the cost of concussion to the shooter. I did see that the manufacturer claims it reduces recoil and concussion, but I guess I’m confused on how the physics of that would actually work. In my field test I saw a clear correlation between how much a muzzle brake reduced recoil and how loud it was at the shooter’s position. I’m not sure you can optimize for both of those things in a muzzle brake at the same time. That’s why I was presenting this as we’re able to strike new balances, instead of being able to get the best of both worlds.

      But maybe that is a lack of understanding on my part, and there really is some breakthrough in terms of the Strike Without Warning CHAD muzzle brake design. If that’s the case, I really would love if someone could explain the physics behind that.

      And honestly, you mentioning the “JP Limited Edition Brake” is the first time I’ve ever heard that phrase. It might be a great product, but I just can’t add any commentary on it. I will go check it out, so thanks for sharing! It’s honestly had to stay on top of all the new products that are being released!

      Thanks,
      Cal

  2. So I’ve got 10,000+ rounds down an APA FB Gen 3 with the Fat Tuna blast deflector, and I never really noticed flinching or really any concussion with a 6 Dasher. I recently got my Magnus K RR approved, and it is EXTREMELY close in recoil reduction, with practically no concussion and a much more pleasant experience. APA is still slightly better at managing reticle movement, but the additional benefits of running a suppressor+brake outweigh that advantage.

    Over a 2-day match, the Magnus K RR should provide better mental clarity without getting constantly blasted (whether perceived or not, it’s happening). IMO I think it’s worth switching full-time.

    • That’s awesome, Mike! Thanks for sharing your experience. Honestly, I personally bought a Magnus K RR, the normal Magnus K, and the Area 419 Maverick – because I wanted to try them out myself. It really was eye-opening at that JTAC class to catch myself flinching. After the muzzle brake test I did years ago, I’ve been a die-hard muzzle brake guy. I pretty much never ran suppressors, unless it was a suppressor-only match. But, these new products show a lot of promise.

      I’m waiting on the ATF to process my paperwork on the Area 419 Maverick, and TBAC tells me I’m at the top of the production list for the Magnus K and Magnus K RR, but they haven’t shipped from the factory yet. Can’t wait to try them myself! Your comments make me even more excited about them, since you’ve been running the APA FB with the blast deflector.

      I’ve been using the ACE brake ever since the JTAC class, and it has noticeably less concussion than the APA brakes I’ve been using. The ACE also doesn’t reduce recoil as much as the APA design. But, I’m running a 20-22 pound rifle chambered in a 6 Dasher, so it’s not like the recoil is throwing me around. I will say that I’m still running the APA brakes on all of my magnum rifles. They are a great design, especially with the tunable ports that he added on the Gen III design. But, I might be sporting that TBAC Magnus-K on my hunting rifles after it comes it – or the Maverick in the 4″ configuration. A super-compact suppressor sounds pretty ideal for hunting.

      Thanks for taking the time to share your experience!
      Cal

  3. Great article. I am wondering why you didn’t feature the area 419 Hellfire Match. I thought from some other articles that it was one of the more commonly used brakes in PRS. https://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/07/07/muzzle-brakes-recoil-results-for-6mm-6-5mm/
    That was back in 2019 where it looked like most shooters were running both. Did the 419 fall out of favor similar to the use of cans?

    • Hey, Jared. Sorry for the confusion. There are absolutely still a good number of these guys running an Area 419 Hellfire muzzle brake. I will give the full breakdown of the muzzle brake brands and models they guys were running in the very next article. In fact, I originally intended to put it all in one article and include all this content along with the breakdown of the survey data on what specific muzzle brakes, suppressors, and barrel tuners these guys were using … and it literally turned into 18 pages! So I decided to publish it in 3 parts, so that maybe people who actually read it! 😉

      Here is the breakdown of the articles I am planning:

      1. #1: Suppressor vs. Muzzle Brakes – Which shooters exclusively use one over the other and why? Also will point out a few new hybrid products that could disrupt the trends moving forward.
      2. #2: Muzzle Brakes & Barrel Tuners – Full breakdown of the brands and models the top 200 PRS shooters said they were using.
      3. #3: Suppressors – Full breakdown of the brands and models the top 200 PRS shooters said they were using.

      Then I’ll keep publishing more data on other gear these guys are using.

      Unfortunately, I tend to really get into the articles and they often balloon into multi-part posts. That was certainly the case for this one! So stay tuned to see exactly what muzzle brakes these guys are using in the very next article. I’ve already written a good portion of it!

      Thanks,
      Cal

      • Thanks Cal,
        I can’t wait to read the next articles!
        I am new to the sport, so I really enjoy reading as much as I can.
        Cheers,
        Jared

  4. Cal, great article! Been following you for years and your full honest reviews have helped me make some great purchases of items I use to shoot and hunt with, I’m not a PRS competitor, just an avid shooter and hunter.

    Looking at the Thunder Beast RRs, what’s the difference between them and the Dead Air E-Brake? I run a Dead Air Primal with E-Brake and my recoil is reduced tremendously and of course sound is pleasant. I’m just curious about the difference between the RR and the E-Brake. Keep up the great work!! Can’t wait for the next article(s) as they come down the pike!!

    • Hey, Billy. Thanks for the kind words. Glad you are benefiting from the content. Honestly, hunting is what originally got me into all of this! I still love to hunt, but my shooting passion has grown into the competitive side, too. I will say there is a lot of crossover. It doesn’t all apply, but what is good for long range shooting is worth considering if you are hunting in areas that require longer shots. I might say most of it applies, in my opinion. I’m a way more effective hunter than I was when I started all this in 2012!

      The concept of the E-Brake is similar to the Thunder Beast Magnus RR, but based on all the testing I did on muzzle brakes, the RR design seems to have more potential to redirect gas in order to do work reducing recoil. I tested some brakes with more of a radial design like the Dead Air E-Brake (like the Shrewd brake you can see in that graphic in the article), and they weren’t near as effective as other designs that are more similar to the RR’s large baffles. Dead Air makes great products though. I’d bet the E-brake might be quieter, but wouldn’t do as much work reducing recoil as the RR design.

      And there are other suppressors like the SilencerCo Omega that have some type of brake on the end, but again they don’t have the aggressive baffle design that I found to give the most recoil reduction in brake designs. However, this is all about trying to strike the balance between recoil reduction and concussion – so it’s great to have lots of choices. All of those are quieter than any brake, but probably also have more recoil reduction than a traditional suppressor.

      Thanks,
      Cal

  5. Gunnar Asgeirsson

    Have a look at the Botnia midi and Maxi. Interesting design. First 3D printed muzzle brake i think.

    • Awesome! 3d printing in manufacturing definitely has the potential to disrupt the muzzle brake and suppressor world. It allows us to pull off new geometries that were literally impossible to make a few years ago with traditional methods. I’ll check it out!

      Thanks,
      Cal

  6. I’ve been shooting the a Maverick for several years now (since it was released) and cannot see myself ever going back to anything with a brake. The pleasantness and lack of headache after a 1-2 day match is priceless. I should add that Area419 does a great job of supporting the Maverick, and will clean, inspect, and ship the suppressor to/from you at no charge! They continue to be a great support to the PRS and long range community.

    I anticipate that this will translate just the same once more Magnus RR’s are released from ATF jail. (Including mine, haha)

    I would hope with the quicker ATF approval times and the availability and advancement in suppressor design, more long range shooting will move towards a quieter (or more comfortable) experienced. The cumulative effects of continued blasts on the brain and ears/hearing has been well studied, and the overall outcome of continued exposure is not a positive one. This is a fact that every shooter should consider, especially when considering traveling down a path where weekend matches can see an individual putting 100-250 rounds downrange. Plus any additional practice rounds one would shoot outside a match.

    Thanks again for the article.

    • Hey, Dustin! Thanks for sharing your experience. You make some excellent points. I know research into football has uncovered how unhealthy repetitive hits to the head are, and I wonder if there are cumulative health risks related to exposure to extreme concussion. That is true for hearing, but your comments make me wonder if there are other long-term health impacts we aren’t yet aware of. I mean muzzle brakes on rifles that are shot at the cadence you described are a relatively new thing, so we might not have even seen the long-term consequences (if there are any).

      Interesting thoughts!

      And I hope the ATF wait time continues to decrease. I think that would have a big impact on suppressor sales. My local gun store that does a lot of suppressor transfers said they are typically seeing the ATF approval in less than 1 week when it’s transferring to an individual, but it’s still 4-8 months if you’re transferring it to a trust. Maybe they’ll both be fast at some point!

      Thanks again for sharing the thoughtful comments!
      Cal

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