Heads up for serious black rifle collectors ; one of the hardest to find variants is listed on Gunbroker - semi auto FAMAS F1
Sorry my attempts to post a link have failed but just search FAMAS and it will come up
As of today 6 days left on the auction
These come up VERY rarely so if you want one I would highly recommend getting your $$ together for this one
I have had mine for several years now but trust me when I tell you it took a LONG time to find one to buy
Just an FYI
Here’s the link.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=453013723
Why could this not have come up till after teh first of the year.
Well said
Could someone buy this for me for Christmas?
Drooling over the estate’s Galils too. Bit what rotten photos of the FAMAS. All the full side shots are dark blobs. Not the item to save a few bucks with an amateur photographer.
A real bugle for sale, don’t see that often! Anyone know roughly how many came into the US and what retail price was when they came in? These have always fascinated me.
My pants just got tight…
I was curious about this myself.
My google search turned up:
100-120 Imported in the late 80’s for $995
Damn that’s nice. Any guesses on final price? $25k-ish?
Thanks for the info. I was just a kid then so I’m not sure, but that must have been a really expensive rifle back then. I can’t believe more collectors didn’t pick one up. I guess pre-internet it was a lot harder to keep up with the market unless you had a REALLY good LGS.
I’d like to hear from someone that was collecting back then what they thought and what the market thought of the bugle. I wonder how many people even knew about it when it was being imported?
In the past they have gone for about 13 grand.
In the past they have gone for about 13 grand.
Yes the last one I remember for sale was $13,000 at West Coast Armory
From what I can tell they pop up about every two years or so
I paid $8,000 for mine awhile ago ( at least ten years ago )
FYI - spares and mags are not that hard to find
Buddy Hinton the owner of Sturmgewehr.com is a big FAMAS fan and is a great source for spares
He has helped me out in the past
The guns have a shitty trigger but actually balance well and are soft shooters
As my buddy Hackathorn would say ‘it’s one of those guns that grows on you - like a fungus !’
If I saw one of these at the range I’d probably pay $100 to run a couple mags through it!
Anyone know if it would be possible to get parts kits and make a US receiver to offer an affordable version for us odd ball collectors? I’m guessing if it could be done it would’ve been done a long time ago.
Anything is possible, but France would likely FMS the guns to their allies in Africa before they would parts kit them and approve an export.
There is always hope from a cash strapped country that fielded the rifle though:
Users
Argentina: Used by a few units of the amphibious and tactical divers of the Argentinian navy.
Djibouti
France: Used by the French Armed Forces since 1979, with over 700,000 rifles purchased. Also used by several law enforcement agencies such as the Gendarmerie Nationale.
Gabon
Indonesia: Komando Pasukan Katak (KOPASKA) tactical diver group and Komando Pasukan Khusus (Kopassus) special forces group.
Lebanon
Papua New Guinea
Philippines: Used by the Philippine National Police and Special Action Force.
Senegal
Serbia: Used by the police special forces unit PTJ (Counter-Terrorist Unit), and formerly used by JSO (Special Operations Unit).
Tunisia: Used by the Tunisian Presidential Guard.
United Arab Emirates
Vanuatu
Had one on order from as I recall, Century, for $1100. Didn’t happen in the end.
Have been in contact with a guy in France who was pushing a refurb / product improvement program for the fleet. When the French steel-cased ammo ran out they had problems with slamfires-- out of battery. The design is way less resistant to this than the Stoner design.
The program is out the window, pretty sure.
Sometimes in the 1990s I ran into someone at a range with a semiauto Famas and I put a mag or two through it. We definitely were firing brass cased ammo. I’m wondering if the ones imported to the US were good to go with brass cased ammo or required steel cased ammo like the French Mil version.
Say, what’s the whole deal with the steel case thing and it running out? I never understood that.