It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.
Chuck, we miss ya man.
كافر
congrats, looks great
"I must study politics and war so that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."
-John Adams
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
- Albert Einstein
“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
- Benjamin Franklin
I haven't really shot it yet beyond test firing - way too busy right now with SHOT show and the 2013 training schedule kicking off
When I film with it later on this year for the show maybe ill get a chance to wring it out
Very cool FAL - I am extremely pleased with how it turned out
The T48's adoption was doomed the moment the Army passed its production from High Standard to Harrington & Richardson. H&R should have never been allowed to bid on another Ordnance contract after they failed to deliver on their M1911A1 educational contract. When a firearms manufacturer gets shown up by a sewing machine company, someone should have taken the hint.
An endnote in "The Great Rifle Controversy" mentions the other bidders on the T48 contract that went to H&R. If I recall correctly, the next lowest bids were submitted by International Harvester and Winchester.
After reading the Blake Stevens books, I don't think H&R was the problem. Seems the powers that be were intent upon going to an improved Garand design (what would become the M-14). H&R managed to provide some of the Korean War Garands and if they weren't capable of production demands it would have simply shifted to Winchester or IHC as you noted.
And it is probably a good thing, if you think the first M-16s had problems in Vietnam, I don't think the FAL rifle would have done as well. It would be a great rifle for fighting in Eastern Europe, but as others have noted it requires some level or responsibility to maintain. Of course the M-14 would have done much better in a theater such as Eastern Europe as well.
I think all things considered, including various shenanigans and teething issues in the early days, we ended up with the best rifle in the best caliber for our needs.
That said, there are still about a dozen FAL variants on my "still need" list. One of the more interesting rifles out there, I just wish more true variants were more available.
It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.
Chuck, we miss ya man.
كافر
Remember, you can get real preban Israeli, Argentine and Aussie FAL's too. Wasn't just the Belgians that imported variants, there's a greater variety than people think floating around, but some are very rare.
I'm not sure if H&R even manufactured any FAL's or parts, they probably just got the rifles directly from Belgium or assembled them. H&R also supposedly "manufactured" the T223 (HK33) for the Seals in Vietnam, but they were all German guns with SEF marked trigger packs.
Last edited by armakraut; 01-09-13 at 19:39.
"Life is short, but the years are long." - Robert A. Heinlein
It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.
Chuck, we miss ya man.
كافر
The actual Israeli rifles by onyx were light barrels. The Springfields were imbel receivers with izzy parts, or straight Brazilian guns.
One sold for 1900 bucks on the fal files a couple days ago.
http://www.falfiles.com/groups/showthread.php?t=316513
Inch pattern imports were VERY rare. FN heavy barrel FALO imports seem to be also exceedingly rare.
There are supposedly 350 Aussie lithgow l1a1's in the country, half of them imported by John Poyer. Century imported and sold safety sear cut semi-auto Enfield l1a1's during the ban, they were sold to individual LEO's with letterhead. Century also imported Indian FAL's in the same manner. Neither seem to turn up in any great numbers. I think most real inch guns are in excess of 8k in the current marketplace.
"Life is short, but the years are long." - Robert A. Heinlein
For some reason I keep coming back to this thread to look at the pictures.
I love that thing.
Awesome FAL. I have always loved FAL's too. I recently got back into black guns again. I spent a month or two debating on a DSArms FAL or a Colt 6920. I got the 6920 although not as amped up about my purchase as a FAL I think I did good. But I will do my best to get a FAL soon. Good luck with the shooter can't wait to see it on the show.
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