Silly question but I have a new flash hider on my MK18 and it got me thinking.
This flash hider is timed with a prong at 12 o’clock but I noticed that it puts these cutouts in the baffle at an angle. What are these cutouts for? Does the position matter?
You don’t need to time your mount, unless you are going to run without a can, then its nice to have the blast going sideways, as Im sure you know. Sounds like you might have a 3 prong mount, if so you dont need to time it either.
The cutouts cause the flow of air to change reducing the noise signature. They dont need to be timed.
PB
Only muzzle brakes and compensators usually need to be timed. As Pappabear said, those cut outs help gas flow through the can better and the muzzle adapters are not timed to them. Lol, I do time my flash hider muzzle adapters for my cans but only because of my OCD 
The cutouts make gas flow across the bore to break up the cylindrical slug of gas. Like spraying a hose stream from the side with another hose. The idea is to slow the escape of gasses and let them cool more. It forces more of the gas to interact with the baffles.
Timing pistol cans is done by some to reduce POI shift. I’ve never tried it. Too lazy. I just zero the thing with its can on. Its actually really quick to change the timing on some pistol cans, but I’m not shooting groups all day to figure out which position is best.
Same. I timed all my DeadAir mounts so that the index is always at 12 o’clock. I have my hardships with OCD as well tho.