Abstract: A compensator for fire arms includes a barrel bushing, outer tubular housing, and an inner tubular choke which defines an annular gas expansion chamber; the inner tubular choke has a plurality of holes formed therein which provides gas communication between the bore of the barrel, interior of the inner tubular choke, and annular gas expansion chamber; and spaced longitudinally extending slots are provided to the top and bottom of the outer tubular housing for gas communication between the annular gas expansion chamber and atmosphere, the ratio of the area of the slots in a top surface of the outer tubular housing to the area of the slots in the bottom of the outer tubular housing are about 3 to 1.