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Firearms Technical Trivia, April 2001:
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8. CONCLUSIONS
By now (assuming you've read through the entire article) it should be obvious that building one's own FAL at home is not a way to save money. It is significantly less expensive to purchase a pre-assembled StG58 or L1A1 clone from Century International Arms, or even an Imbel M964 clone from Israel Arms, Inc. Rather, one builds a FAL because (pick one or more that apply!):
- one has a deep historical interest in the rifle that won the Cold WarOne most emphatically does not entertain this idea with an eye towards increasing the level of frustration in one's life. To this end, the two biggest lessons we learned while building our three guns were:
- one enjoys working with and around guns
- one enjoys building something with one's own hands
- one wants a FAL built to personalized standards and specifications
- there is no better way to learn about a rifle than to build one from the ground up
- the only place the rest of your family won't follow you is the workshop that smells of ammonia, Hoppe's No. 9, and Shooter's Choice
- Have the right toolsTools are easy; and there's a distinct lack of controversy surrounding them. Read this article, and then read some of the references noted, and you'll have a good idea of what tools are needed, which ones work the best, and which to avoid or are superfluous.
- Use quality components
Components are a different story altogether. Everybody's got an opinion on receivers, parts kits, domestically produced parts or vendors. As a result, the FAL community in general, and the internet community in particular are awash in rumors. Among the rumors are:
- The only quality US made receivers are those made by DSArmsIn response, we geared our efforts toward an attempt to validate these rumors; specifically working with a South African kit and Entreprise receivers.
- Austrian part sets are of a far higher quality than South African
Results with the Entreprise Type 1 receiver were excellent - as good as, if not better than the Imbel receiver we compared it to. Results with the second Entreprise Type 3 receiver were equally good. Our experience with the first Entreprise Type 3 that had accidentally been sent to us from the "in house" stock, sheds some light on the reasons for the rumor. While there was nothing wrong with the receiver that five minutes' time with a Dremel Rotary Tool wouldn't have fixed, we had been expecting a "drop in" piece. Entreprise, aware of this consumer requirement, adjusted their manufacturing methods and specifications to provide just that. If you purchase an Entreprise receiver and inadvertently receive one of the older models, contact Entreprise immediately and send it back for a replacement.
The South African parts kit also turned out to be a great value. The parts displayed significantly more wear than Austrian or Brazilian kits. Not surprising as the R1 rifles the parts came from saw a great deal of actual combat usage until they were retired. Despite this they assembled into a solid, accurate, reliable and economical rifles that refinished very well.
Building an FAL is a challenging and rewarding undertaking, and one that has few peers in the firearms world. All at once, the builder learns about his rifle with a degree of intimacy that most firearms owners will never know, and has the pride and satisfaction of a job well done when it functions correctly. If that isn't worth a "Glock and a half," we don't know what is.
CRUFFLER.COM would like to add a
special thanks to the following people and organizations who gave freely
of their time and expertise to help make this article possible. If
you would like to get in touch with any of these people, please let us
know.
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