Background: Anyone new to PCC's (pistol caliber carbines), especially those coming from AR15's chambered in traditional calibers, will have noticed the outsized recoil and muzzle rise that accompanies the smaller bored firearms. This is due largely to how PCC's cycle their bolts, via direct blowback action. The bolt carrier group on a PCC travels backwards to eject a spent case and chamber a new round as a direct result of the force of the first round firing. This sends a lot of the energy of the powder igniting directly back into the shooter immediately as the gun fires. This results in disproportionately greater recoil and muzzle rise in PCC's, relative to the size of their cartridges.
As I have written before, muzzle rise and recoil are disruptions in my sight picture, and I endeavor to limit or eliminate those to the greatest degree possible.
One of the most common ways to do so is with the use of a muzzle break, or compensator. In short; they are devices that attach to the front of the barrel that use the force of the gasses escaping the barrel to mitigate and redirect the forces of recoil. In a standard caliber rifle, the powder charges are relatively large, creating a lot of gas for these devices to work with.
In a PCC, we don't have that luxury. The 9mm cartridge I am firing burns its entire powder charge very quickly, and loses force as the barrel length increases. That means that muzzle devices intended for use on bigger bore guns might have limited or no effect on a PCC; there's nothing for them to work with.
Enter the Nero 9: a muzzle device manufactured from a novel 3D printing process. The design is unique, and its function (apparent from cross section drawings) is intriguing.
It appears the Nero works by allowing the bullet to exit through a straight channel, while immediately forcing the gasses downward to impact the front of the device, before exiting from the sides. This method appears to be extremely efficient in using the gasses available to directly counter the force of recoil.
The Setup: I put it to the test with my 16" Foxtrot Mike AR9, firing Freedom Munitions 147g ammo.
The first string below is with the standard included muzzle device, a simple 4 port (2 on each side, 45 degrees upward) compensator:
The following string is with the Nero:
My Takeaways: What sticks out to me most about the above is the shape of the muzzle's travel. The disturbances in sight picture with the Nero were far smaller and controlled. I'm less concerned with recovery time in these tests, as it was done slow-fire while acclimating to a new gun, but what was obvious while using the Nero was how substantially different the recoil impulse felt, and how differently my red dot tracked on target. I was not prepared for how limited the movement was, and ended up shooting low on a few shots, anticipating a greater recoil force than I got. The Nero was so effective at mitigating vertical rise, I found myself tracking sideways between shots, again muscling the gun in anticipation.
In the coming weeks I intent to continue testing the Nero with a series of different loads to see how hotter ammo would effect its function.
If anyone is of the opinion that handgun cartridges don't have enough gas to properly work a compensator, I suggest you try the Nero.
Comments
Post a Comment