Recently got my hands on one of these KVP linear comps and have got around to doing a write up on it.
As we all know comps can make a huge difference on the performance and feel of a rifle. The bad thing is that while you normally get more control from one comp that same comp tends to either turn everyone around you deaf (like the PWS FSC556), turns all the blast back onto your face (Miculek) or if it has to be shot at night is absolutely blinding. The other option being great at suppressing one of the other issues we talked about but always having trade off.
This is where the KVP comes in. I was doing some searching around on Joeboboutfitters.com, saw these and started to do some checking on them. I ended up finding out that the owner of the company lived just a few miles from me I had to get my hands on some. The company is from Silver Lake, Kansas and their comps are completely made in the midwest.
The purpose of the Linear Comp is to control the muzzle in a manner that pushes the rifle straight back into the shoulder because of the shape and also the only opening being out on the ends. The other advantage to this is that it gets rid of the large blast that makes your neighbor at the range or carbine class hate you. It isn’t a suppressor by any means but these things do a wonderful job pushing the sound down range and being nice to your shooting buddy.
The more we shoot these the better we like them. While 5.56 recoil is not terrible in the first place, nobody is going to reject something that helps mitigate it. These do an awesome job of that. These were ran on 16 inch Knights, 16 in PredatAR, 12.5 inch Adams rifle, a 10.5 adams rifle, and a 16 inch Adams carbine and across the board the rifles were much smoother feeling in that there was more of a push into the body instead of an up and down recoil. The absolute greatest thing was how far down range it put the noise from the recoil. We threw these on the .22 LR rifles and did some shooting on a still Kansas summer day and ended up tossing the hear pro for a few rounds just to see. People shoot the .22s like this all the time and they are not terribly noisy by any means butthe difference was definitely nice.
I am not usually a huge stickler on looks but the other options in linear comps are all very similar as they are just smooth tubes with maybe a logo and not much else. These have a nice little fluting to them to give them a bit different look and also cut down on weight.
Another nice touch is they come in black or tan and .22 or .30 cal.
If you are in the market for a nice comp, without breaking the bank, these are certainly worth a try.
I have also got to spend some time with this as I’ve alluded to in other posts, (I’m the one shooting in the video) and I’m a big fan of this comp. It works well to throw concussion away from the shooter, and in my opinion doesn’t increase felt recoil back into the shoulder at all.
You still need hearing protection. BTW: You should never shoot a 22LR without hearing protection. The 22LR causes more civilian hearing damage at 134 dBA (average) than any other weapon out there as folks falsely believe that the 22LR doesn’t produce a significant enough report to hurt your ears.
Where does the dot track with one of these things. By that I give you 2 examples: I have 2 rifles. One w/a BC 2.0 and the other with a BCM comp. I know from experience that both of these comps if timed at 12 o’clock will track as follows: the Battlecomp (when tracking the dot during recoil) will go down and to the right, me being a righty. The BCM slightly up and right. Where does this comp track? I would assume up and right but I also assumed the same a few years ago when I first shot a friend’s Noveske with a Battlecomp.
Linear comps don’t need to be timed. Any recoil impulse from the gas with the linears are straight back as all gas ejectus is straight out in the bore line.
Additionally, I also have used the Levang Linear Comp and the Kaw Valley design is quieter (and looks better too!)
Understand about timing. That wasn’t what I was getting at. It states linear comp. Was just curious if that namesake was true in real life. Is it truly linear or how much-x or y axis/combo of the 2-movement is there at all?
It is true linear. I have noted no lateral movements in the x/y axis. The only gas ports are straight out the front.
What is to be noted is the higher gas pressure causing ejection to move from the 4 o’clock to the 2:30 on a carbine gas system. Moving up to an H-3 buffer from a H-2 solved the problem.
On my 18" BCM SPR barrel (rifle length gas/A2 stock) ejection is spot on.
Very interesting and thanks Chorizo. I started a thread a while back about different muzzle devices having a possible effect on back pressure. Your post seems to have confirmed that. Not to mention you say it is truly linear. Would like to try one out.
I think Chorizo pretty well covered the questions haha. There is a fairly decent flash at night but it isn’t ridiculous like some. On the KVP website they state that the comp will add enough pressure to help picky SBRs. I am a firm believer that of a barrel and gas port are to spec they shouldn’t be picky but it did change ejection pattern slightly. We ran it on several rifles. Wife has a car buffer, TZook runs a H and my 10.5 runs a H2 and it functioned well on everything without making the rifle feel more violent or wild like a truly overgassed rifle does.
I’m a little confused on the physics here. How does it prevent muzzle rise if it has no thrust direction other than forward? Would it not increase rearward recoil due to a more directional gas flow (forward)?
I’m no physician (that’s a joke) but I am going to try to explain. Normally when you shoot the rifle will rise and go to one side or the other as mentioned above. That is a fairly hard motion to control as you typically pull the rifle tight back into you to help overcome it. With the linear action it is more of a straight push back into you and with a good stance is easier to control.
No help on muzzle rise. Gas ejectus is straight forward. There are no ports on the circumference of the device, hence no gas impulse other than straight back.
As for increased gas pressure, it did move my carbine ejection from 4 to 2:30 using Federal 5.56 XM-193, same lot. I previously had a Smith Industries Vortex on it and changed it at the shooting bench to the linear comp. I attempted to measure the dBA of the Vortex, but it was greater than 130 dBA (device could not measure above 130) so no baseline to measure change. With that said, it was a noticable change, even with hearing protection, and confirmed with the dBA meter. Accuracy seemed to be improved, but it was a shaky bench I was shooting from out from under overhead protection so as to get true sound readings so no real groups to accurately measure against. It has seemed to stop fliers, but I couldn’t tell you if it is because of change to barrel vibration or less flinch (trigger puller induced vibration)
On the 18" barrel, rifle gas system, the Kaw Valley is the original comp I used, so no baseline to check against.
The advantages of the linear Kaw Valley: no downward or sideward muzzle blast, less dust from a prone position, reduced sound signature to the shooter. Disadvantages: significantly increased muzzle flash at night (over the vortex), no muzzle jump reduction (but then again, neither does the vortex).
I like it enough that I have replaced two (one a vortex, the other a Levang linear) of my three comps with it, keeping a Vortex on the 16" carbine “social gun” and using the Kaw Valley linear on a 16" Recce and 18" SPR.
The Kaw Valley linear has a deeply concave muzzle area, where as the Levang has a EDIT: slightly concave EDIT: muzzle area. I believe the Kaw Valley does a better job, but have no emperical data to back that up.
After thought: If they made one for a .338 I would sure as hell have my barrel threaded and one installed!
Kaw Valley - 1 31/32" x 7/8" (has flats to tighten…also see picture measured at widest circumference)
Levang - 1 31/32" x 7/8" (no flats …cylindrical)
A2 - 1 23/32" X 13/16" (has flats)
I just got one of these yesterday! It installed nicely with a crush washer. I have yet to try it out. I was wanting something like this for blast redirection mainly, and there are many options for this sort of thing, but the price point for this is pretty good (I say)!
I have 2 on pistol builds, one on my 223/7.5" and one on my 300blk 10.5"bbl. I am sold! Both guns are much better with the linear comps, especially that fire breathing short barreled 223. It still spews fire, but the felt muzzle blast is vastly less than a std A2 or even some of the comps I have made in the machine shop. I need to get some vid with the Kaw installed on both pistols.
