Unfortunately, most Systema equipment in North America is channelled through Zshot USA, meaning it has to have an orange flash hider (a knock against US law, not zshot). They don't bother making good ones for that purpose, they just toss on throw away versions to meet the law, knowing full well as soon as someone buys it, they are going to remove it. In Canada, most other airsoft distribution we receive is coming directly from Asia - and neither of us has the orange flash hider laws, meaning we don't see a lot of orange tips up here, thankfully. In Asia and the rest of the world besides North America, PTWs come with metal flash hiders (though they are still mounted to the brass ring as the plastic one is, so they are tricky to replace just the same).

EDIT - Congrats Philip on getting it off, finally, without breaking something, lol.

on my new 08 I think I will have to cut off the plastic hider since it seems like it's been glued on. No big deal since a new 1 is on the way but I should have been able to just slide it off.