Walker Defense

NERO 9 Review

Walker Defense makes some of the best muzzle brakes around. At least in my opinion. I have had the Walker Defense NERO 9 muzzle brake for over a year now. Is it the best muzzle brake I have used? Yes, at least in 9mm. The NERO was also used on a 357 magnum lever gun, which is not a typical use for this muzzle brake. It also performed great on the 357. So why is it so good? You will have to read the rest and find out.

The NERO muzzle brake is Walker Defense’s flagship product. It is 3D sintered (printed) out of inconel. Inconel is super resistant to just about everything, including wear from being hit with a rocket engine. All of the NERO line is made in the same way, including the NERO 9. The NERO line also has a distinct look about them. They look different due to the engineering behind their design. This makes them perform extremely well.

Since the NERO 9 is 3D sintered, it gives Walker Defense a lot of design freedom. Since it is designed for a 9mm pistol caliber carbine, different characteristics are needed over the 556 version. Even though they look alike, they are not, but they use the same technology. Walker Defense uses fluid dynamics to allow the gas to flow down the bottom ramp of the muzzle brake, while the bullet goes straight. The ramp inside the NERO also has golf ball style dimples to help disrupt gas flow, very much like a suppressor might. Then the gas hits the end of this ramp, helping to counter the recoil of the firearm. The top slots help to mitigate muzzle rise. Check out the original NERO 556 review for more info on this.

You might ask what the performance is like, don’t take my work for it, look at the data. I used my Mantis X to get some muzzle rise data. The other data it collects is the angle which the muzzle moves and the width it moves. Both of those can be skewed a bit by the user if you are shaking or holding the rifle differently. Muzzle rise data is more consistent since it is a quick measurement response. This data was taken on a Hi-Point carbine, with and without the NERO 9 attached. As you can see in the screenshots, there is a significant decrease in muzzle rise.

NERO 9 attached, muzzle rise is extremely reduced

Even though the NERO 9 is not marketed as a 357 Magnum muzzle brake, It works as one. I had discussed the 357 use with Walker Defense before trying it, they gave me the go ahead. So I installed it on a tactical lever gun with a 16 inch barrel. The design of the NERO also helped add to the “Tactical Lever Gun” look. As expected, the NERO 9 tamed even hot 357 magnum loads, I was actually surprised at how well it did since it was designed for 9mm, not 357. This was the one firearm that I could definitely tell a difference in felt recoil. It took the snap out of those 357’s and made it like shooting 38’s without the NERO.

As you can see, the NERO 9’s main home is the SBR’d Hi-Point carbine. If you have ever shot one of these with the 13.25 inch barrel, there is a lot of recoil due to the direct blowback action. So your shoulder gets pounded pretty good. The NERO does help with that a bit. I even ran the Hi-Point PCC in a local match and at the end, after around 250 rounds, my shoulder felt pretty decent. The NERO really shines in competition.

If you haven’t guessed, the NERO 9 is a highly functional muzzle brake. No, it is not super cheap, but in the NERO’s case, it is worth the barrier to entry. You get an engineered muzzle device that not only cuts felt recoil, it also eliminates muzzle rise. Do yourself a favor and head over to Walker Defense and check out the NERO line of muzzle brakes.

Firearms Insider Reviews - Key Points

Claim to Fame:

Super flat shooting compensator

Target Market:

Anyone wanting the best compensator for their firearms

Features, Benefits, and Specifications of this product:

Compatibility: AR-9 or 9mm with ½-28 Threaded Barrels
Thread Pitch: ½-28
Caliber: 9mm
Material: Inconel
Overall length: Approx. 2.6 inches
Weight: 3.6 oz
Coating: Ionbond DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon)
Serialized for Quality Control
x1 Crush Washer Included
Direct metal laser sintering construction

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

5.56 and 308 versions

What others are saying?:

5 out 5 stars at Walkerdr.com

Nero 9

Found out about this through doing research on brakes for pccs and had to check it out after seeing it. Did quite a bit of research, read lots of reviews and videos and decided it was worth the hefty price tag considering it was only like 60 or so more than other similar braces that really weren't optimized for the application and weren't made out of INCONEL. Finally had a chance to take it out on my recent favorite gun, a 9mm Smith and Wesson FPC. Extremely tame, muzzle rise is almost unnoticeable. A bit of reduced felt recoil is nice too. (it's still only just 9mm though) Makes and already light gun handle even better. It is a bit loud but I'm not even worried about that. This thing to a 9mm PCC is what a Sutaev brake is to a Saiga 12. If you have a pcc in 9mm I can't recommend it enough. Purpose built product backed up by superior materials, craftsmanship, and design.

Our Rating:

Pros:

Fantastic recoil reduction
Tames muzzle rise
Faster follow up shots
Inconel construction

Cons:

Price

Score: 9.00 Amazing

Favorite Link: NERO 556 review

Gforce Arms

Saddlehorn LTAC review

It seems like everyone is getting into the lever action rifle game. I am always up for more options, especially when it comes to lever actions. GForce Arms has started importing some lever action rifles in pistol calibers. Some of these options are pretty standard, others are super tactical. They sent me one of their tactical ones, the walnut stocked Saddlehorn LTAC 357.

The GForce Saddlehorn is a Winchester model 92 copy. There are lots of the 92 copies around. The Saddlehorn is very similar to all of them. The only real difference is that the Saddlehorn has a safety selector on the bolt itself, very similar to a Rossi 92. The LTAC version runs a large loop lever that is wrapped in leather. It also runs a straight style stock to keep with the 92 tradition.

Being that this is the “tactical” version of the Saddlehorn, it does have a bunch of those tactical options. First up, the LTAC uses a 16.5 inch threaded barrel. It is threaded ½-28 which allows the use of suppressors and various muzzle devices. Next is that it comes with a picatinny rail already mounted to the barrel. This pic rail also includes the rear sight, which is only adjustable for elevation. The front sight is a fiber optic red and pairs nicely with the black rear sight. The sight picture is pretty nice for a simple set of iron sights, and they work fine.

Another part that makes the Saddlehorn tactical is the M-Lok forend. This slim line aluminum handguard has M-Lok slots just about everywhere, even if the top ones aren’t usable due to the barrel being in the way. On the front bottom of the handguard is a 4 slot picatinny rail section. Right behind the pic rail is a sling stud. At the rear, on each side of the handguard, are 4 threaded holes between the M-Lok rails. These are used for attaching miscellaneous accessories. The LTAC also comes with a 4 shell holder mounted in one of these holes. The extra shell holder is also made of aluminum and is a nice addition to the total rifle package. Having the M-Lok and a pic rail gives you options to attach whatever you want.

I have a true love hate relationship with the Gforce LTAC. Through all the .357 magnum rounds I ran through it, and the 38 specials, the gun ran flawlessly. However, I did run into a huge problem with the LTAC. When I was installing a NERO muzzle brake onto the LTAC, the barrel actually came loose in the action!. This is really unacceptable on any firearm. All I was doing was trying to tighten the muzzle brake and time it with a crush washer. Instead of taking the time to get it fixed by Gforce, I just fixed it myself. These barrels are just “glued” into the action with a sleeve retaining style thread locker, so it was an easy fix. There are even marks on the receiver and barrel on where to line them up. I have had no more problems with the barrel twisting after another 250 rounds of .357 magnum. I am guessing that the factory just didn’t get enough “glue” on the barrel. While the barrel was out of the action, I also noticed that the chamber was a little rough, about half way down toward the rifling. Since it was already off, I polished the chamber a little bit. To me it looked like a dull reamer was used during the barrel manufacturing process.

As mentioned, the LTAC ran flawlessly during use. I did mount up some optics throughout the testing. The first one was the Atibal Solar 1 x prism. It worked fine but sat a little higher than my liking. So I settled on the Primary Arms Classic green dot. It sat a bit lower and worked out better for me. Before I mounted the optics, I checked the optic rails mounting screws on the LTAC. They were a tad loose, so I tightened them up. I don’t know if they were loose from the factory, or if they came loose from using the gun. Either way I put some loctite on them and snugged them up. They haven’t come loose since.

Running the Saddlehorn LTAC was a lot of fun. It has a great trigger. In fact, my sample has a 2 lb trigger pull with very little creep and a bit of overtravel. Let’s just say the trigger is one of my favorite aspects of the LTAC. The action is also very smooth. Way smoother than I expected from a Turkish import. That leather wrapped oversize lever is nice also. The leather gives a little bit of cushion for the back of your hand, and is nice when running the lever fast. It also gives it a cool look. At one point I installed a suppressor to see how that worked. A suppressor with 38 specials is super quiet. The 357 magnums are still pretty good, but they do break the sound barrier, so you still get a sound crack out of it.

Loading the magazine tube on the Saddlehorn LTAC is probably my least favorite thing to do. Is it hard? No, it just wears on your thumb when loading those 8 rounds into the tube. This is highly typical of any side loading lever action. I do like that the LTAC holds 8 357 magnum shells in the tube magazine. This gives you a true 8+1 full 357 magnums at the ready, just in case.

The Gforce Arms Saddlehorn LTAC is another entry into the “tactical” lever gun category. It is super cool looking and has everything needed to get into this style of lever gun. I am disappointed that mine had problems, because I really liked how the gun performed. It ran super smooth and ate all the ammo I threw at it. If you are looking for a tactical thrifty lever gun, the Saddlehorn LTAC just might be it. Just be warned that there might be some quality control issues. Hopefully GForce Arms is working out these kinks.