Manticore Arms recently sent me their AR line to review and the one item that really stuck out was the Eclipse flash hider.  It is the "IIncredilble Hulk" of 3 prong flash hiders.  It is 2.25 inches long and just under four ounces with crush washer.  This thing was big and beefy and after tapping it on the counter we assumed it was a tuning fork.  We mounted it up on a 16 inch carbine and started slinging lead.   We were pleasantly surprised that there was no "ping" associated with similar flash hiders.  The other cool thing was the Eclipse completely eliminated muzzle flash with XM-193 ammo.  The Eclipse is certainly the all-star of the line up.

The Extended Magazine Button Release came with both the extended pad, a mag release button with two holes drilled for screws to attach the extended pad and a tube of Loctite.  He primary use I can see for it may be gaming or for the extremely tiny hand.  It is large enough that I would not put it on a rifle I was going to run hard or trust my life to but for teaching your little one to drop an AR mag without having to release the pistol grip.  It will probably find a place on a .22 LR for when my little girl gets to shooting age.

The Sage Trigger Guard is different from other trigger guards for 2 reasons.  It is extremely flexible, so flexible that it can literally flex and touch both ends.  This seems a bit scary to me as I would assume if it took a hard blow to the trigger guard I imagine it could get up into the trigger.  I cannot be certain because it was never installed on one of my lowers because of the second reason I don't like it: it requires two roll pins. Most all trigger guards require a roll pin in the rear and a detent or screw in the front.  The Sage however uses a roll pin both front and back.  I have built, changed, worked on a ton of lowers and still the one part that makes me most nervous is putting a pin in a trigger guard.  To me having to do two is a deal breaker and the manufacturer stated that they preferred it to a screw after talking to a couple guys who had stripped out Magpul trigger guards.  Personally I would rather ruin the $8.75 part as oppose to the lower.

Manticore's main calling is its products for Tavors, Augs and AKs and one of my fellow reviewers has been very impressed with their line of Aug parts and the Tavor line looks excellent but as far as the AR 15 line goes the only thing that really impresses me is the Eclipse.  If you are in search of a device to deminish flash it is worth a look.



[video=youtube;kBRJUOUjnq8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBRJUOUjnq8[/video]

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