I had always relegated compensators and gas pedals as things geared towards competition shooting. I hadn’t really considered them for duty or concealed carry guns. That changed for me after attending GunCon 2025 last summer.
I got a chance to shoot with both systems on range day and started reconsidering my previous conceptions. After the show, I picked up a Thumb Rest from Align Tactical to try out, and then most recently got a Radian AFTERBURNER + RAMJET barrel and compensator combo as well.
Radian AFTERBURNER + RAMJET Features
The Radian AFTERBURNER + RAMJET comes as a set including the barrel, the compensator and a tapered locking screw, and a torx bit. That’s it, pretty simple.
Like any compensator, the combo’s purpose is to provide recoil reduction, but also match grade accuracy in a compact, concealed carry-friendly package for Glock (and other) pistols. Radian uses a threadless barrel and micro-compensator system with a simple, tool-free installation and removal process for easy cleaning. Sort of.
Radian says its tool free, but it’s not actually. It’s simple, but I’ll cover that in a bit.
The RAMJET barrel is crafted from hardened 416R stainless steel, while the AFTERBURNER compensator is machined from hardened stainless steel Both components receive a durable Radianite coating. I had no idea what Radianite was so I looked it up.
Turns out it’s an alien power source from the near-future sci-fi video game Valorant. It’s also a proprietary, high-hardness black or bronze coating from Radian Weapons, so that’s probably the one on the RAMJET and AFTERBURNER. They say it provides low friction, extreme hardness, outstanding corrosion resistance, and superior protection against muzzle blast erosion.
The AFTERBURNER only adds .47 inches to the weapon and is contoured to match the front of the Glock slide. It comes with angled front faces to make holstering smoother and more reliable as well.
Radian makes them for most Gen 3, 4, and 5 Glocks, as well as the Glock 43X and 48. No word on Gen 6 yet, but if they don’t already fit, I’m sure Radian will be working on that. They also make them for the Shadow Systems pistols, Ruger RXM’s, and the SIG P365. MSRP is $389.95. The system must be pretty popular because it took months of watching Radian’s website to finally catch a set in stock for my Glock 45.
Installation
I had already installed the Align Tactical Thumb rest on my duty pistol, a 9mm Glock Model 45, last summer. I intended to use the same pistol as my AFTERBURNER and RAMJET platform as well. Installation of the system is fast and easy.
Simply field strip your pistol and set the factory barrel aside. Slip in the RAMJET barrel in its place, and slide the AFTERBURNER compensator on, lining it up with the contours of the Glock slide. Radian uses its INTRA-LOK mounting system to lock the comp to the barrel. It uses a taper-lock principle, where a tapered locking screw engages an angled V-groove on the barrel’s underside to precisely time and securely lock the compensator to the muzzle end of the barrel.
With the comp in place, insert and tighten the locking screw. This gives you precise, repeatable alignment without the need for Loctite, shims, or setscrews. It’s also easy to clean by simply removing the screw again and pulling the comp when needed. Here’s where I question the tool-free comment, though: you need the included T10 torx bit to tighten down the taper screw.
Last I checked, a Torx bit and driver or a Torx wrench is a tool. It’s fast and easy to do, but you do need a tool, albeit a simple and common one.
Size and Holstering
When installed, the AFTERBURNER and RAMJET combo adds only 0.47 inches to the overall slide length. That essentially rounds your Glock slide up to the next biggest model. A Glock 17 with an AFTERBURNER installed will fit in a Glock 34 holster.
A 19 or 45 will fit in a 17 holster, and a 26 will fit in a 19 holster. A 43X with an AFTERBURNER will fit in a Glock 48 holster. If you put one on a Glock 34 or a 48, I guess you need an open bottom holster for those.
Holster fit was a big deal for me. In the past, when I looked at compensators, they were often big and kind of bulky. That made holstering them in anything other than competition rigs tough. Particularly for a CCW or duty gun, I needed a comp that would work with common holsters, particularly a duty holster, and the AFTERBURNER does that.
I use a Safariland 6360RDS ALS/SLS Level III duty holster for work and I needed any system I used be able to work with it. With the Radian set up all I had to do was move from the Glock 19/45 model that I was using and move up to a Glock 17 model. My Glock 45 with Afterburner and RAMJET installed fit perfectly in the 17 holster.
Performance
Radian engineered and optimized AFTERBURNER to perform best with 124 grain and heavier 9mm ammunition, although they say that testing has shown substantial recoil reduction even with lighter loads. My duty loads are Speer Gold Dot 147gr JHP, so this optimization is right on for my Glock 45.
While I certainly was curious to see the recoil reduction, first and foremost my gun needed to remain reliable with the new barrel and comp. It needed to be at least as accurate as the stock gun as well. I headed to the range with a mix of 124, 135, and 147 grain loads and a couple of Xtech 17 round magazines.
I ran some 124-grain FMJs through initially just to get a feel for the system installed on my work gun. I’ve used this gun the past 8 years, since the Glock 45 came out, so I’m familiar with its normal handling characteristics. When I dropped the Align Tactical thumb rest on in the summer, I saw an improvement in controllability. With the AFTERBURNER, it jumped up another level. The gun shoots amazingly flat, and shot recovery was immediate, particularly in rapid-fire strings. I know a 9mm isn’t exactly a thumper when it comes to recoil or muzzle rise anyway, but there was a noticeable difference compared to shooting the 45 without it. I’ll take that gain.
Being that the combo added both a new barrel and compensator, I did have to re-sight in my Holosun HE507C. I was back on target quickly though. I didn’t shoot from a bench and rest to confirm, but it does seem that the RAMJET barrel does shoot a little tighter than my factory barrel. It easily met the criteria of shooting at least as well as my factory barrel. If we ever get nicer weather, I will sit down and test that further later on.
So, accuracy looked good, and there was a noticeable improvement in controllability and in the lack of muzzle climb. Reliability was the last box to check off, and I was happy to see that Radian delivered there as well. I ran a couple hundred rounds of the various bullet weights and profiles through the Radian barrel and comp and experienced no failures of any sort. It could shoot as flat as a .22, and be as accurate as a target pistol, but if it wasn’t reliable, it would be useless for a duty gun. Luckily, or thanks to the work of Radian’s engineers, that was not the case.
Is It Worth it?
So, is the Radian AFTERBURNER + RAMJET combo worth $390? That isn’t a small chunk of change. In fact it’s well over half the cost of a new Glock. If you’re looking to squeak the most performance out of your carry or duty gun, or you are in fact using it for competition then I;m going to say yes.
The Radian system worked well, kept my weapon reliable, and gave it a bit of an edge accuracy wise. Most importantly, it did that while still keeping the size down to a package that could reasonably be carried, and that would work with existing holsters.
I understand that it may not be the right solution for everyone, but if you’re thinking about a compensator already, then I think it’s worth giving the Radian AFTERBURNER + RAMJET a hard look.
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