The video reports the results of testing a Glock 34 to determine how much reduction in muzzle flip is achieved by a compensator alone, barrel porting alone, and both.

Not surprisingly, the combination of both ports and compensator was the most effective in reducing muzzle flip, but ports alone worked better than compensator alone—which was a surprise to me—and the combination of both didn’t provide a huge improvement over ports alone.

The methods used in many YouTube tests and evaluations are so poor as to be worthless, if not totally misleading, but although not perfect, I believe this one is worth the look if interested in the question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yc1t2ePUkE

Interesting, thanks for sharing!

I would have liked to have seen the shots chronographed, so we could see the difference in muzzle velocity. You lose velocity in ported barrels, b/c the gas escapes faster. Some of that reduction in muzzle flip is due to lower muzzle velocity for the same load.

Hang a light on it.

Reduced muzzle flip, guaranteed

Yeah, yeah. Competition. Rules. Whatever.

You want real world results? Hang a light on it.

Regarding the reduced recoil effect due to loss of velocity, I found this to be an informative article (among many others):

https://gundigest.com/article/...barrel-reduce-recoil

I believe it’s a mistake to have a compensator or ported barrel on a pistol that might ever be used in a close quarters defensive situation, but for competition or other nonserious purposes then a minor loss of velocity would make no difference. And even if one disagrees about whether ports should be used in a defensive weapon, if we’re truly concerned about the loss of a bit of velocity due to porting then it would just make sense to select a more powerful cartridge (or load) to begin with.

That is a common, normal, and extremely appropriate port design.

My current duty gun is a 5th Gen G-34. It’s got a Trijicon RMR and a TLR-2H, I did the $.50 trigger job and a tungsten guide rod.

Not really worried about muzzle flip at all.
Then again, Im not really worried about muzzle flip on my G-19 or G-17.
I just learn to manage it.

I’d be more concerned if it was any of the .40 Calibers, that round in a Glock tends to be a little more “snappy” and causes more noticeable flip than 9mm or .45’s



I will add that wrist strength has a lot to do with it as well!
I shot a lot in the Marines, way more than your average Marine. Wrists and forearms were always pretty solid. On the Department, same thing.

I decided to break a few bones in my right wrist a few years back, and trust me, there was a very noticeable difference while going through Physical Therapy and afterwards. It took just >< that much longer to bring the front end back on target until I got the paw back to “normal”.

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
I would have liked to have seen the shots chronographed, so we could see the difference in muzzle velocity. You lose velocity in ported barrels, b/c the gas escapes faster. Some of that reduction in muzzle flip is due to lower muzzle velocity for the same load.

Several people have done this. The difference in velocity with most porting is pretty small. Like less than 50 fps small.

Are factory compensated versions still a regular production item?

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Are factory compensated versions still a regular production item?

I don't think so. You see them available periodically but I do not believe they're being mass produced. There are a lot of far more compelling aftermarket porting options anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Are factory compensated versions still a regular production item?

I believe they're still a production item, yes, but I don't believe that they are, or even were a regular production model. Like the 17L, Glock produces runs of these on occasion.

A less scientific study.

https://youtu.be/IVY4fQH7TYg?si=Dncypljc_A8BblcJ

Ported barrels will reduce velocity, but external compensators shouldn't have much of an effect on velocity because the projectile is out of the gun's barrel before the compensator does it's thing.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Regarding the reduced recoil effect due to loss of velocity, I found this to be an informative article (among many others):

https://gundigest.com/article/...barrel-reduce-recoil

I believe it’s a mistake to have a compensator or ported barrel on a pistol that might ever be used in a close quarters defensive situation, but for competition or other nonserious purposes then a minor loss of velocity would make no difference. And even if one disagrees about whether ports should be used in a defensive weapon, if we’re truly concerned about the loss of a bit of velocity due to porting then it would just make sense to select a more powerful cartridge (or load) to begin with.

Replce the Glock with a Sig. Then the Glock flip goes away.

I did had the frame of mine resculpted by Dane Burns and have a 300UA on it. What muzzle flip?