Got bored so I decided to go digging in my archives of Soldier of Fortune again. Hope you enjoy.
First up is a FN FAL imported by Quality Arms rather and Howco or Gun South. And yes you are reading that, in 1979 the Belgian factory rifle will cost you $1,850.00, adjusted for inflation that’s about $5,850.00, but at least the Swiss AMT will only run you $1,350.00
HK was rolling out the cool new guns.
Even had a flare pistol.
But the coolest thing was this weird one called a PSP.
And wouldn’t it be nice to run across a few more of these.
A little sobering reminder of who might have been President instead of Reagan. The 80s would have been very, very different. And yes people were serious about running this guy instead of Carter.
A full page reminder that Africa has been a troubled place for a long time.
But you couldn’t take it all seriously, as you can see the same “sky has been falling” for awhile now.
Even ancient Nazi UFOs are really nothing new. Take that History Channel.
So stock up on your exploding bullets.
Learn the Ninja Death Touch.
And you can never have too many nunchaku and throwing stars.
This was my bedtime reading material when I was 12, that probably explains a lot of things.
Gadzooks! What was Quality Arms price compared to the other importers? I remember my dad wanting an FAL in a bad way but he went with an HK91 due to money. Still not a bad choice considering, IIRC he paid a little over $400 for it!
Actually when GSI began importing them in the early 80s, the price actually went up to about $2,000.00 Thankfully the Springfield Imports (which I think were Imbel) could be had for about half that price when they came on the market in the mid 80s.
The real sticker shock was the first Egyptian Maadi semi auto AKMs at $1,275.00 which were imported by Steyr.
I have to wonder, how much does a genuine Belgian FN FAL go for now days? Yikes!
I think most folks (myself included) think about Kalashnikovs being “cheap” in the 80’s due to the Chinese variants and IIRC IMI Galils and Finnish Valmets that were on par with the Chinese in pricing . . . before the '89 ban.
I remember in '85-'86 I had a subscription to SOF while I was in the Army. One of the '86 issues (don’t have that particular one anymore) did a review of the “new” Armscorp M-14. At that time USGI parts kits were in abundance and that’s what they were built on. IIRC the price was $750! I was an E-4 and that wasn’t gonna fly with my (ex)wife.
The next year, '87, I PCS’d to Ft. Knox and bought my first AK. It was a Norinco I bought at that huge-ass gunshow they have twice a year in Loiusville. It cost $300.
ETA: in today’s dollars the M-14 would’ve cost $1628 and the AK would’ve been $628.
This made me lol. That stuff is great. Between the History channel and their obsession with UFO’s and Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot I just can’t help but laugh. I didn’t realize “Reality TV” was such comedy gold…
For anyone wondering, supposedly during Operation High Jump our Navy’s expedition into Antarctica encountered remnants of Nazi forces with advanced aircraft or UFO’s…at least that’s what the History Channel wants you to believe.
Slight thread drift, are the current DSA offerings on par with their earlier models? I’ve been hearing of QC issues. Need to add an FAL varient to the cache one day and its looking like a DSA is about my only option cost wise.
The problem with DSA is they ran out of Steyr barrels years ago. So they no longer have a FAL rifle that is cold, hammer forged. They are all now US button barrels, not sure if those are good, bad or otherwise as every DSA I own began as a Stg58 with a Steyr barrel.
You might still be able to track down an Imbel kit with an intact barrel and then have that build on either a DSA or an Imbel receiver, probably the best way to get a quality FAL.
Here is a source for Imbel kits with a factory barrel.
What about those Velet explosive bullets! Anybody got a box laying around they want to part with? Or is that for the where can I get it thread:)…And the pencil control act??? Off to google…EDIT:<- found one of newer models “Inner City Defense Pencil” for sale for $35 at ustacticalsupply.com, I kinda want one. Looks mean and lightweight.
Thanks for the info on the barrels and the link. I dont’ have the funds right now to jump into yet another platform, but if I free up some up in the near future I think I might start looking for a Springfield imported Imbel SAR 48.
