or back towards the shooter—this is especially true of muzzle brakes. While eye and ear protection should always be used when shooting, this is even more essential with the muzzle blast directed back towards the shooter. Brakes and compensators are often quite bulky, adding length, diameter, and mass to the muzzle end of the firearm where it will affect the firearm's handling worst. While a simple slot milled in the barrel, such as those used in Magna-Porting, will provide some benefit, efficient redirection of the gas flow requires large ports and baffles to deflect as much gas as possible. It is also highly inadvisable to fire sabot rounds like shotgun slugs or APDS rounds through a muzzle brake not designed for them. References Ballistics Articles containing video clips