I got my wife an inexpensive small AR style 9mm pistol with 8" barrel. I figured it would be less likely to cause instantaneous deafness than the 556 pistol I'd previously given her for her house gun. It came with a faux suppressor which serves no purpose other than adding weight.

I was wondering if a linear compensator would be a good replacement for the faux suppressor. Some reviews indicate they work well for projecting sound forward away from the shooter. I can see that being a nice feature with 556 when outside.

I'm wondering if it would be useful inside a house with the 9mm or would the fact of being inside the enclosed space negate any advantage of projecting the sound forward.

Thoughts or experience?

Oh yeah, during the 15 rounds expended to sight it in it worked well. Obviously more rounds are needed to assure reliability. I only zeroed it an 12 yards or so. I'll do a little more later on but for it's intended use 12 yards is probably plenty.

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I have one on a 5.56 AR type rifle and it seems to work. The one I have is basically an open ended can or cylinder with no slots or holes. I have no way of measuring its effectiveness but when shooting on a covered range it seems much quieter than similar rifles with flash suppressors. It does direct the muzzle blast forward and probably would help serve as a flash hider in darkened areas.

IMO, a linear compensator is most effective at directing large, concussive barrel flash forward instead of radially outward. They are most effective on short barreled, high pressure, supersonic rifle cartridges like those on 5.56 barrels shorter than 16” in length. I have one on a 7.5” 5.56 pistol and it is much more comfortable to shoot than with a flash hider or radial compensator.

In your case, your 9mm propellant should all be burned in your 8” barrel, and 9mm is a mid-range pressure round at ~35,000 psi. You should not have a lot of flash or concussive force from that setup.

Go somewhere and shoot it in the dark to see what it does. It won’t hurt to put on a linear compensator even if you don’t really need it. You will be adding a little weight way out front, and the gun may be slightly longer. Neither of these issues is necessarily a bad thing.

Thanks. I'm not really worried about flash as there shouldn't really be any from an 8" 9mm. I was wonder if the linear compensator would make it any less hearing destructive indoors. I suspect it would help some outdoors but this is intended for indoor use. Will all benefit from directing noise forward be lost by the sound being reflected back? I'm not really wanting to go the registered suppressor route.

I think I will try a linear compensator for my short 556 just so it's reasonably pleasant to shoot, which it currently isn't.

Thanks again for your input.

My example of one in a different caliber was not positive.
On a .22 pistol it ruined the accuracy.

I have my M&P40 Shield fitted with a Kaw Valley Precision Linear Compensator.



At first it just started off as something that I did out of boredom during the pandemic to amuse myself which I didn't really expect to do very much, but to my surprise, these Linear Compensators do in fact work as advertised, so the report of the firearm is notably reduced for the shooter.
The first time I shot my M&P40 Shield with the Comp, I did so without Ear Protection, just to see if it would make any difference, and it actually did! Despite the fact that I fired an entire magazine through it without hearing protection, I was able to carry on a conversation with my brother afterwards in an ordinary tone of voice, which otherwise would not have been possible.

So yeah, redirecting the sound downrange actually does reduce the report for the shooter and those in adjacent lanes by a notable degree. Don't get me wrong, Ear Protection is still very much required/advised, especially for louder Rifle Cartridges such as the 5.56 NATO, but it certainly helps to reduce the perceived report.

It had no negative impact on accuracy in my case either, in fact I was shocked by just how accurate it was, since it was the first time I had shot it with an Alpha Wolf Match Grade Threaded Barrel installed as well, which I likewise wasn't expecting to make that much of a difference.

On a side note, the Linear Compensator makes the report sound really cool too!

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

Thanks, I guess I'll have to try one. I will apparently have to test the usefulness indoors myself.