Guess how much this Knights Armament muzzle break sells for …
Photos by unclemoak @ ar15.com
The Answer: About $450!
The muzzle brake is made from one of the Inconel family of nickel-chromium superalloys and claims 40% reduction in recoil.
Thanks to Jay for the link.
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I’m sure there are more expensive, one off, brakes out there, but yep this is pretty high up there. You’ve got two camps on this brake, those who’ve shot it and think it’s one of the most amazing muzzle brakes created. Reducing felt recoil by 40 or more percent. And those who just turn their nose up at it based on its cost alone.
99 percent of its cost comes from the fact that it has to be wire EDM’d, instead of machined, because the Inconel is such a tough material (it’s melting point is 2400F). In fact when KAC decided to make a small run of these they found that the price difference between stainless steel and inconel was non-existent because all the cost was in the tools and time involved.
Is this muzzle brake better than a surefire, primary weapon system, or high end gaming comp? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s a unique and highly effective design as well.
Also in the sake of full disclosure, I fully admit that I own one of these brakes. heh.
And people can’t wait to get their hands on it. A $30 brake will work just as well.
If it deliveries what it promises…
Thats some pretty fancy alloy. Usually this stuff is reserved for the turbine blades of jet engines. In any case, this muzzle brake will pretty much last forever
Worthless and expensive?
Isaac, do you think it was worth the price?
Shame the barrel will melt before your fancy muzzle brake! BTW its is machined as well. The slots are wired out. The outside is lathe turned. Personally I can handle the recoil on an m4 series…dunno bout the rest of you….lol.
What does “wired out” mean?
Steve, I do have some minor quibbles. Yes I think this brake should be about 250-300 at MOST (more like 200, but again the production run was very limited, driving up costs). And I wish it was black right off the bat (it darkens with use though).
I will not be trying out MINE till tomorrow. However from my experience with this brake on another gun the results were extremely impressive. As someone mentioned the recoil on a 5.56 is almost nothing, but the reduction added to that makes it an absolutely great experience, plus there’s ZERO muzzle climb.
KAC offers these in small runs, they’re not marketing them for everyone due to cost. Those that have tried them love ‘em, those that think that the cost is absurd may have a point. But it’s a really effective design nonetheless, and the results are pretty damn impressive.
Isaac, ah, thanks, the small runs explain the price. Please let us know how well yours works.
I will say that having the absolute best money can buy is always a nice feeling
“Wired out” means Electro discharge machining.A polarized wire essentially “burns out” the metal. You also have “sinker” EDM. A carbon like material is machined to the shape you want in your metal,set in a holder and polarized. Its burns the metal out to the shape you machined.Keep in mind im using generic terms here to describe the process. Google is your friend… If memory serves me right,”Magna porting” is done by the EDM process.
I think I’d rather have the cheapest thing that gets the job done… …and my wallet full of money.
I found nothing about this on knightarmco.com. If they have no technical explanation whatsoever on why this is such a fantastic muzzle brake it sort of looks like useless bling to me.
Anyone know how this thing works? Does it even redirect the gas to the rear? Why would you need to make this out of inconel? Has anyone ever melted an (non-inconel) muzzle brake?
Also, all the rifles that really need effective muzzle breaks (.50 BMG) usually have muzzle brakes with a very simple design. This doesn’t add up.
Just to put this in a little bit of context, since people are basically having sticker shock, but the majority of the cost is derived from the process of manufacturing these and the fact that it’s a limited production run. It’s just like buying a high end car part for an engine, the cost is high until you can make enough of them that the cost of production is offset by the profit you’re making. KAC doesn’t have this on their website because it’s not something they see themselves offering for sale as a regular production item. As I said before the cost of making these brakes became high enough that they decided just to make them Inconel because it equaled the same price as stainless steel given the machine work involved.
I don’t think many people purchased the Triple Tap brake because of the material used, that’s a nice benefit, but it’s the performance they were after. As for how it functions, I’m a little fuzzy on it since I don’t understand the physics involved completely. But I believe that in its design the gas slams forward to the end of the brake (the slots on the front help overpressure) transferring some kinetic force forward, while the gasses are redirected back and out the thin vents thus providing rearward and upward deflection of the gas. Don’t take that as fact, just my observations.
KAC hasn’t promoted this item, or made crazy claims like this is the best muzzle brake in the world. The claims of absolutely awesome recoil reduction are coming from first hand reports from shooters who’ve tried it, especially ones who tried it prior to even knowing what the eventual price would be. There’s some top guys out there who’ve tried this brake, who say it’s awesome. It’s regrettable that the price is what people are fixating on, I understand why, but at the same time it really is an impressive bit of engineering.
The $450 muzzle brake was design to be the first baffle for the $1200 KAC suppressor from what I understand. That and all KAC products are overpriced.
You can get the same amount of performance out of a $30 muzzle brake IMO.
Muzzle brakes do help when it comes to completions or shooting multiples targets.
KAC didn’t promote the item nor did they stated it is the best brake ever. However it sure does help when Christ Costa use it on his AR in the training video.
Well, if it really works better than ordinary muzzle brakes I’m sure we’ll see this design on rifles from Barret et al pretty soon.
By the way, muzzle brakes can be bad for your hearing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_brake#Disadvantages_of_muzzle_brakes
Muzzle brake can be very loud but it provides excellent control of the weapon. The second round of a double tap will impact very close to the first bullet. Multiple targets can be engage very fast with a muzzle brake; hence it is very popular in competitions.
I can attest to the expensive price of “one off’s” they can be like about 10X what a production item will cost. Sometimes I feel sorry for my customer and end up eating it up the b–. I end up thinking to myself ” now way _______ is gonna pay $90 for a MB that looks like a $20 one but is just slighly different so it can fit his gun or do _____”
Man, what a bunch of haters! Yes it’s expensive, but it’s not something that is meant to be sold at Wally World. Get over it. I won’t be buying one, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate it, and take it for what it is. Any goober with a metal lathe and a milling machine can turn out a brake. I have. That is not what this is. It’s meant to be over-engineered and exotic. Exotic things are expensive, or everyone would have one, and they wouldn’t be exotic. It’s an impressive bit of machine work made out of metal that you don’t often see in the firearms industry. Nobody is trying to make you go out and buy one.
Also, how can anybody really think that a $30 brake will perform the same as this. I’ve never even seen a $30 muzzle brake. Maybe you’re referring to a flash hider, such as the standard birdcage style?
Funny, the brake on my AK-74 works pretty good, almost no muzzle climb with a round very similar to a 5.56, and my entire rifle cost about twice what this muzzle brake alone cost.
Still, KAC makes great stuff, and it is usually worth the extra coin for their other parts. My KAC VFG cost about 3 times what the chinese knockoff costs, but it is more than 3 times as good, which makes it a better value. The chinese one is flexible as hell, the KAC one is solid.