Teach me about FALs

[Vic303]

1. They're not kidding when they say the handguards get HOT after 40-60rnds! Wear gloves!

2. Beware of worn out mag springs on the used mags. They can make your day of shooting a semi auto into an aggravating day of shooting single shot!

3. A fullsize FAL is not a light rifle, nor is it particularly polite. Instead of dropping all the brass in one nice tidy pile like your AR, it flings it over half the county.

4. A fullsize FAL can be used as a suitable club if you run out of ammo. Try that with your AR!

5. Ol' Dirty of FALFiles fame is proof that you do NOT have to clean your FAL--ever. Just lube it periodically to keep the sludge mobile. Try that with your AR...

6. Learn how to 'pogo' your FAL. It is a useful trick...

 

[WeedWhacker]

NOTICE: THE INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS BAD. READ BELOW FOR CLARIFICATION. -Moderator

Last time I checked, DSA sold steel uppers and lowers, and certainly they sold steel uppers, as this is the part that takes most of the abuse. Original uppers and lowers were steel.

I'd called DSA last week and they are no longer selling steel uppers of any kind. None, zip. Their web site is out of date.

Now, I know DSA has a solid reputation for making quality FALs... but I suspected the upper took the biggest beating and am very reluctant to spend that kind of money on a firearm with no steel upper (the part taking the beating) available. :|

Nonetheless, thank you very much for the information.

 

[Father Knows Best]

I've been following this thread with great interest. I have a DSA SA58 Para Congo that I picked up used but in excellent condition a few years back. It has the folding stock, DSA Extreme Duty scope mount (basically, an upper receiver cover with an integral 1913 rail), 16.25" barrel, Belgian short flash hider, and a 1913 rail on the underside of the forearm.

It's a fine rifle, but I've wanted to put optics on it and haven't been able to decide what to do. I don't trust optics enough that I would rely on them exclusively. That means the topics have to be mounted in such a way that I can co-witness the irons, or use them with a see-through mount, or the optics have to be on a QD mount -- preferably one that can be removed and replaced without losing the zero. I, too, would prefer not to have the scope sitting too high, so that eliminates the second option. I don't like co-witnessed irons, and the irons are probably too low in relation to the rail to make that work, anyway. If I could find a flip-up rear sight that would work with my Para, I might consider it, but I haven't.

That leaves me considering QD. I'm leaning toward a low power zoom like the IOR Valdada 1.1-4x tactical, because this will never really be a long range rifle (though I would still like to build or buy a semiauto replica of the FN LAR, someday, that I think would make a dandy 600 meter rifle).

So -- any specific recommendations, particularly for a mount for a low power zoom scope like the IOR?

FYI, my FAL is pictured below with my PTR-91 and Arsenal SA M-7:

 

[NWAttorney]

"I'd called DSA last week and they are no longer selling steel uppers of any kind. None, zip. Their web site is out of date.

Now, I know DSA has a solid reputation for making quality FALs... but I suspected the upper took the biggest beating and am very reluctant to spend that kind of money on a firearm with no steel upper (the part taking the beating) available. :|

Nonetheless, thank you very much for the information."

-----
I just called DSA this morning (7/30/07) to check about the uppers after I ready what WeedWacker wrote. DSA ONLY sells Steel uppers, and do NOT sell aluminum uppers because they are dangerous. They even have a warning page about using aluminum uppers due to stress.


Hope this clarifies this.

NWAttorney

 

[cameron.personal]

I'd called DSA last week and they are no longer selling steel uppers of any kind. None, zip. Their web site is out of date.

I was going to throw a "brown flag" on this play but NWAttorney beat me to it.

Cameron

 

[Coronach]

Yeah. That's wrong information.

Mike

 

[WeedWhacker]

My humblest apologies for posting false info - seems I'd made some assumptions when told "we don't sell stainless steel uppers anymore".

Yup, I'm an idjit. Here's DSA's description of their Type I receiver, the upper - explicitly mentiones it's made out of '4140 steel'. :|

-edit
Apologies and retractions more useful than my whinging about "that's it, I'm going to make an angry call now, you betcha!"

 

[Coronach]

I'm, actually, doing that right now, on another matter. Verizon is staffed almost 100% by poo-flinging monkeys.

Mike

 

[DMK]

Verizon is staffed almost 100% by poo-flinging monkeys.

Yep.
I have to deal with them at work. Worst customer service in the entire history of IT.

Luckily, I haven't had any issues with my personal accounts yet.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

For what it is worth, you'll get extremely poor barrel life out of an AR15 at 60rpm.

Well, I've been looking at the FAL and it seems like I'll need to go to the 11" or 13" barrel to get the kind of compact rifle I have in mind. At that barrel length, you are basically talking ballistics comparable to a 16" AK or .30-30 lever gun for the rifle; but with the ammo costs and weight of a .308.

At the same time, I'm still tempted by the FAL... even in the 16" folder, you are still talking a length comparable to an SBR AR with noticeably superior ballistics. Basically though, it comes down to the fact that the $2k+ cost would probably be better spent on training on the systems I already own and have invested in.

 

[cameron.personal]

Honestly I cannot think of a better way than to spend $2,000 on a DSA FAL, and then spending another $2k on ammo.

I have more money it the ammo that has run through my guns than the guns themselves many times over...


When it is all said and done...

There is just something about the skull hammering authority of a .308

 

[Limeyfellow]

3. A fullsize FAL is not a light rifle, nor is it particularly polite. Instead of dropping all the brass in one nice tidy pile like your AR, it flings it over half the county.

Couldn't you just turn the gas setting down a little so it doesn't shoot them out so far? If you have it set too high its no surprise they are violently ejected.

 

[FN/form]

Well, I've been looking at the FAL and it seems like I'll need to go to the 11" or 13" barrel to get the kind of compact rifle I have in mind. At that barrel length, you are basically talking ballistics comparable to a 16" AK or .30-30 lever gun for the rifle; but with the ammo costs and weight of a .308.

I agree, a rifle based on a full-size cartridge is not the most conducive platform for compact use. But such use, IMO, is niche use, and just about any rifle caliber's performance is compromised by such short barrel lengths.

At the same time, I'm still tempted by the FAL... even in the 16" folder, you are still talking a length comparable to an SBR AR with noticeably superior ballistics. Basically though, it comes down to the fact that the $2k+ cost would probably be better spent on training on the systems I already own and have invested in.

You bet, training is everything. There's also something to be said about consolidating to a single rifle caliber and a few systems. ;-)


-josh