Flash suppressor

[citation needed] A flash suppressor is different from a muzzle brake, although they are typically mounted in the same position and sometimes confused with each other.

Flash suppressors became common on late-World War II and later assault rifle designs, and are almost universal on these weapons today.

The simplest is a cone placed on the end of the barrel, which was used on the late-World War II jungle-combat versions of the Lee–Enfield, the rifle No.

Noveske patterned this design on the muzzle brake found on the Soviet AKS-74U carbine, where it was explicitly used for this purpose.

[5] Some other examples of cone-shaped hiders are found on the Bren machine gun, the .303 rifle No 5 Mk 1 "jungle carbine" and some models of the RPK and German MG3.

This device is 4.2 inches long and was designed primarily as a counterbalance measure, as the shorter barrel made the weapon unwieldy.

[7] Unlike conventional suppressors, the XM177's moderator has no internal baffles and does not reduce the weapon's sound signature to subsonic levels; despite this, because it alters the sound level of the weapon, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has declared these moderators to be suppressors and regulates their civilian purchase in the United States.

[7] There are also devices referred to as hybrids that function as both flash suppressors and muzzle rise/recoil compensators, such as the White Sound Defense FOSSA-556.

[10] Flash suppressors and muzzle brakes can be legally acquired and used on all types of firearms, unless they are designed to significantly or predominantly reduce the sound.