What the hell is inconel and why would I pay more than some AR-15 uppers for a muzzle brake made from it?
Folks are, of course, more than welcome to spend their money on whatever their little hearts desire (and they apparently do, given the muzzle brake is sold out), but… damn.
Uhh… It’s kind of ugly.
Hey, they had to massacre thousands of blue aliens to get that stuff, and then they got kicked off the planet.
The supply is limited!
I can’t even wrap my head around the idea of needing a muzzle brake at all on an AR-15. After all, it’s not like the mighty 5.56mm round generates punishing amounts of recoil. May as well put a muzzle brake on a Daisy Red Ryder and call it a day….
Inconel is great stuff. Highly temperature, corrosion, and abrasion resistant alloy that they use in high temperature steam/corrosive liquid pumps, and in turbine blades etc…
Some S&W revolvers include a small Inconel insert in the topstrap above the forcing cone to prevent flame cutting.
As to why someone would want a flash hider made out of the stuff, given how much it costs… the only reason I could think of is to demonstrate conspicuous wealth, and penile inadequacy…
They want it because they saw it in a Magpul video. You know, kind of like why Cristal is (was) so popular in the ghetto.
Inconel is used so that the brake will survive the somewhat harsher environment inside a suppressor. Steel machined in the same pattern would shatter and destroy the baffles.
As for the question about why muzzle brakes are used on AR-15 rifles, it is NOT to tame the ‘intense recoil’. It’s to keep muzzle rise to a minimum to get faster follow-up shots.
This is one of the most effective brakes on the market (if not THE most effective) according to customer comparisons. You pay a premium for the best, with guns as with all things.
[...] $435 for a muzzle brake. Or that they’re sold out of them. Via Linoge. [...]
@ JP: There is that too… but I use the Brownells-brand flash suppressor on mine, so maybe I should not talk.
@ wfgodbold: Must be why they are sold out!
@ AuricTech: Well, to be fair, “AR-15″ does not necessarily equate to “.223″ any more, but, yeah, I am not getting it either.
@ Chris Byrne: Well, in that case, I can see the use of small, affordable quantities of that material where it is necessary… but an entire brake made out of one? Yeah, bit of useless overkill, that.
@ Sean D Sorrentino: I was wondering if that had something to do with it…
@ Adam: Nothing personal, Adam, but if “muzzle rise” is a sufficient problem for you that you believe a $400+ accessory is warranted, You Are Doing Something Wrong (TM). A $40 brake, a $20 sling, and a bit of practice will get you damned near the same effect, and with $300+ to get that practice in!
@ Linoge:
The other selling point of the Knight’s brake is that it directs most of the concussive force forward instead of to to the sides (and into the ears and faces of others on the firing line). I use a side-ported brake and the blast is pretty intense, especially when firing under a roof at a shooting range.
Nothing beats practice to increase your skill level with a firearm, but equipment can be a limiting factor. Other options have entered the market since that do the same thing for a fraction of the price.
It’s not the end-all-be-all of muzzle brakes, but it’s one of the best and worth the price for people who want the option of using a Knights suppressor, which is itself a hefty investment.
Well, in that case, I can secure any of a number of “linear” muzzle breaks for even less than $40!
I am certainly not trying to trash-talk KAC’s products (because I know that they are one of the darling brands amongs the Marines I freighted around for a while), but a .223 does not have that much of a rise or twist to begin with…
But, hey, as I said, if this is what people want to spend their money on, have at it!