That pic of Larry is from the Battle Rifle 1 class that he held a couple of years ago. He’s running his DSA SA58 carbine with a 16" barrel, aluminum lower receiver, DSA scope mount, Short Dot, G2 on a piece of 1913 rail he put on the standard handguards, and his front sling attachment is from a M1903 Springfield that he cut the synthetic handguards to accept. I’ve run a VCAS sling using the original front sling swivel on the barrel and the original rear attachment point on a Para stock:
Pic of one of the FN guys using my Para, just not slung up:
The A2 sights are nice, but the standard service sights for the FAL are quite useable and much more rugged than they look. I too thought “damn…no protective ears?” but in looking at FAL’s that are in the hands of people that probably would be better off with AK’s, I’ve not seen a FAL rear sight ever damaged.
The Dutch style mag release is a little longer and there’s more surface area to hit to release the mag.
I wear a size 12 glove, and can hit the standard magazine release on a metric FAL with my trigger finger without disrupting my master grip. If someone does not have wookie paws like myself, the magazine release is positioned so that you can release the mag with your support hand, like an AK mag, and the bolt release is located at an optimal place to actuate with your support hand.
The DSA scope mounts are good to go, a tad on the bulky side but rock solid. Once you install them though, you can’t really remove them for cleaning. Not a deal killer, it just makes you clean the rifle like a HK G3 with that long closed receiver shell.
The ARMS mount was one of the first of the really good practical mounts, but I have heard from several people I trust that they will eventually start to loose the ability to hold zero. They are less bulky than the DSA mount however.
The Belgian short muzzle device is very adequate for what it is. It suppresses flash decently. DSA and other people have taken some of the Austrian “Stoll” flash suppressor/grenade launcher muzzle devices and cut them down so that they almost look like a Vortex with straight tines. I’ve not shot one in low light so I can’t comment on the flash suppression.
This is a close up of the standard Belgian short device that’s mounted on my Rhodesian R1, which was used on the majority of metric FAL’s in service throughout the world:
And this is a cut down “Stoll” flash suppressor that’s mounted on my Para:
Opinions differ on stocks…no suprise there, everyone is an individual. I personally like the Para stock. The Israelis took that stock and put it on the Galil, so if you ever got any trigger time on one of them, that’s how they feel. If you find the LOP too long on the Para, you can either have the stuts cut down and shortened, or you can buy an adjustable LOP Para stock from DSA.
With the fixed stock, the recoil spring runs in a long tube that extends for the length of the buttstock…there’s not a lot you can do about LOP. I personally prefer the Belgian “humpback” style of stock, it has a bit more drop to it that fits me better. The Austrians were the only country to use a straight stock. I find the LOP to be a bit long if you’re used to running an M4 with the stock closed to the first or second position.
I’m 6’3", but again, everyone has their own personal tastes. Synthetic FAL fixed stocks will have a rubber butt pad that adds a bit to the LOP. I much prefer my wooden R1 stock with the steel buttplate because it’s a good 3/4" to 1" shorter than a synthetic stock.
Mags…stick with the 20’s, the 30’s that are usually most available are actually British L7 BREN magazines that will fit an Inch Pattern rifle (L1A1) but have had the locking tabs ground down to fit in a metric receiver. They can work just fine, but the BREN depended on gravity to help feed, since the mag fed from the top. Pushing 30 rounds of 7.62 NATO up is a lot to ask. I’m not saying they won’t work, but you’re more likely to see feeding issues with them. If they ran without issue, I’m sure the Brits and their Commonwealth troops would have used them as standard issue for their service rifles.
The South Africans made some metric 30 round mags, sometimes by welding two 20’s together. From what I’ve heard about their use in Angola and Mozambique, they didn’t work out so well and 20 rounders were used in the vast majority of cases.
Stick with military magazines, the Austrian Steyr magazines will be parkerized and have 3 witness holes, other metric magazines don’t have witness holes.
The Germans released their stockpile of FAL mags that they had in storage for their G1 that were issued to the Bundesgrenzschutz. You can still find them, they were sold in packs of 10, sealed, new, and with a painted finish.
The grip from a M249 is interchangeable with the standard metric FAL, and it’s a good upgrade, although the standard grip is just fine for me personally.
The standard safety on a metric FAL can be harder to reach for some people, but still easier than on a HK G3. The L1A1 safety is much easier to acutate with your master hand if you’re right handed, and you can put them on a metric rifle.
Standard selector compared to a G3 selector:
Extended selector on a British L1A1:
DSA offers an extended selector that I’d highly recommend.
As others have mentioned, there were other quality FAL’s that were available in years past. Original FN FAL’s were imported by several different companies, and will not be cheap. Springfield Armory imported Imbel contract FAL’s as the SAR-48 (pre 1989 import ban) and SAR-4800’s (post 1989 import ban). They were top shelf FAL’s, military grade, hard chrome lined bores.
There were a ton of FAL parts kits imported 10 years ago, and a lot of good builders assembled them on bare Imbel receivers, DSA receivers, Enterprise, and DCI receivers.
DSA and Imbel receivers are the best out there, besides original Belgian.
Hope that helps,
T.
