Oberland Arms OA-KDA Suppressor

Hrachya H
by Hrachya H
Oberland Arms OA-KDA Suppressor (2)

German Oberland Arms has first shown the prototypes of this suppressor at IWA 2017. One year later, at the same exhibition, they brought the final version of the OA-KDA (KDA stands for Knalldruckabweiser which means sound and blast deflector). And a couple of days ago they added these suppressors to their website.

Oberland Arms OA-KDA Suppressor (4)

According to the company officials, this suppressor is full auto rated. It is a reflex suppressor with half of its length telescoping over the barrel of the host firearm. The overall length of the suppressor is 240mm (9.5″) and the telescoping portion is 120mm (4.75″). The outside diameter of the suppressor is 40mm and it weighs 600 grams (about 21 oz).

As shown in the computer mockup image embedded below, the bullet exiting the muzzle first passes through a short baffle section then it goes into an expansion chamber which construction is somewhat similar to that of bore evacuators of the tanks. In this front portion, instead of baffles “there is an inner and an outer tube and the inner tube transports with vents the gas to the outer tube and forward so the gas can expand, slow down and cool down“. This system is supposed to decrease the amount of gasses blown back to the action and the shooter.

Oberland Arms OA-KDA Suppressor (1)

The OA-KDA suppressor is made of steel with laser welded parts. It attaches to the rifles via Oberland Arms compensators that have outside left handed threads. These suppressors come with the mentioned compensators which are currently available with metric 14×1 and 15×1 thread pitches. The company will soon make them available with 1/2-28 thread pitch, too. The muzzle end of the suppressor is also threaded and can be fitted either with a thread protector or with an optional flash hider (see the image below).

Currently, the OA-KDA suppressors are available only for 5.56x45mm NATO or .300 Blackout calibers. The .308 Winchester model will be released later this year. The MSRP in Germany is €680. Unfortunately, this suppressor is not available in the USA due to the complicated importing process. The company officials told me that they are looking for a US partner to license the manufacturing of the OA-KDA suppressors in the US.


Many thanks to Mattias Hainich of Oberland Arms for providing the information.


Images from www.oberlandarms.com


UPDATE (2018, July 16): The company has explained the primary purpose of the flash hider over the suppressor:

We offer the front flash hider as an option for the KDA. The system can be used with or without this device.

The phenomenon first round flash is when with the first round fired from a “cold” supessor the oxygen in the supressor burns outside of the can and creates a big flash. The follow up shots dont have any flash at all.

So the additional flash hider helps to prevent this. Very useful against detection or for hunters not to be blindet by the flash.

So maybe it looks weird. But if it looks stupid, but it works, it isn´t stupid.

Hrachya H
Hrachya H

Managing Editor Being a lifelong firearms enthusiast, Hrachya always enjoys studying the history and design of guns and ammunition. Should you need to contact him, feel free to shoot him a message at Hrachya@TheFirearmBlog.com

More by Hrachya H

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 9 comments
Next