I recently bought one of these fh's off the EE. I really like it. There has been a good deal of questioning the country of origin. I already have 6 US parts but I am going to guess these are US made also. Anyone have anything to the contrary? I have never seen these for sale anywhere else.

Those sure look like they have FAL written all over them. They look great.

The machining is pretty nice, but the finish is poor. I shot mine with a little GunKote in a can and it looks great now. No matter what the origin is it is a good product at a good price. I just wish I knew where the heck they came from.

They are very similar to the "Stoll" flash hiders that were used on FAL's.  That being said, the FAL flash hider had a slightly different thread pitch that would work on an AK, BUT it required some working back and forth to recut the threads as they weren't quite 14x1. The FAL flash hiders also (obviously) didn't have the detent pin notch.

The only place I have ever seen Stoll flash hiders are DSA, and they are U.S. made copies (with the exception of one actaul Stoll I have seen at a gunshop which an FAL guy had).  The orignal Stolls had a parkerized finish IIRC. I scraped off some of the finish and don't see any signs at all of parkerizing, only smooth metal in the white (it is a baked on black finsh- probably engine block paint)

I would say the two options:  either it is U.S. made, or someone stumbled on a box of Stoll flash hiders and remanufactured them, in which case they are essentially U.S. made. After looking at mine close up, I am leaning towards new production.

[ETA] this is the one it is modelled off of, but the ones are the EE have certain differences which identify they are not simply re-machined versions of them: http://www.dsarms.com/item-detail.cfm?ID=002H&storeid=1&image=fhsteyrs.gif


[ETA 2]  Has anyone actually tested one of these to see how well they hide flash?

I hope to do some low light shooting this week. I hope to have one of Dukes 3 prong fh's on my MAk90 by then also.

Quoted: Quoted: I hope to do some low light shooting this week. I hope to have one of Dukes 3 prong fh's on my MAk90 by then also. I would expect both to work well and as a added bonus I heard they work great for cutting wire also. I remember seeing a video of someone using something similar to cut rebar but I think Ill pass

Hey, no guts, no glory!

I just did some visual testing of this flash hider. 3 shots per device, and they were all consistent.

Naked muzzle - 10-12" fireball

RPK-74 5 slot birdcage f/h drilled out to .30cal - no fireball. Sparks flew out 6" past the devvice.

4 tine mystery hider - no fireball. There was a larger volume of sparks than the RPK hider that went 8" past the device. And it rings.

Considering that the RPK is half the weight, 1/2" shorter, and doesn't ring, I'll be sticking with it. Don't read me wrong, the 4 prong hides the flash quite well, but not as good as the birdcage.

Good info, I planned on testing with my fh's but my 3 prong hasn't arrived yet.

Yeah I noticed the 'ringing' when waw charging the weapon.  I wonder how the A2 birdcage flash hiders work (places like Midwest Armory have them).

No biggie, I cna always sell them on the EE later if I decide I dont' like them.

Quoted: Yeah I noticed the 'ringing' when waw charging the weapon.  I wonder how the A2 birdcage flash hiders work (places like Midwest Armory have them). No biggie, I cna always sell them on the EE later if I decide I dont' like them.

The bird cages work great. There was a video floating around with a guy shooting both with & without the flash hiders. Without the gun was shooting out huge fireballs with it there where no fireballs and only a few sparks. Plus they are pretty cheap & count as a US part
www.MidwestArmory.com

Already swapped a guy for a spare A2 flash hider (rather A1 style) that he had in exchange for a spare 4 prong I had.

Quoted:


Just curious:  What kind of side-folder is that?

Ace with cut tang recvr block.