Seasoned Contributor for Minuteman Review and teaches over 100 shooting classes a year.
The SilencerCo ASR suppressor mounting system is my preferred suppressor mounting system. So, naturally, I was keenly interested in the LANTAC Dragon SilencerCo ASR Muzzle Brake.
SilencerCo makes a pretty solid muzzle brake. But it’s admittedly a little bit plain. And it has no compensation ports.
I wanted to find out if the LANTAC ASR muzzle brake would produce a more pleasant shooting experience than the SilencerCo brake.
Now I know. And I have a LANTAC ASR muzzle brake pinned and welded to my 14.5 inch AR-15. That might tell you something about what I think of the Dragon ASR muzzle brake.
Here’s what I discovered in my experience with installing and shooting with the Dragon ASR muzzle brake.
Design and Construction
The Dragon obviously has a few design features that you don’t find on the SilencerCo brake.
The most noticeable difference between the SilencerCo brake and the Dragon is the aesthetic. The Dragon looks a lot cooler than the SilencerCo brake.
Personally, I find the looks of the Dragon muzzle brake to be elegant and very cleanly designed. It has excellent lines and matches up well with the profile of any rail.
Admittedly, it might look a bit overkill if you pair it with an A2 handguard or something similar. But it looks awesome with any modern M-LOK or KeyMod rail.
And this muzzle brake doesn’t just look cool.
The machining is incredible. All the corners are beveled to eliminate any harsh edges. Even the edges of the muzzle brake ports and the throats of the compensation ports are relieved. The attention to detail in the design and construction is impressive.
Also, all the threads—both on the ASR mount and the barrel threading—were clean and perfectly deburred. There was zero stickiness or resistance in the threading, which made for pleasant installation and quick, easy suppressor mounting.
I’ll talk more about installation and the ASR mount in a minute. But, when you add it all up, the design and construction quality is top notch.
Fit and Finish
Long story short: the fit and finish is excellent, which I expected after seeing how well this muzzle brake is constructed.
It comes with a whole bunch of shims for timing the muzzle brake. And, unlike the SilencerCo muzzle brake, one of the shims fit perfectly. I was able to install the Dragon muzzle brake without any over or under torquing.
The only thing that would make the fit and finish perfect is a pre-drilled hole for pinning and welding. But that’s a very small complaint. Many muzzle devices have no pre-drilled pinning and welding hole. And you have to put the drill bit through the muzzle device one way or another.
Despite having to drill through the muzzle brake for pinning and welding, the installation process was super smooth and easy.
Moving on to the finish.
The black nitride finish is outstanding. It’s super consistent. And it’s super deep black, with a perfect semi-matte finish.
Additionally, the finish also works relatively well. I find that carbon builds up very slowly on this muzzle brake. And the nitride finish is supposed to resist corrosion and carbon fouling. So the finish does its job.
However, I will say that the Dragon muzzle brake doesn’t seem to stay quite as clean as the SilencerCo muzzle brake.
Now, I’m not sure if that’s because the finish on the SilencerCo muzzle brake is better. This might be caused by the additional gas ports on the Dragon muzzle brake. That means more gas gets vented out the body of the brake, rather than the muzzle, which may cause more carbon fouling.
But it’s a slight difference. Any reasonable shooter will be satisfied with the corrosion resistance and easy maintenance you get from the Dragon muzzle brake.
Ultimately, another two thumbs up for the LANTAC ASR muzzle brake in the fit and finish department.
Suppressor Mount
I’ve already raved about the ASR suppressor mounting system. So I’ll rave less about it here.
But the ASR suppressor mount is excellent. And the threading and teeth on the Dragon ASR muzzle brake are perfectly machined.
I tried several different SilenceCo suppressors on this muzzle brake. The fit was perfect every time. And there was never any sticking or resistance in the threading.
So the ASR mount on the Dragon muzzle brake works as intended. LANTAC has obviously gotten the ASR specs right and precisely machined the mount.
Yes, only SilencerCo makes ASR compatible suppressors. But SilencerCo makes more than enough suppressors to do anything you need. Being limited to SilencerCo suppressors isn’t really a downside, as far as I can see.
So, ASR mount: check.
Performance
Up to this point, the Dragon muzzle brake lives up to every claim that LANTAC makes about it.
However, LANTAC claims that the Dragon muzzle brake “reduces muzzle rise and recoil to zero.”
...I’m not sure if that’s entirely true.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the recoil and muzzle rise reduction are outstanding. I’m just not convinced that the Dragon reduces these forces to zero.
I will admit that the muzzle rise reduction might be perfect. It’s hard to gather any mathematical data. But it feels like this muzzle brake might actually reduce the muzzle rise to zero.
Keep in mind that I have this muzzle brake mounted on a rifle with a 14.5 inch barrel. If you mount the Dragon muzzle brake on a shorter rifle, you may get less than perfect muzzle rise reduction.
On the other hand, the Dragon doesn’t reduce recoil to zero, as far as I can tell.
However, it’s very good. The felt recoil with this muzzle brake is super soft.
But I test fired my rifle with the original compensator before I installed the LANTAC muzzle brake. After installing the Dragon, the felt recoil is MUCH softer. But it’s just not quite zero.
Also, my 14.5 rifle has a Criterion Core Series Barrel with a mid-length gas system. Your mileage may vary based on your barrel’s gas port size and gas system length.
Anyway, even though it may not be perfect, I will say that this muzzle brake performs just as well as most dedicated muzzle brakes, which is a step up over the SilencerCo muzzle brake.
That’s more significant than you might guess. The Dragon is an incredible muzzle brake. And it’s also a suppressor mount. So you get great performance, whether you’re shooting suppressed or unsuppressed.
Here’s my one complaint about this muzzle brake: the muzzle blast.
In fairness to the Dragon muzzle brake, the muzzle blast is more bearable than many dedicated muzzle brakes. But it’s still got a bit of punch to it.
And LANTAC makes no bones about this part. This muzzle brake is not classified as a flash hider, per the California requirements. So, in a way, I’m not surprised that the muzzle blast isn’t exactly gentle.
Now, the blast gets redirected very well. It’s great if you’re the shooter. But you’re definitely going to get some frowns from your neighbors when you’re on a firing line.
That’s what the suppressor mount is for, right? It’s 2020 y’all. Get a suppressor.
All things considered, though, this muzzle brake will make your rifle super soft shooting and easy to control. Though, people may not want to be near you while you’re shooting (unless you throw your suppressor on like a civilized person).
Checking the Brakes
Here’s the last thing I’ll say about the Dragon ASR Muzzle Brake: it’s expensive.
There’s no way to sidestep it. This muzzle brake is notably more expensive than the SilenceCo ASR Muzzle Brake.
However, for your money, you get a muzzle brake that looks cooler, offers more recoil and muzzle rise reduction, and perfectly fits SilencerCo suppressors.
I would sum up the decision between a different muzzle brake and the Dragon muzzle brake like this:
If you want the best performance, with or without a suppressor, get the Dragon.
If you want a good muzzle brake—but are most interested in getting an outstanding suppressor mourning system—get the SilencerCo ASR Muzzle Brake.
If you’re only interested in recoil reduction and improved control, get the Dragon anyway. You’ll thank yourself if you decide to get a suppressor later on.
So, yeah, the LANTAC Dragon SilencerCo ASR Muzzle Brake is expensive. But it’s good enough that you’ll probably never need to buy another muzzle brake (unless you get another rifle).
And that makes it a better long term value than most other muzzle devices. So think about that.