Basic question about compensators/muzzle brakes

[gunsrfun1]

I have a basic question about compensators/muzzle brakes:

Since compensators are not barreled per se, what ensures that once the bullet leaves the barrel and enters the compensator, that the bullet will continue in a perfectly straight line and leave the compensator, without getting caught up inside, hitting the inside end of the compensator, etc.? Since there is no barrel to support the bullet during its travel through the compensator. (I'm assuming that most compensators have two holes, front and back. But maybe I am wrong.)
Is it because the bullet is traveling such a short distance that it does not go off center, assuming the compensator has been perfectly made and is perfectly aligned with the barrel? Is the hole at the far end of the compensator slightly larger in diameter than the caliber, to ensure that the bullet won't get caught up inside the compensator? Or is there another explanation?
Thanks

 

[Llama Bob]

The bullet comes out very in-line with the bore, and the brake will have a slightly larger than groove diameter hole, so the bullet just flies though it with no contact.

 

[jmorris]

Since compensators are not barreled per se, what ensures that once the bullet leaves the barrel and enters the compensator, that the bullet will continue in a perfectly straight line and leave the compensator, without getting caught up inside, hitting the inside end of the compensator, etc.?

It doesn’t have to be perfect, the hole in the compensator is larger than the bullet, the barrel is not, thus the rifling and other rub marks imparted to the bullet before it exits.

The fact that some barrels are threaded on the end for brakes and flash hiders with little concern given to alignment is reason enough to double check if you add a muzzle device that is more critical to alignment with the bore, like a suppressor. Might be an even smaller hole as well as further from the end of the barrel.

 

[mcb]

I have a basic question about compensators/muzzle brakes:

Since compensators are not barreled per se, what ensures that once the bullet leaves the barrel and enters the compensator, that the bullet will continue in a perfectly straight line and leave the compensator, without getting caught up inside, hitting the inside end of the compensator, etc.? Since there is no barrel to support the bullet during its travel through the compensator. (I'm assuming that most compensators have two holes, front and back. But maybe I am wrong.)
Is it because the bullet is traveling such a short distance that it does not go off center, assuming the compensator has been perfectly made and is perfectly aligned with the barrel? Is the hole at the far end of the compensator slightly larger in diameter than the caliber, to ensure that the bullet won't get caught up inside the compensator? Or is there another explanation?
Thanks

You got it basically. They are machine to fairly high tolerance to ensure the holes are lined up with the bore to fairly high tolerances and the holes through the brake are slightly larger than the bullet so that the bullet never touches it. The bullet is moving fast enough that the time it is free flying in the brake is so short that the forces of recoil and the user cannot move the barrel fast enough to cause an impact. That said you do occasionally get a brake strike but this is usually cause by a bad projectile going unstable as it leaves the barrel or a loose brake, it's pretty rare. This all applies to suppressors too.