DSA FAL's...or FALs in general...what do you think?

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Been looking at FALs, specifically the Imbel one.

Been looking at several rifles actually...for those of you who have seen my threads, you probably have guessed by now that I change my mind a lot :p Well, not exactly change my mind, there are four rifles I have had in mind, and I want to figure the best one out.

What I want is a good, multipurpose rifle that is fun for normal shooting at the range, and is also ok to be carried 5 miles or more for hunting.

I mainly one input on the FAL here, but just for speculation here are the other 3 I am thinking of:
M1 Garand
AR-15 (We already have one, but perhaps another and a better one, ours is just basic)
M1A (Seems like a lot of buck but average bang)

So what do you guys think of DSA FALs? Opinions on the rest are fine too. My budget is 600 dollars right now, or if I wait a bit 1500.

EDIT: ALSO, I do so love pictures....
 
I helped my friend buy a used enterprise fal today. Fal's are great guns. Go for it. Do try and stay away from century though...
 
sprice said:
I helped my friend buy a used enterprise fal today. Fal's are great guns. Go for it. Do try and stay away from century though...
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Yeah, from what I've heard, Century is good for wall-hangers and novelties, but not so good for quality.

How was the accuracy on that FAL?
 
FAL's are great, the only ones I ever shot were Iranian clones that showed up in Iraq, but they were pretty nice. I think such guns are very underrated as hunting rifles. They can be just as accurate as a sporter and shoot a very capable cartridge.
 
dont discount all century FAL, if you can find an early one with Imbel receiver for cheap snap it up. Mine was refinished in Duracoat and the wooden furnitures refinished. Stripped it apart almost all parts were original aussie military, including the chrome lined barrel. So far it has been VERY reliable and fairly accurate with the military crappy peepsight
 

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The FAL was my service rifle in the Canadian Army (C1A1) back in the '60s. I carried the rifle for MANY miles...but I was barely into my twenties at the time. The carrying handle, contrary to lot of Internet opinions, is VERY USEFUL.

I've owned FALs of various types continuously since those Infantry days, and I think very highly of the design.

The FAL is reliable and effective as a military rifle. However, I have a couple dozen rifles which I think are better in the hunting role. Can an FAL be used for hunting? Of course! It's essentially a .308, and will work on anything any .308 or .30-06 will kill.

Still, for the sporting fields, it's unnecessarily heavy, bulky and handles a bit awkwardly compared to a sleek sporter weighing at least three pounds less. The FAL WILL function under conditions in which many sporters would choke, but if it's that nasty outside, I'll be in camp with a hot toddy. Unlike soldiers, hunters don't HAVE to be out in the storms....

I have great admiration and respect for the design, and have found that it still works great even at forty -below-zero...IF the rifleman knows what he's doing. My current FAL is a DSA SA58. I would NOT buy a Century or Entreprise version, because their reputations are very poor.

I also own a Garand and M1A....out of the three, if I had to take one hunting, I expect it would be the M1A...but I'd still prefer one of my bolt-actions.
 
Thanks for that reply. I got to hold one at a gun store, and it was interesting. I like the ergonomics actually, and it didn't seem that heavy. It had composite or plastic furniture, and was...it was an L1A1. It felt about as light as my mini-14.
 
I have each of those and don't consider any of them are ideal hunting rifles because of their weight/caliber relationship. The best for weight ratio is probably the unmentioned AR10 design.
 
dont discount all century FAL, if you can find an early one with Imbel receiver for cheap snap it up.
Click to expand...

They can definitely be hit and miss -- I've got one of theirs built on a Rhodesian parts kit that runs very well. It is a little more finicky than my DSA (doesn't like bullets heavier than 147-150 grain, which my DSA never had problems with), but shooting M80 ball or similar it will run just as well as my DSA or the real .mil StG-58s I trained on.
 
Not sure what you mean by "the Imbel one". Could you explain? Made by which company, I guess I'm asking.
 
DSA's supply of Austrian parts is running out or has run out, so they've added a version built on Brazilian Imbel parts kits like the StG-58 kit guns they previously sold as a lower cost alternative to their all-American SA-58s.
 
I have two Fals both are Imble kits, one built on an Imble and one on a DSA. Love both of them. Be careful though these things are very addictive! Just bought a third kit!
 
A quality FN FAL like the DSA will be tough, monotonously reliable, pretty accurate, and fires a powerful round. Downsides are weight and clumsy ergonomics compared to say an AR-15.
 
Also, there are Imbel receiver FALs out there that were made by Century.

Imbel receiver builds are considered desirable because they're true mil spec unlike many other FAL receivers. Hesse receivers are notorious in the FAL community for the poor design and QC (in spite of the occasional successful piece sneaking through).

Century used Imbel, Hesse, and who knows receivers to build their FAL/L1A1 rifles.

I have 2 Rhodesian FALs on Imbel receivers, one of which started life on a Century.
 
A FAL with an inch selector switch has great ergonomics. An HK-91, on the other hand, has horrible ergos and balance.

John
 
Probably one of the best guns to shoot in terms of straight up firepower and "fun factor"

They are very reliable, extremely easy to maintain, and puts a lot of lead downrange in a hurry. The report and recoil is awesome but tolerable.

Great guns, you simply can't go wrong.
 
I've actually found the recoil on a well adjusted FAL to be a little lighter than a stamped AK.
And I've shot great groups with a couple FAL's - some under an inch at 100 yards with surplus ammo and issue sights! They're not target rifles, but I've been impressed. If I had $1K to just blow right now, it would be on one of the DSA Imbel builds.
 
"...I change my mind a lot..." Not exactly unusual given the money asked for 'em and the very wide quality of the rifles available. FALs are great rifles, but you need to find a real one.
"...ok to be carried 5 miles or more for hunting..." You really don't want any FAL for still hunting. 12 pounds or so gets really heavy. So does a 9 pound M1 Rifle.
"...barely into my twenties..." And PBI fit. What Regiment? C1A1's were fabulous rifles even with that daft folding rear sight. (Always thought it was a stupid idea. Felt fragile.) Ran a range exercise one time in a blizzard. Both the rifles and my troopies ignored it. You got to shoot DA ammo. The later IVI ammo was reliable, but the accuracy was poor. Please join us at http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/
"...dont discount all Century FAL..." Anything Century touched is suspect, at best. They have no concept of what QC is about. They assembled all kinds of FALs out of parts bins, mixing inch and metric parts, regularly. A Century assembled FAL may or may not function properly.
 
Anything Century touched is suspect, at best. They have no concept of what QC is about.
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Agreed. The one I referenced above I bought when younger and much less informed on the topic, and I think I lucked out. With a bit more age and perspective these days I'd probably only go in for a Century gun if I knew the local gun store would make a problem right (since Century themselves may or may not do so) and if I could head to the range to give it a test drive immediately after purchase (and an initial look over).
 
I'm not a fan of the FAL; as it has been mentioned before they are heavy, bulky and they are not accurate. They are reliable enough but there are better choices available such as the AR-10 if you want to hunt with an autoloader.

I write this from the personal experience of previously owning one and I was not impressed with it; I could have used the $1500 dollars that I paid for it for two top quality Rugers.
 
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I've posted on this here. I had a pre dealer sample G1, made in Belgium. Nice rifle. No way after a mag dump you could hold the forend. It was blistering hot.

It may be that the polymer forends control this heat issue. I don't know.

The G3 is a better choice IMO.
 
At one time or another, I've had an M1, M1A, H&K 91, and a DSA FAL. Having grown up around M1's and then later M1A's, I've always liked the way they felt (i.e. balanced). Having said that, I must admit to thinking on occasion that the FAL is just a tad better overall in terms of balance and ergonomics. My least favorite would be the H&K 91; I could never get comfortable with that rifle, mostly in terms of its overall dimensions; I didn't like the ergos or the balance of the design; and I never really cared much for the rear sight.
 
1. I like the FAL a lot. Mine is a genuine Belgian made version and I have no experience with the clones so I can't offer any meaningful comments on their quality.

2. I would disagree that the H&K 91 is "horrible." IMO the FAL handles better, but that doesn't make the 91 horrible.

3. I do not consider the FAL or any of the rifles listed in the OP (M1, AR, M1A1) as the best choice for hunting. I know some people want to promote the use of military style rifles like the M1A1 and the AR15 as terrific hunting rifles but this is rather silly IMO. I prefer a true sporting rifle that was designed for taking game for hunting.

4. Cal gun Fan, you need to make up your mind as what you want the rifle to do. There is no rifle that will excel at everything. If you want a robust and powerful military style semi-auto rifle then pick one. If you want a hunting rifle then pick one. No gun will do both jobs well.

Pictures? OK. Here is my FAL:

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Here's my "horrible" 91 (also a genuine H&K rather than a clone):

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