I'm 18, and about to buy a DSA SA-58 FAL. Help!

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ok thanks guys. Also, my local Academy is selling 20 round boxes of .308 russian made Monarch for $6.99 each ( a steal for .308!)

If I shot the steel cased Monarch in my gun, should I increase the gas allowment?

thanks!
 
If you tuned it right to the edge of reliability with hot commerical .308 and then switched to some downloaded steel cased ammo, you would probably get intermittent failures, yes.
 
Ok, so when i got the rifle the gas adjustment is set between 4 and 5 on the knob. (I assume this means 4.5?)

Would this be sufficient to shoot mild steel cased ammo, or does it need to go up to say 5 or 6?
 
You're just going to have to try it and see. Each rifle is different.

Mike
 
I recently tried two different kinds of Monarch - the little blue boxes with steel-cased ammo with 147gr FMJ and the other mostly black box had brass-cased 150gr SP.

The brass-cased stuff shot fine - the steel-cased ammo was pretty darned weak, so yes, based on my results you'll need to close the gas-port.
 
Ok- range trip is today. I'm gonna try the blue box Monarch.

Andy, when you say close the gas port, what do you mean? I thought the gas port should be open to allow the gas to eject the weaker rounds?

I assume when you say gas port you mean the rotating lever in front of the front sight. Can anyone briefly explain what the painted white "A" means and at what position the "A" is at makes it open, closed, or partially closed?

thanks!
 
No, the gas port is the... port that is partially covered by the gas regulator. The thing with the "A" on it is the gas plug. It is not a regulator; it is only an "on/off" switch. When the A is facing up (when you can read it), the gas is turned on, and goes to the regulator where it is adjusted. When the A is straight down, the gas is completely off... the action will not cycle at all. No gas makes it to the regulator.

When the A is facing to one side (I think it is to the left, but don't remember for sure), the gas plug comes out the front of the gas block, allowing for removal of the piston and spring.
 
You will also hear "gas port" referencing the actual hole in the barrel where the gas is drawn from, but when AndyC says "close the port", he means turn the regulator so that is covers more of the port that is partially covered by the regulator.
 
For cleaning implements I suggest a .45 caliber bore brush for cleaning out the gas tube.
Although the manuals tell you not to oil the gas system, I always do before I put mine away. This is my second FAL and I've found if they're not oiled the inside of the gas system will rust.

The bottle opener or can opener on a leatherman or swiss army knife will work OK for adjusting the gas but it won't work for getting the gas tube off.
I broke a leatherman proving it.

To adjust the gas, open it up almost the whole way. I'm not sure which is which, but you'll be able to see that you're "unscrewing" the regulator away from the gas block. That is venting more gas out of the action.
It will fail to eject at this setting.
Put two rounds in a mag and fire them. Keep adjusting and firing until you have it reliably locking the bolt to the rear after the second shot has been fired. Maybe go one more click on the gas after you get that just to be sure.
That should get you reliability without putting too much wear and tear on you or your rifle.
And if you need to, you can always vent more gas out of the FAL so using regular .308 factory ammo isn't a problem and won't damage the rifle.
I have found that South African surplus is pretty close to US surplus 7.62 in terms of point of impact and gas setting in my STG-58.
Portugese is not but I don't have any more of it.
Basically, if you want to switch you just have to "sacrifice" a box of ammo and see how it goes.
 
The "A" being upward is good - that's how the gas-plug should be set for firing regular ammo.

If the "G" is upward, that indicates "Grenade" (used for launching rifle-grenades) and will turn your rifle into a single-shot if you fire regular ammo through it.
 
Look at the hole just in front of the knurled knob below:

Port almost totally closed:
60012904jm4.jpg


Port half-way open:
17775148ia8.jpg


Port totally open:
26553205tq8.jpg


The port when open vents a lot of gas to the atmosphere, giving the least amount to the system for cycling.
The port when closed diverts most amount of gas to the system for cycling.
 
Yeah, thanks Andy.

Range Report-

Ammunition Used:
150x Monarch .308- One double feed. No other malfunctions.
50x Magtech .308- One stovepipe. No other malfunctions.

200 rounds of cheap ammo with only 2 malfunctions is pretty good, right? I cleaned the gun before shooting it, of course. (I hadn't cleaned it since I purchased it)

At both 50 and 100 yards accuracy was extremely good- in particular, I shot a 4 round string of bullseyes measuring 1.5 inches apart. (was it luck, skill, the rifle, or a combination? :D)

From the 16" tube, blast was impressive, to say the least. It was so loud, infact, that I couldn't shoot it comfortably with my headphones on, so I had to put in earplugs and then the headphones over them:what:

At the "5" gas setting, the brass was chucked, on average, about 10-15 feet in front of me, occasionally to the side. The casings were not blemished in any way, so I figured the "5" setting was probably where it needed to be.

Overall- :evil:
 
I have found that South African surplus is pretty close to US surplus 7.62 in terms of point of impact and gas setting in my STG-58.
Portugese is not but I don't have any more of it.
Click to expand...

goon, is the Portugese more or less compared to South African and US Surplus?

I have a new STG58 I have not shot yet, and both SA and Port surplus in stock.
 
I don't actually remember.
I gave the last few boxes of Port I had to my brother for Christmas.
I do remember that it had a different POI in my rifle and I think the gas port was closed by about one click more.
But it's been awhile since I shot any.
I might have that backwards.

I just remember that they were different.



On the malfunctions with the rifle, I wouldn't be satisfied with any malfunctions in 200 rounds.
True, your ammo wasn't the greatest stuff but it's been my experience that when an FAL, AK, AR, or SKS is working properly it will work reliably so often that any malfunction will tell you something is wrong.
The last malfunctions I had in my STG were due to handloads with CAVIM brass. It was soft and scratched from being loaded before and this cause it to not chamber smoothly.
Anyhow, the point is I knew something was wrong because that rifle ALWAYS works.

I'd try some different ammo and a couple of known reliable magazines for a little bit of a break in.
Odds are that those three things will make any problems go away.
If the FTE doesn't go away I'd try a new extractor and spring.
 
Mags- New mags are nice, and not that expensive, but used mags are really cheap.
I bought 10 used mags for $50 shipped from someone in the market place over on FALfiles about a year ago. Out of the 10, 8 fed reliably. I replaced the springs on the other two, and one of the followers and now they both feed great.

If you get used mags, pull them apart and give them a good cleaning. Check all the parts for any cracks or dents. If a part is cracked, through it out and buy a replacement. Dents are ok as long as they don't impede the follower. Once you have checked all the parts, re-assemble them and number each mag with a piece of tape.

This way you can tell which mags work and which ones jam. After a couple range trips you should know which mags will need to be fixed.

It may seem like a lot of work, but used mags go for around $5-7 and parts are cheap as well. You can probably get 2 or 3 times as many used mags for the price of new and almost all of them should feed reliably or be made to by replacing springs and followers.
 
It's pretty hard to screw up FAL mags. Used metric from just about anyplace seem to work fine. IIRC DSA had some awhile back for sane prices- they still may.

Mike
 
On sportsmansguide, they're selling 3 unopened Israeli made metric mags for $49.99. I assume the Israeli mags can be trusted for good reliability and useage?

Also, is it worth it to purchase an official FAL gas regulator tool? Are there any other aftermarket parts I've overlooked that are helpful? thanks!
 
Tapco used to sell a tool that you could use to adjust the gas and also adjust elevatoin on your front sight. I have one and will probably get another.
http://www.tapco.com/proddesc.aspx?Id=7717d465-6308-4390-8595-13f499574ed5


$50 for three mags is too much to pay IMO.
Shop around and look for a better deal.
Check DSA and CDNN to see what they're selling used mags for as well.


Here you go - http://www.dsarms.com/prodinfo.asp?number=117U

$7 each for used so that means you'd get almost twice as many for the same money.
I have some from DSA and the used ones all function fine. Some were like new, some were obviously used, and one even had a unit number painted on it. No matter, all feed fine. Even if they didn't, DSA has been good to me. You could probably complain if you got a bad one and get a replacement.
 
thanks for the links, Goon. I think I'll try the Steyr 20 rounders from DSA.

On a side note, I noticed something on my gun- most if not all FAL's i've seen have 3 horizontal slits at the front on the handguard. My handguard has 2 circles at the front, and a pair of the traditional 3 slits on the bottom of the handguard, facing down. What gives? Its not a big deal, I'm just curious.

edit: Also, would it be possible to add a carrying handle to my FAL? I guess the basic DSA models don't come with them, but could I buy one aftermarket and install it myself? thanks
 
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I just got in a bunch of the $7 mags from DSA and for used mags they look new to me. Never been loaded or inserted.

If it isn't cut for a carry handle then no, you will not be able to add a carry handle
A FAL isn't a purse anyway.
 
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