Suppressors and Recoil?

It adds mass. So that alone attenuates recoil a bit.

I also notice it slows it down a bit. From a sharp pop on my shoulder from my 300wm Laredo to a good push with it on.
A suppressor is also a excellent muzzle brake.

Recoil? From 223/556 in a gas gun? Really?

If you are sensitive enough to recoil that it is an issue in an AR, then just the weight of a can alone will reduce felt recoil.

Having just completed my first two suppressor projects I am no suppressor guru, but their traits, as opposed to a compensator on the same firearm, are starkly different to me. Maybe because I have only used my pistol extensively so far. Perhaps because the “newness” hasn’t worn off yet.

A suppressor does offer recoil reduction.
It wasn’t near as much as the TK comp it had replaced seconds earlier, that one being particularly perfect. It was quieter and thusly more pleasurable though.
There was more muzzle rise because there are no countering ports on top, but it happens slower allowing the arm and body (brain) more time to counter it.
I can’t empty a mag as quickly, on target, with the suppressor, compared to the compensator.

These are my plebeian observations.
It may just be me, a suppressor still makes me giggle.


I haven’t shot my Blackout extensively enough before hand to know the difference between the KVP linear comp and the suppressor. It seemed just a little more soft shooting with Remington subsonic ammunition. But this Can is, I think, significantly heavier and the linear comp, while effective on the whole, is less so than a Side Sweeper.

There was a fine line with gas block adjustments. I could dial it down to very quiet and functional, but not locking the bolt back. To get the bolt to lock every time, it is just ever so more loud. Like a rimfire pistol. Not something one would like to experience a lot. Muffs are still required for range time. Though in emergency use, infinitely superior to the dramatic increase in hearing damage otherwise.

So if you were just thinking the recoil reduction would be better and it would also be quiet, well I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but mine was just pricked a few weeks ago so...
(Not that I hadn’t heard already about the issue, like you have now, or previously, I’m sure.)

Even having said that, I’m still getting mounts for use on two other ARs. It is better to be quieter.

The added mass of the can reduces free recoil a little bit, but the big change in felt recoil comes from slowing down the exiting gas jet. In that capacity, it works much like a muzzle brake, except brakes get to direct the high pressure jet on a different plane, so have a bit more effect.

In my experience, suppressors reduce felt recoil on the order of 25-35%. They will make a .300 Win mag feel like a bare muzzle .308 of the same weight. My .375 RUM actually became tolerable to shoot off the bench with my Accipter on it.

what I found with a suppressed AR was that the muzzle blast/concussion was causing me to cringe every time I shot it. When the blast went away, the actual recoil of the gun was very mild. now shooting my AR feels a lot like shooting a semi auto 22 mag. It's pretty phenomenal.

Now, when I shoot the 257 roberts ai, recoil is significantly reduced, in addition to being much quieter. Is is reduced more than a brake? I don't know. But it is noticably less. And the lack of concussive blast, especially under a metal awning, is life changing.

As others have already said. It adds weight and the reduces free recoil energy (though it leaves the recoil momentum the same although spread out over more time). It slows the velocity of the exiting gases and that reduces both free recoil energy and recoil momentum. And not to be overlook it reduced muzzle blast and though that is not strictly a change of recoil it is a change that the shooter notice and make that whole "felt recoil" experience much better.

I personally notice it on the light calibers like my 300 BO but not nearly as much as the big boys. I can shoot a whole bunch more 338 LM or 300 NM suppressed than I can unsuppressed. Its just a much more pleasant experience all around.

That said, a higher-end muzzle brake on the big caliber with lots of propellent gases will actually reduce recoil slightly more than most suppressor despite the lack of additional weight.

Hoser said:

Yes. Really.

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This whole shooting thing may not be your gig.

Couth and civility advance the shooting sports more than machismo and personal slights.

It was a scientific question of the physics of a suppressor, as compared to a compensator.
How much recoil a “real man” should be able to withstand is not the subject.

I wonder if this is how a new Young Buck would be treated at one’s range?
How about an elderly gentleman with two rotator cuff surgeries who still wants to see the impact down range for self-spotting?

Recoil reduction was one of the benefits of the Maxim Silencer, ca 1909.

When I was shooting F class, there were a couple of guys with suppressed .308s... until NRA disallowed them as equivalent to a muzzle brake, already barred from that match.

Hoser said:

Yup.

Will I be seeing you at the next Pueblo Match? https://practiscore.com/clubs/hosers-steel

There is still some room left in the Tactical Rifle State Championship so you can put me in my place.

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It appears that recoil is not the only thing you are sensitive to. Maybe thicker skin would help?

To deny that recoil sensitivity to a 223 gas gun is, remarkable, shall we say, is to deny physics.

Setting sensitive egos and sensitive shoulder aside... The desire to reduce recoil is not always because the shooter "can't handle" the recoil but to increase control of the rifle. 223/556 is a mild recoil in the grand scheme of things, but if you're playing gun games (3-gun, carbine matches etc) a brake or suppressor to reduce recoil can help you run the gun faster, your splits when double tapping targets can be reduced and your transitions between targets can be faster. You ability to see you hits/misses and self correct for misses at longer ranges can be enhanced if the gun recoils less. And if you are shooting a lot, a slight reduction is recoil can reduce the fatigue that builds up over a long day of competitive shooting, this might be the difference between first and second in a close match.

Barrett has a .50 suppressor with muzzle brake hung on the end. I don't know if it is available for standard calibers.

I've found that silencers/sound suppressors reduce recoil on everything from 22lr up to 30-06. The reduction is more noticeable in those larger capacity case rounds and higher pressure at the muzzle rounds. I don't shoot muzzle brakes (I have one rifle that came with one, I tried it just to see the impact on recoil, and quickly decided it wasn't worth the increase in noise).

mcb said:

The desire to reduce recoil is not always because the shooter "can't handle" the recoil but to increase control of the rifle.

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Exactly.

Being able to tolerate heavy recoil is not tantamount to being able to fire rapidly with accuracy. Even the paltry recoil of the 5.56 moves the gun quite a bit. I can't tell you how many proud people I've seen humbled when they got walked by our post sample M16 that they thought would be easy to control. And that's with a can.