There is one major feature on an AK47 that is miles better than an AR15, and that is the ability to quickly change the style of muzzle brake or flash hider you are using. On the AK family of rifles you don’t need a special tool, just something to push the detent in and twist, well what if you had the ability to do that with an AR15 but not compromise the accuracy? It would allow you to switch between the dozens of styles of brakes on the market in seconds. Well now you can with the Quick Change Muzzle Adapter (QCMA) by Apex Predator Arms of Lillington, North Carolina.
Who is Apex Predator Arms ?
Apex Predator Arms is a small Veteran owned company located almost directly in the middle of Harnett County, North Carolina and is lead by Thomas Woods Jr, a former Marine and Timothy Jernigan a former Navy Submariner. The company was founded in 2013 and after an extensive period of trial and error were this past Spring of 2016 was awarded their first patent on the QCMA. You can tell by the dates that this new system is brand new and was not unveiled at SHOT Show 2016. This is as far as we know a The Arms Guide and Force 12 Media Exclusive.
Now that we have the introductions out of the way lets take a deeper look into the Quick Change Muzzle Adapter (QCMA), What it’s made of, and who its perfect for. We already know the QCMA allows a shooter to quickly change muzzle devices, BUT are you asking yourself who might need that ? The first group of people I can think of is shooters who participate in competitions. This will allow a shooter to switch between a muzzle brake and a flash hider between stages. Before anyone asks, yes there is a huge difference between the two devices. It does this I might add without the use of a crush washer that most AR15 muzzle devices need.
Installation:
Once the barrel mounting latching device is securely held in place the user can switch between muzzle devices with ease. The best method in my opinion to fully utilize your QCMA kit is to pre stage whatever devices you may use. Simple purchase a few extra female to male adapters and set your rifle up to your own liking. A perfect target audience for this is anyone use has a Yankee Hill & Machine Silencer. Most shooters I know that own a YHM silencer love the capabilities of it but despise the awkward looking proprietary connector. Well with the QCMA a shooter can just have his YHM adapter on one of Apex Predators female X male connectors and a regular brake or flash hider on a spare.
The QCMA kit comes with two muzzle devices in addition to the QCMA adapter. The first muzzle device is a six port muzzle brake while the second is a flash hider that features four channels to dissipate any muzzle flash. Both of these muzzle devices appear to be very overbuilt for the .223/5.56 caliber. They are reminiscent of something that you would see on a .30 caliber rifle. When I put them on my scale the flash hider weighed 4.6 ounces and the muzzle break came in at 4.1 ounces, like I said very stoutly built. They should easily withstand the blast from any .223/5.56 round.
The Apex Predator Tactical QCMA kit is currently undergoing our very own Alaska based field trials. We have AR15’s with the following barrel lengths to ensure our readers a complete test and eval.
- 10.5″ Lewis Machine & Tool SBR
- 14.5″ with 1.5″ pinned brake
- 16″ Radical Firearms with mid length gas tube
- 16″ Spikes Tactical M4
- 20″ Armalite AR15 with rifle length gas tube
You can see from the above list we intend to put a fair amount of ammo down range with a wide variety of rifles all in the name of science. We initially tried to field a IWI Tavor in .223 but we lacked the proper spacer for the test. This is unfortunate because using bullpup to test any accessory is always a good time. Our goal is to test equipment and gear with as wide of a range of weapons as possible. We fully intend to release our findings in the near future, so be sure to watch our Facebook page for updates to this article.
If you find yourself in the position of wanting to be able to quickly and safely change our your muzzle devices while in competition or while going threw a range session, then the Apex Predator QCMA is for you. It’s built like a tank, and allows complete control over your choice of muzzle device anytime you want. The designers really have taken the time to analyze the needs of the shooting community in it’s development and responded accordingly.
We hope you have enjoyed this inside look at what looks like an ingenious accessory for many AR15 owners. If you have any questions, comments or feedback about this product or any other we have featured on The Arms Guide.Com be sure to drop us a line in the comments section or on our Facebook page. We pride ourselves on being available to our readers. Until then, have fun on the range and post up some pictures to our Instagram account.
Rick
