Talyn, I am a senior member on the FalFiles. (falaloholic #247)I have seen a fair number of complaints about the M444 that I have not seen on the DSA. The IAI complaints seem to mirror the CAI complaints, bolt hold open inactivated, can't zero. As I said, even some of the CAI rifles were good, some mediorce, and some plain bad. As to Hesse parts. Compared to DSA or original parts they are rough appearing. Are they heat treated like DSA? I have seen various Hesse rifles, and have worked on a Hesse HAR15, they are crap. ( I am a Colt certified armorer) They are the worst AR lower I have ever seen, and I have seen some crap in the 27 years I have been using and building M16/AR15 rifles. The Hesse Fal requires substantial work to smooth it out to what a DSA or Enterprise would be. Even one of the Angry Beavers from CAI's work line says Hesse is only now starting to smooth out it's gear. (fal files post about a month ago)
No, I don't own an M444. I have an original Imbel, the Sar48. I thought it would be kinda redundandt to get another identical rifle.
The M444 is not junk. It is however, inferior to the Stg58A, hell my Sar48 is rough compared to the DSA rifle. M444's are about $750 now, that's what FedOrd sells the Stg58A for. The M444 is drying up, they only bought 2000 Imbel receivers.