Review - Advanced Armament Corporation Non-mount Muzzle Brake

(This product provided by the manufacturer.)

For some time now I've been contemplating and researching various types of muzzle-brakes for my AR, and during this process I found the line of compensators, brakes and flash hiders from AAC. Now, AAC is probably best known for their outstanding line of suppressors for a variety of fire-arms, but they have an extensive line of muzzle-devices, most of which are designed to integrate closely with their suppressors. 

Now, one of my primary goals in finding a muzzle-device was to get something that would add as little length as possible to my rifle. My AR is a Daniel Defense DDM4, an outstanding weapon, but it's not an SBR and as I sometimes have need of having it fit in various bags for discrete transport, I was aiming not only to not increase the length over the standard A2 flash-hider, but if possible reduce it. That seemed almost impossible, until I found the Non-mount Muzzle Brake from AAC. Unlike a lot of their other muzzle-devices, this is not meant to integrate with a suppressor, but rather to provide the greatest possible recoil compensation in the smallest overall package and it certainly does that!

AAC doesn't really provide much in the way of specifications, so we're actually going to skip lightly over that today and go straight for the pictures. 

Here you can see the brake mounted on my 16-inch barreled AR.

In this closeup you can see the excellent machining. The fit and finish of this brake is very, very good. As is, frankly, all of the AAC products that I have handled. 

I cannot say that I know if these crenelations have any purpose other than aesthetics, but they do look nice. 

And here it is compared with the standard A2 flash-hider. Yeah, it's almost half as long. 

I measured the Non-mount brake to be roughly 28 millimeters long, and the A2 flash-hider to be right at 43 millimeters. That's a substantial difference in length!

But other than the straight aesthetics, how does it shoot? 

My initial reaction after the first couple of rounds was to laugh out loud. It somewhat makes my 5.56mm AR sound like an AA-cannon, this deep-throated roar. Which is hilariously fun, although I'm sure it would absolutely suck to stand next to a guy shooting with this thing indoors in confined quarters. But it very much does control the recoil. It becomes more of a straight push backwards with very little muzzle-rise. Very controllable. It does not, however, control muzzle-flash at all. That's not its function, so I wouldn't really call that a drawback or negative. When using an optic or scope, you won't see the muzzle-flash in your sights at all, which is nice. It also does not deposit any soot on my weaponslight, which is also rather nice. Really, it functions impeccably and while noticeably louder, I did not find it terribly obnoxious. On the contrary, as I've mentioned, I found it to be very entertaining to shoot with. The reduction in size is also something I'm very happy about. I did attempt to get some pictures of the muzzle-flash and rise, but we had some trouble with the timing and since in the pictures it looked like I'd just mounted the rifle to the shoulder, I didn't see much point in including them. I will attempt in the future to capture some video, since the last time I took it out we had some equipment issues.

Update: Here's the promised video. The quality didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I think this is a decent enough demonstration of how effective the brake is at controlling muzzle rise.
Note also that despite the proximity of the weaponslight to the end of the muzzle, no fouling was deposited on the light at all. All the blast just goes out the sides. I will also add that I had the opportunity to compare it to an A2 birdcage flash hider and the report was no more abusive from the AAC brake, it was merely different. The Non-Mount brake is deeper in tone, but it does not seem to be actually louder.

Now, as for the installation, AAC includes everything you need to install the brake, short of the tools. I did find that I had to do some hand-fitting of the crush washer to get the AAC logo to not be upside down when fully tightened. This will vary between rifle manufacturers. It may not at all be necessary on another brand of weapon. If no hand-fitting is necessary, you could install this brake in ten minutes or less and be good to go. 

Overall, I'm really happy with this little beast and given the sheer quality of this and other AAC products, I have no reservations about recommending this muzzle-brake unreservedly. 

You can find more information and purchase one directly from AAC at this web page: AAC Non-Mount Muzzle-brake

I should also point out, of course, AAC is an all-American company that manufacturers all of their products in the US. They're also a very friendly crew and will be happy to answer any questions you might have about their products. Personally, when I get the money to buy a suppressor, I plan on making it an AAC unit. You should consider the same if you're in the market!