FAL fever anyone else out there?

[randyrat]

I have a kit (Imbel) sitting in my gun room with a new barrel and no receiver i look at it and look at it. It's getting old sitting there and i need a receiver for it.
Is there still a waiting line longer than the unemployment line waiting for these receivers. Does anyone have one they would like to sell, trade... some day.

I remember the first one( inch gun) i had i shot it a lot and never got tired of it. Now i wish i had never sold it. Young and dumb. It was one of those Century build guns...It took a bunch of "home wanna be a gunsmith" tinkering to get it to run like a champ...

I don't care if you just want to talk about FALS go ahead and take over the thread.
My heart rate goes up a few beats whenever i see an FAL... It's in my blood, not to mention the 308 round it eats like a kid eats candy. There's nothing like a nice day on the range with 10- 20 round mags at the ready to lay down some suppresive fire on some poor tin can.

[WILCO]

ready to lay down some suppresive fire on some poor tin can.

Yup! I've seen tin cans mount up and charge a time or two. It's best to keep em at bay with plenty of rounds.........

[randyrat]

WILCO.... That isen't whily coyote......something something from the past is it? Possibly FAL forum?

[sagamore-one]

I got the fever a couple years ago and built a matching pair of Fal rifles on DSA receivers. The initial cost of the DSA was a little more , but the results were well worth the extra cost. Golf balls at 100 yards are pretty much a given. Hitting the tee can be challenging.
If I were to build another one today I'd still go with the DSA receiver.

[randyrat]

How long a waiting time is involved with a DSA. I think they are #1 also

[JeffinNZ]

There are a lot of FAL's (we call them SLR's) here in NZ. The NZ Army sold them as surplus yonks ago when we change to the AUG. The last of the surplus sales. [sigh].

I know a lot of a our ex South East Asia vets much prefer the clout of the 7.62 over the 5.56 for poking holes in trees to get to villians on the other side.

[grumpy one]

There will be many people on this board who are way more familiar with the FAL than I am, but I spent an afternoon once getting a personal tour through the Lithgow factory that made the Australian version, guided by one of the half-dozen superintendents who stayed on when the mass-production runs had been finished. The factory remained fully equipped but not staffed, so it could be cranked up almost instantly if the odd hundred thousand more rifles were suddenly required. It stayed that way until the Steyr 5.56 rifle replaced the SLR in Australian military service. Meanwhile when a regimental armourer declared an issued rifle to be beyond regimental repair, it went back to the factory for refurbishment. They had about 20 rifles in the repair rack when I was there, and half a dozen doyen-grade craftsmen (the original superintendents of the plant) with nothing to do but rebuild them. My guide told me it was completely routine to go out into the plant and rifle one or two new barrels. (Cut rifling, with a hard-chromed bore). The rifles they had finished rebuilding and were returning to regiments looked pretty spiffy to my inexpert eyes - and why wouldn't they be? Those half-dozen guys seemed pretty committed.

I had always known that the normal-issue Australian version of the SLR (called L1A1) did not have the selective fire switch, because of concerns over barrels overheating. I was surprised, though, when my guide told me that they had a hard-chromed bore. He claimed that the deep rifling and chromed bores were essential to get the weapons to perform well in the field, where you might have to wait for the end of the battle before you could clean them.

Semi-automatic centerfire rifles are not permitted to civilians in Australia (with a few exceptions for committed deer-hunters), and very few SLRs were owned by civilians here even before that law was passed; the military made an assessment before they began issuing the rifle to troops and concluded that it was not 'suitable' for civilian use, and would not therefore be sold through military disposals. However quite a few Lithgow L1A1s were given to South-East Asian nations as military aid, and many of these were sold as surplus some time later. That seems to have been the source of the few that ended up in the hands of Australian civilians. They were eventually all compulsorily purchased by the Australian federal government, and destroyed under a hydraulic press in the former owner's presence (if he or she could bear to watch).

[jhrosier]

I bought a pair of L1A1 kits back when Century was selling them for $79 each.
They were described as "good" condition, serviceable but worn.
Unlike later kits, these were complete except for the ejector block rivets.

The first one that I opened was obviously a brand new unused rifle, except for the bolt carrier, which looked like it had been used as a chock block for a tank.
The second one was well used but quite serviceable, except for the bolt carrier, which was new! What's the chances of that happening?

I also bought the armorer's manual to learn how to properly assemble my gun, and an Entreprise Arms upper. I also made an action wrench and headspacing gauge

The locking shoulder was oversized so I milled a couple thou off and made a new breeching washer to index the barrel. The build went without a hitch. I did have to take a couple of file strokes to make clearance for the extractor in the receiver.

For some reason, the L1A1 rifles had a short pin in the bolt stop and did not hold the bolt open after the last shot. I replaced it with a longer pin to enable this feature.

As the AWB was law, at that time, The stock flashhider was replaced with a commercial muzzle brake.

Inch mags were dirt cheap back then so I bought twenty of them for about $3 each. Again serviceable but well used. . There were several new ones in the lot that remain preserved for a rainy day.

I recently replaced the top cover with one milled to accept a scope, to better accomodate my eyesight.


It runs well though the accuracy is not exceptional with South African ball ammo.
Btw, the SA ammo was just over $100 for a 1400 rd case back then.

I've been ignoring the old gun for a few years but now I'm thinking that it might be time to put it back in action.

Maybe the adjustable gas system would be cast boolit friendly.

Jack

[BruceB]

I've owned quite a few L1A1 rifles, of both British and Australian manufacture.

As of the late '80s, at least, they ALL had the "safety sear" installed, which together with substituting a couple other parts, allowed full-auto fire. The safety sear was a tripping device which only allowed the hammer to fall in full-auto when the bolt was closed and locked.

In later years, the Canadian government took possession of ALL registered FALs and removed the safety sears before returning them to their owners....if, in fact, they were returned at all. Other un-authorized modifications were often performed, as well.

Being an ingenious (bet I could get an argument on THAT) civilian who did NOT have access to the required full-auto parts, I found that a properly re-shaped beer-can pull tab in the right place would give perfect full-auto function, but without a functioning safety, or a semi-auto capability. Contrary to the factory's worry about barrel life, I found that CONTROL of full-auto 7.62 NATO in a 10-pound rifle is the real issue.

While I could deliver reasonably-accurate 3-round bursts at 100 yards from a HARD-held prone position, anything else was a waste of ammo. This is precisely the problem with the full-auto M14, as well.

The heavy-barrel L2 rifle (and the C2 in Canadian service) weighed about six pounds more, mostly in the barrel, and had a full-auto capability as-issued. These HB rifles replaced the Bren LMG, and were nowhere near as effective or reliable.

Incidentally, I don't recall ever seeing a chromed barrel in an L1A1 of any manufacture, nor in Canadian C1 or C2 rifles.

I'm feeling the "need" of another FAL right now.....

[captainkirk]

I had one built on an IMBEL receiver some years ago that I sold in a fit of fallacy. It shot as well as anything I could shoot with iron sights. Very solidly built, and the 7.62 is better in my mind than the 5.56, but an AR is what I shoot today. If I had it to do over, I would buy one of DSA's current offerings, likely in the mid-weight barrel. A buddy has a heavy one (they are stout) and it shoots exceptionally well.

captainkirk

[randyrat]

BruceB....You hit it on the head. 7.62 in full auto/rock N roll is an unruly killin machine. Almost uncontrolable.

[richbug]

Shame we can't have "safety sears" anyway. Just for the safety factor... for the children you know.

At the moment I have:
DSA type 2 with a styer STG-58 kit on it.
Imbel type 3 with an Imbel Kit on it
Coonan Type one, with an assortment of odd bits from my parts bin( some inch, some metric) with a converted Remington 700 barrel chambered for 243.

I built them all myself, and have the tools if anyone is near by and needs help with one.

[richbug]

https://www.coonaninc.com/

His type 3's are supposed to be ready soon.

Also DSA is working on a batch of type 3's

[NuJudge]

Incidentally, I don't recall ever seeing a chromed barrel in an L1A1 of any manufacture, nor in Canadian C1 or C2 rifles.

British SLR's had a chromed chamber, but not rifling, if I remember correctly. I've put a fair number of rounds through a British barrel, and it's easier on brass than any other FAL I've fired.

Entreprise in California makes FAL's also. Their products used to have some issues, but reports are they have no issues, or rarely have issues, now. Gunplumber has a series of evaluations of FAL receivers.

CDD

[Marvin S]

I have one waiting to be put together, I bought the Enterprise receiver that's supposed to have all of the problems fixed now. It's a good looking receiver and the bbl seems to be timed good to the receiver. That's all I can say for now.

[LGS]

I have 2 FALs. An all IMBEL I built about 10 years ago and a IMBEL kit on a DSA receiver with a 16" barrel. If you need a receiver go to FALFILES.com. There have been some for sale in the marketplace.

[nicholst55]

I have 2 built on Imbel Type 3 receivers; one STG-58, and one an Imbel parts kit with the barrel cut to 18" and wooden furniture. I have enough parts laying around to build one more, once I get a receiver. Wish I'd have stocked up on Imbels when they were $139.00!!!

I scarcely need another rifle though, but you never know.....

[randyrat]

I have 2 FALs. An all IMBEL I built about 10 years ago and a IMBEL kit on a DSA receiver with a 16" barrel. If you need a receiver go to FALFILES.com. There have been some for sale in the marketplace.

What are they going for?

[nicholst55]

What are they going for?

If you're a FAL Files member you can get a DSA receiver for $350, IIRC. That's probably the cheapest thing going these days.

[dogbert41]

I had a DSA STG58 that had a brand new steyer cold hammer forged barrel on it. With good ammo I could shoot moa all day long. In the FALFILES they have the story of Old Dirty, a kit someone put together and then shot and shot and shot, dumped in the mud and shot and shot and shot....and I guess is still shooting. I guess after the nooks and cranies get filled up with carbon and dirt, the rest just gets pushed out so in essence, it's a forever shoot and never clean rifle.

old dirty
http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showt...0&pagenumber=1

round count is 15,000 and going.