When you hear the word muzzle you might think of your dog’s snout. The muzzle of an animal is the front part of its face. Guns have a muzzle as well. So it therefore makes sense that the muzzle of a gun is the frontmost area. Like most parts of a gun, this too has many accessories and options available to improve functionality, performance, and aesthetics.

Bootleg Inc. offers premium AR-15 accessories—from upper receivers and handguards, to low profile gas blocks. Our mission is to help you build the best AR-15 possible by supplying you with the highest-quality parts you need. Contact our AR accessory store today!

Below, we’ll take a look at one part of the AR-15, the muzzle. 

What is the muzzle of your AR-15?

Like we just mentioned, the muzzle of your AR-15 is at the front of the barrel. The muzzle is an extremely important part of your firearm, as it’s the last point of contact the bullet has before it exits the chamber. If there are gaps between the muzzle and the round, it could severely impact your accuracy—enough so that you won’t hit your target. Muzzles are often rifled, or grooved, to give the bullet spin as it exits, which improves the accuracy of the bullet. Muzzles are often threaded as well to allow for the attachment of other accessories.

Parts of an AR-15: Muzzle Accessories

Muzzle Brakes

Muzzle brakes are extremely popular AR-15 accessories. When you are firing a semi-automatic gun multiple times quickly, your gun tends to float upward with each successive pull from the recoil. This is known as muzzle climb. This can lead to missed shots, such as when hunting or in shooting competition. Most of the recoil from your gun begins at the muzzle.

Muzzle brakes can reduce recoil by up to 50%. Muzzle brakes are small devices that are threaded into the end of your AR-15’s barrel. They usually have cuts in them that direct the gases horizontally instead of vertically. This allows you to see clearly while shooting. However, these gases can bother nearby shooters, so if you are at the range, check around first. Muzzle brakes can also change the direction of the sound and the soundwave of the fired round. This can be a problem for nearby shooters as well.

Flash Hiders

Due to the nature of gunpowder and the spark that occurs when it is ignited when you fire your gun, a flash of light occurs. However, this muzzle flash can be seen from quite a ways away, especially at night. This can give away your position to others, as well as block your line of sight. You can easily become distracted and thus begin missing shots. Flash hiders were invented to hide the flash so your position is protected. Most tactical rifles being used in the field come with flash hiders, but these are an easy AR accessory to add on. Flash hiders are popular amongst hunters and those who often shoot at night, such as police officers. For a good example look at the Bootleg A2 flash hider.

Compensators

Similar to muzzle brakes, compensators vent gases from your AR-15 upward, helping to keep your gun’s muzzle straight when firing multiple rounds. They help to direct the muzzle blast downward, which keeps your gun’s muzzle from lifting while firing. These were invented for fully-automatic guns, but adapted in the 1970’s for semi-automatics because competitive shooters were requesting it. Linear compensators direct the noise and expanding gases, forward and away from the shooter. The sound remained the same, but it was not as loud of a perception to shooters.

Suppressors or Silencers

A suppressor (or silencer) is another muzzle accessory for an AR-15 and is threaded onto the muzzle to reduce the noise of the gunshot, as well as the recoil from the discharge. These muzzle devices are easy to put on and take off. They work by reducing the speed and pressure of the gas that comes out of the muzzle when a round is fired, hence suppressing the blast. The suppressor itself is a long metal tube that contains sound baffles. 

When you fire your gun, the mechanisms are the same. The only difference is that the gas that follows the gun’s trajectory is kept longer in the baffle. This prolongs the release time, slows down the gas, allows the kinetic energy to dissipate into a larger area, and then thereby reduces its intensity and noise. Recoil is reduced as well due to this longer period of the gas to escape, which allows the force to be muted. Thus, with an AR-15 suppressor, you probably won’t need hearing protection, and suppressors help to reduce noise pollution as well. The suppressor may create more pressure and gas in your system; which is where our 4 Position Adjustable Carrier comes into play. This allows you to change and alter the gas coming back into the carrier and tune it to your specific setup.

Choose Bootleg Inc. for Your AR-15 Accessories Today

Bootleg Inc. endeavors to provide you with the premium AR-15 parts you need to build your own AR-15 or customize your existing one. We offer all of the essentials so that you can have a comfortable shooting experience every time. Our family-owned company provides handguards, carriers, upper receivers, and various parts to make your AR-15 as you’ve always wanted. We aim to make our AR-15 accessories slim, compact, functional, and comfortable for your use. We value our customers’ feedback and are always looking for ways to improve on our AR parts and even more of what you are looking for.

Our AR-15 parts are vast, from our Bootleg Carrier Completion Kit and Bootleg Enhanced AR-15 Upper Receiver, to our Bootleg Quickmount Handguard. We aim to make your customer service experience exemplary. We can answer any questions you may have, and we offer refunds and exchanges on a gentleman’s guarantee. If you’re looking to up your AR-15 game, Bootleg has got the AR parts that you need. Our AR parts come in a variety of styles and lengths to suit your needs. We’ve done our best to ensure that all of our parts will fit your unique AR build no matter how tricked out you’ve made it. We invite you to browse our AR parts store and begin your custom AR-15 build today!