The Halbek Device was an interesting clamp-on muzzle brake designed by two Rhodesians, Douglas Hall and Marthinus Bekker. It was patented in Rhodesia in 1977 and in the US in 1980, and manufactured in small numbers for the Rhodesian military. I have seen these occasionally, and doubt they are actually very effective. But during a filming trip to South Africa I had a chance to actually try one on a select-fire R1 FAL, complete with high speed camera to find out for sure. So, let’s see what they really do…
Select-fire Rifles
Rhodesian FAL – with Larry Vickers
The iconic weapon of the Rhodesian Bush War is the FN-FAL, painted in a distinctive “baby poop” yellow and green pattern. Because Rhodesia was under international embargo, its options for obtaining weapons were limited. Some […]
Semiauto Rifles
Sanna 77: A Czech SMG Turned South African Carbine
The Sanna 77 was a semiauto copy of the Czech Sa 25 submachine gun. It was first produced in Rhodesia by the GM Steel company for the Rhodesian military. In this form, it was the […]
Book review
Book Review: Firearms Developed and Manufactured in Southern Africa 1949-2000
FIREARMS: Developed and Manufactured in Southern Africa 1949-2000 Until recently, there has been very little published information on South African and Rhodesian firearms outside of a few sporadic magazine articles – but that is no […]
The slo-mo shows a lot more barrel flex than I expected.
That barrel looks as if it grew on a tree in Switzerland.
When Red Army was looking for new sub-machine gun (it will be PPS) commission after examining delivered sub-machine gun designs noticed that
Presence of compensator itself do not solve problem of increasing accuracy, when other factor as counterproductive, overly strong compensator might actually lower accuracy, as shown by АртАк 1 обр…
from https://warspot.ru/3300-neizvestnye-soperniki-ppsh
That device seems like it would have been more effective on the M14 than the FAL.
I’d like to see a similar test on the M14 using the M14E2 compensator.
The M14 had a very similar device that slipped over the flash hider and was retained via the bayonet lug. It definitely has a noticeable effect in semi auto.
It appeared the conjunction of the (surprisingly effective) device and Ian’s full-auto technique combined to lead to the muzzle dipping. I expect that given sufficient practice with the device it’s likely the technique would alter to allow for it, with less need overall to physically hold the muzzle down. I was also surprised with what I saw in the video. Muzzle devices don’t seem to generally have such noticable effects, apart from blast 🙂 Good stuff. Thanks.
“The M14 had a very similar device that slipped over the flash hider and was retained via the bayonet lug. Really….25 years on active duty and I never heard of it – you sure it wasn’t a silencer or the grenade launcher ? Here’s the GL https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=441BFCD359CA1B11CC4FF05F9F768A2572070F92&thid=OIP.UfjIbaszlUuKT-SyhOU-RwHaEE&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bevfitchett.us%2Fm14-m14a1-rifle-marksmanship%2Fimages%2F3186_83_74-beretta-silencer.jpg&exph=501&expw=911&q=m14+grenade+launcher&selectedindex=28&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=0,1,2
Here’s one:
https://www.kbtacticalstar.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=609
(I own a re-pro GL)