School Me on FALs

[GreaseMonkeySRT]

Also if you find a "baby poop" green with really bad paint then buy it or tell me. Those are rhodesian gold

It's a clone, but here ya go!

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/939107809

[Rooster 308]

You get ready to buy, Lmk.

[JohnS624]

I wanted one back in the early 80s. I read SOF and was familiar with the Rhodesian war and the British in the Falklands. A small gunshop that I frequented, the Gun Room on Telegraph in Dearborn Heights, had a Steyr Match FAL. It was beautiful. It was also $2000. This at a time when a Colt AR15 was $600 and an AUG was $800. Needless to say, I didn't buy it. It would've been two months take-home pay for what I was making back then.

[Fuel Fire Desire]

One thing I forgot to mention, though I don’t know if it’s a feature you want, is I wish I would have got the para version. To do a conversion on my standard receiver requires a different bolt carrier, top cover, and lower receiver. The only two things a para really gains me is the ability to shorten the rifle to transport, and to add one of DSA’s new adjustable stocks. Neither feature is worth the $650 to me to make it happen though. I already have too much wrapped up in it. In fact, at this point, I probably should have just bought a SCAR from the start.





I still like the FAL more than the SCAR though, if for no other reason than it feels solid. Manipulating and shooting it gives a sense that you’re shooting a real piece of military hardware. Almost like a LMG. But at the expense of it weighing as much as a LMG.


In the many thousands of rounds I’ve put through it, the only real malfunction I’ve had is a kaboom. But it was a bad batch of ammo (overcharged Russian steel case), no fault of the gun. A case head failure vented goes into the receiver, and the rifle did its job of directing gas down and out the magazine well. It destroyed the magazine and blew the guts on to the ground, but the rifle was entirely fine. This was about 10 years ago, and there was a rash of kabooms with Russian .308 and .30-06. I remember a video of someone shooting a garand that turned into a pipe bomb. I’ve avoided all steel case .308 since, and am impressed as to how well the FAL handled it. Rifle was inspected and no issues found.

[dirtmcgirt76239]

Had the FAL phase 20yrs ago, meh. Pig heavy, spotty accuracy and garbage trigger, just slightly better than HK91's.

AR10 is the way and the light.

This is friendly RAIN on your parade.

A lil harsh but the ar10 is the better all around 308 if you can only have 1 abd aren't in a war.

If you can have three or four 308 fal should be on the list.

Better than hk91 I my opinion.

Much easier to scope a ar10. Better triggers accessories etc with an ar10.

That being said I want a hk91 as well if I had the cash

[joepistol]

I'll agree that Jack Carr's Terminal List series is a good book series, worth reading.
Amazon Prime just started showing the 1st season of a tv series called the Terminal List..based on the book with the same title.

[1baddude]

I got a cheap cetme that runs. Luckily. Love them 5 dolkar mags

[Fuel Fire Desire]

A lil harsh but the ar10 is the better all around 308 if you can only have 1 abd aren't in a war.

If you can have three or four 308 fal should be on the list.

Better than hk91 I my opinion.

Much easier to scope a ar10. Better triggers accessories etc with an ar10.

That being said I want a hk91 as well if I had the cash

A 91 was my first .308. I prefer the FAL in just about every way. The 91 is a great rifle, but I found the FAL to be better made, smoother shooting, lighter shooting, and more ergonomic. While the FAL trigger is very heavy, the 91’s trigger is heavy, long, and mushy. The magazine release is in a more awkward spot too, though the mags don’t have to be rocked in place like on the FAL. I’ve missed the front notch on reloads many times. The AR-10 fixes all of these issues though. I’m just not a fan of the AR as a whole, with no good reason why.

[westcliffe01]

The biggest thing I detest about the AR series of rifles is that the gas system discharges inside the receiver. In fact directly into the bolt/bolt carrier... This makes everything dirty as hell inside the receiver. If you have used a battle rifle that works differently it is a relief. The first AR I bought was a 7.62x39. Big mistake. Horrible magazines that dont work from a single source. Made the second mistake of shooting nice quality Yugoslavian mid 80's brass cased ammo. It happened to have corrosive primers, what a mess.. I didnt clean it immediately (since I didnt know the ammo was corrosive) and within 1 week I had rust in the barrel, gas tube, bolt carrier and bolt. None of the parts were chrome lined. It took a lot of work to get the rust out the barrel and left some pitting. Great job washing out the receiver with soapy water, then rinsing it and drying it out before re-oiling. Maybe the ammo I used in the 80's was never corrosive but I never had to wash out all the parts in the receiver because of the extent to which it was contaminated with powder residue from a short range session and then corroding rapidly. We were never issued any kind of solvent for cleaning, thus we used what we had which was diesel fuel. Solvent, lubricant, whatever.

The upper gas piston on the FAL in my opinion is the best, together with its adjustable gas system. The non adjustable gas system on the Galil is second with its AK style gas tube. I also hate the rear charging handle on the AR. The side charging handle on the Galil or on the FAL is much preferable. The FAL with its non reciprocating charging handle better than the SKS/AK/Galil. There have been a few side charged AR rifles but usually out of stock or significantly more expensive. Right now I don't own any AR rifles.