Comps and ports have become all the rage, again. They came into competition in the 80s, appeared on magnum handguns in the 90’s, then showed up again with the “Roland Special”. Every 10-15 years we get to revisit the issue with new technologies. Now, they are back in a better form factor with factory offerings of “chunk porting” the front of the slide or porting the top of the barrel.
All of these solutions mitigate muzzle flip to one degree or another. No matter how little or how much, the gun will have less muzzle rise than it would without. The ports in the top of the barrel steal velocity and do not play well with plated bullets (like Blazer brass). The muzzle brakes/ comps on the end of the barrel add length, as do the chunk ports, unless you give up barrel length (also losing velocity).
With some respected trainers advocating for the different muzzle rise reducing options for carry, I decided I would do a test of my own. The primary reason I wanted to do the test is that I knew shooting a comped gun would be fun! Additionally, I wondered if it would help me. Finally, I wondered if it might help those with weaker grips.
To prepare for the test, I bought a Radian Ramjet comp with barrel for a spare Glock 19 MOS slide that I have. The barrel and comp are easy to assemble and I have had no issues with the comp loosening after following the installation instructions. you cannot fully disassemble the gun without taking the comp off the barrel, but you can clean it pretty well with the barrel tilted down in the slide.
One of the selling points for the Radian was that they have announced that they have a suppressor in development that would interface with the Ramjet barrel and work with OEM sights. I have a Holosun 509T on the slide the barrel is in, but the compatibility with other slides was interesting. The Ramjet is also well-liked by many and I thought it would be representative of what is possible.
To contrast the comp, I wanted to use a pistol with the same slide length. I chose my Glock 49 and used that frame with both slides to make the test as consistent as possible.
I used my Glock 44 with the Nelson Precision X slide to practice shooting Bills Drills at 10 yards on an IP1 target. I tried to duplicate the grip I use when shooting 9mm Glocks. I quickly moved to 7 yards, so that I could get the splits (time between shots) down to a level that would better showcase the comp’s improvements. I can get splits in the sub .20 bracket, but I do not do that kind of shooting much, so my ability to do accurate shots in my chosen target size has my splits in the .22-25 range. Using an entire USPSA A-zone would allow the faster splits, but I went with an upper half A-zone size IP-1/ B8 bullseye. With 6 round Bill Drills, I would often see one or sometimes two shots slip out to .27 when I first started shooting with the .22LR gun.
After warming up for a couple of hundred rounds of .22LR, I felt better about having neutral hands on the gun. At work, I spent the last several months demonstrating the principles of that neutral input on fast follow up shots, so you could say I had been preparing for this test for a while.
I did not have time to shoot a centerfire Bill Drill on the day I shot the G44 Nelson X, so I got a good sleep cycle in to cement any learning I did before hitting the range the next day. I ran a 7-yard Bill Drill with the Glock 49 cold from a concealed inside the waistband holster to see what that looked like and then ran another one, because the first one was so ugly.
I did about as well as I had figured, but not as well as I had hoped on the first run. Next, I switched slides to see what the comp would do.
My first run with the Radian Ramjet G19 slide resulted in 6 rounds directly below the black bullseye. I could see the red dot dipping low as I pressed the trigger each time. I ran it again, concentrating on just keeping the hands unchanging. I kept putting micro inputs into the gun and threw one low and two off to the right. Knowing this was a “me” problem, I got two more mags of six and shot the drill two more times, with all rounds in the black.
The secret is less grip on the gun, which makes it easier to press the trigger rapidly and my concentration can go to the trigger and sights without worrying about having enough support hand input. The comp might solve some recoil anticipation issues for some people. For me, the return of the dot to the target seemed significantly faster than without a comp. Some might notice the increased push backward, into the hands, but I do not unless I am concentrating on it. It is, after all, a 9mm. How much push can there be in medium/ full size gun?
I would attribute the slightly lower splits with the comped gun to having a looser firing hand grip. At all times, the gun was waiting on me to fire it. I was never having to push the gun down into position. The G49 was also faster back to the target than I was with the trigger press, most of the time. Again, the G19 Radian Ramjet allowed me to do that with a looser grip and the gun never slipped in my hand. Many shooters have more grip strength than I do, but many, many more have less. How might that help them?
For me, I wanted to know what the comp would do for me on the street. For shooting against a violent offender in the United States, I would shoot at decision-making speed, which is around .3-.35 for me (and for most people). Was it worth the drawbacks of cost, potential reliability issues, noise/ muzzle blast, and increased muzzle flash with the slower rate of fire?
Programming myself to shoot at the speed that I make decisions has worked out when I have been tested at making decisions while shooting. If I do a lot of multiple round drills with fast split times, then I tend to default to that when under stress. I can see the comp encouraging me to override my weak mind and shoot fast in practice. Which might lead me to shoot faster than I can process changes in the violent offender and the surroundings on the street, just like I did with the first run of decision-making speed with the Radian equipped slide during this test.
I did find that the comp made shooting with one hand noticeably faster. A general rule might be doubling the split times when transitioning from two hands to one on the gun. With the comp, it seemed that I ran .50s splits on a similar size target at 7 yards. Without the comp, I ran .50s and .60s, with more variance. Again, those with less grip and upper body strength might get more benefit. It could be that less grip/ upper body strength would cause stoppages as the gun likely has a shorter operational envelope.
Reliability for this G19 with this Radian Ramjet has been flawless for the whole 100 plus rounds of Winchester White Box and Blazer Aluminum ball that I have shot through it at speed. Hear the sarcasm or insert eye roll emoji, if that is your thing. I have heard good things about the Radian Ramjet, but I do not know if that is the same as saying it is as reliable as a stock gun. I know many people are adding them to micro 9mm guns. I believe that they would provide more benefit in that envelope with reliability more suspect. Not due to the comp design, but due to the guns themselves already being less reliable than duty-size guns.
The Radian Ramjet G19 has also worked well with nearly a hundred rounds of Winchester 124+P and Underwood 147+P ammunition, checking velocity and shooting some rapid strings to determine the differences between the comped G19 and the G49 on those.
Is it as accurate as a normal Gen 5 barrel? Yep. It is as boringly accurate as all the other Gen 5 Glocks I have shot.
Less recoil/ muzzle rise is always better. It is why we shoot .22s better than centerfire guns. That being the case is a comp in this size and caliber of gun right for me, right now? No. I have never needed to shoot faster splits in a fight. I do not believe that any fights would have ended noticeably faster if I had shot faster splits.
Many people bring up the muzzle flash from comps and the distraction of muzzle blast, especially when shooting from a retention position (thumb pectoral index). The blast is disconcerting, but no more than a .357 magnum revolver (significantly less than the full-bore 125gr stuff from yesteryear). The muzzle flash is worse than a standard-barrel 9mm, but less than a .357 mag was in low light back in the day. Finding irons in a low light environment, where you can see the suspect well enough to know they are a threat can be difficult. Seeing them after each bright orange flash from a magnum revolver gets difficult and might be the same with the comp. With a pistol mounted optic, the concern is lessened, I believe.
The trouble with these kind of tradeoffs is that we will all pick out the advantages or disadvantages to support our gut feelings. I see enough issues with smaller statured shooters not providing a good enough platform to keep guns working when they are shooting one handed or in compromised positions that I would hesitate to recommend a gun with a shorter operating envelope. At the same time, if you have the time and money to do a thorough test of a gun with a comp using “street” ammo fired in a variety of less than perfect circumstances, then you could well vet the system for your use.
The Radian Ramjet was fun. The gun worked well. I learned some things. I am happy I invested the money in it. However, I need to do some more testing to see if I can shoot the comp in practice and still perform well with my carry gun using the comped gun grip pressure. It is a tough task, but I will suffer through it.