I know we all have heard nightmares on the guns that just dont work, but I have seen quite a few that run good,
what I was wondering, has anyone heard or seen a hesse come apart, this comes up often among those that end up with a CAI gun, that does shoot, and shoot well, the discussion turns to well the thing runs, did anyone have them ever come apart?

anyone know?

No never heard of one coming apart. Some later ones out of spec and not running right. I shure someone will be along in a minute to tell you how they blow up. Even though they've never seen one or have first hand knowledge of it.


I have a Century built on a Hesse. The rest of it consists of STG-58 parts, with the exception of the cocking knob being a large piece aluminum . i think they remanufactured this for parts count. The pistol grip is DSA. I suspect fire control are original so I think they fudged a bit on parts count. The kit is so nice I have been thinking of getting a DSA reciever. I am hesitant of taking apart something that works so well. My incentive is using the Hesse for a 45 ACP conversion that  uses grease gun mags.

My Century L1A1 is built on a Hesse FAL-H receiver. I've had it since 2001 and its seen alot of surplus through it. I use it even more now that 5.56 is harder to find. I've never had a problem with it. The problem with Hesse is that some were out of spec and home builders had problems with them. Hesse was less than helpful with no customer service.

I'm really glad I bought it before I saw all the shit about century and Hesse on the internet, I might have passed it up.

The FAL receivers that come apart are Williams aluminum receivers. Why anyone thought they would work is beyond me. Over 90 + countries used the rifle, you would think that if an aluminum upper receiver was safe one of them would have used it long before. Anyway DSA has something on their site about these. They also tried to make them work and couldn't. At least they didn't test them on the public like Williams did. Before the comparison to AR 15s start, ARs lock up completely different than FALS. AR receivers are not stressed parts.

I have an early Hesse FALO "Bush Rifle" made from an STG-58 kit with an 18" barrell and I have put over 4000 rounds through it in ten years, without a failure of any kind. It is accurate and reliable, and I too was "spooked" by what I was reading on the 'net about other Hesse products, not FAL's...so I too considered getting a new reciever...but why? This one works great with no sign whatsoever of failure. I do use a Buffer Tech recoil buffer...according to an archived article on FAL FILES .com the Hesse was thoroughly tested by White Labs and passed with no problem. I deliberately shot the hell out of mine last summer to see how it would hold up, and I had "0" problems of any kind with it.   'Nuff said...