I have an opportunity to pick a Huntertown Arms Kestrel AK for $275. I understand there are some limitations to suppressing short AKs, but does anyone have any experience with this can? I've heard missed things, but was hopeful my for some first-hand thoughts before I buy. I have a couple other HA cans and haven't had problems; I mainly use them as knock-around suppressors when I take my friends out as I'm not too worried about abusing them. Thoughts? Advice?

I'd walk away personally.

Sure, $275 is relatively short money, but with the stamp price and the wait, it's still a heavy investment.

The chances of you ending up with a destroyed silencer are high.

Short answer is no.


They are loud. To make it reasonably quiet, it needs to be re-cored. Adding that cost to the initial purchase price, you could start out with a better can.

For those interested, I opted against the Kestrel AK. I don't have the hate for the company like some (like I said, I've had good experiences), but the notion of recoring a new suppressor at more than the cost of the can is a no go. I ended up getting another pistol can, however.

I'm using an Omega on a Yugo AK folder.  Out of four AKs, I found only one that could be perfectly centered, using a carefully fitted 14x1LH~5/8-24RH adapter.  
It's still quite loud, not ear safe, but a huge improvement over unsuppressed.  Snug foam ear plugs seem adequate for moderate outdoor shooting.
But, flip up the grenade sight to cut off the gas exhaust, and it gets nearly as quiet as a Blackout.  Manually operated, of course. This is all with standard 7.62x39 ammo.
Am going to try loading some subsonic ammo, just for a comparison with 300BLK.
I have a range rod dedicated to checking this arrangement before, during, and after shooting.

The AK design makes it a very poor candidate for a suppressor host.