Gear Review: VG6 Gamma Compensating Muzzle Brake

There’s a difference between a compensator and a muzzle brake: one eliminates felt recoil, and one eliminates muzzle climb. I wrote a more in-depth article about the distinction, but that’s a basic overview of gas dynamics. The VG6 Gamma, though, is a compensating muzzle brake, which means that it tries to eliminate both muzzle climb and felt recoil at the same time, all in the space of a standard A2 flash hider. It’s designed for those who want the smallest firearm profile possible, such as shorter-barrel carbines, shorty SBRs, and AR pistols.

In the world of the muzzle brake, conventional wisdom is that bigger is better. The more surface area you give the device, the more recoil-reducing force at work. But there has to be a point at which there’s a diminishing return — a point where adding more material doesn’t reduce more recoil from ammo, it just weighs you down. It looks like the standard A2 size might just be that point of diminishing return.

The muzzle brake portion of the device consists of two chambers, the first one larger than the second, where the expanding gasses act on the brake to push the gun forward. It’s a tried and tested design, one that’s common with a lot of other muzzle brakes. But while that part of the design is common, the second part isn’t.

Along the top of the stainless-steel-construction device are a series of slits that allow the gasses to escape upwards. It provides an unequal redirection of force, with a net downward effect on the muzzle. The overall impact is that it provides a ton of downward force to keep the muzzle under control and keep it from climbing unnecessarily.

The overall package mimics the A2 flash hider in form as well as size, with the customary rings on the bottom of the device. It allows you to use a fast-attach silencer (if configured for the A2 mount) if the desire grabs you, or any other of a number of funky muzzle devices like golf ball launchers and such. In short, while it’s a new muzzle device, it gives you the ability to use all of the old gear as if you still had that A2 flash hider.

The real question, however, is whether it really works — and the answer is yes.

To be fair, putting it on a 9-inch AR-15 SBR might not have been the smartest idea if I wanted to keep it quiet. And the 40-round magazine just looks…ridiculous. But the fact of the matter is that it works really, really well to reduce felt recoil and muzzle climb. Myth confirmed.

At the end of the day, whether this is the right compensating muzzle brake for you depends on what you need it for. To a certain extent, the old “more is more” mentality still works,  so if you really need to eliminate all of the muzzle rise of the gun firing, you might want to check out Eric Lund’s pet project. But if you’re looking for a compact solution that would be acceptable in just about any practical shooting competition, checkout the VG6 Gamma.

VG6 Gamma 556 APVG100001A Features:

• Material: 17-4ph® Heat Treated Stainless Steel
• Finish: Black nitride finish (BLACKNITRIDE™ – Satin Finish(Half Gloss))
• Surface Hardness: 68RC 
• Caliber: 5.56mm/.223 Remington/.224 Valkyrie only
• Thread: 1/2-28 RH
• Weight: 2.1 oz
• Includes crush washer
• Manufacturer: Aero Precision
• Similar products: VG6 Precision, VG6 Epsilon

VG6 Gamma Compensating Muzzle Brake
MSRP: $84.00

Overall Rating: * * * * *
Works great, looks great, and does a great job.