Present Day FAL Options

[Matt O]

I've developed a recent interest in picking up a Fal variant or two. So to that end I spent a couple hours looking through threads over on Fal Files and it appears that DSA quality over seems to be considered pretty suspect. That said, much of the membership there appears to trend more towards collecting rather than shooting. Does anyone have any experience with recent manufacture DSA rifles? Are quality kits builds still relatively available and viable?

Any thoughts from Fal gurus would be appreciated.

[Berserkr556]

I wouldn't buy a new DSA FAL. Their FALs from the past were well made, back then they were building their rifles from a large supply of Steyr parts with the required U.S. parts for 922r. They ran out of those parts and started making new parts and the quality isn't there. I own a few of their older rifles and I've witnessed some of the new parts fail on their new offerings. DSA still makes one of the best forged FAL receivers but because of a couple large overseas military contracts there won't be any available for U.S. civilians for a year according to their rep.

If you look around you may find an older DSA FAL made mostly of Steyr parts. Keep an eye on the Falfiles marketplace you may see a nice older DSA FAL or a nice kit gun built by one of the well known FAL smiths. There is still nice kits to be had but they aren't as plentiful as the early and mid 2000 years. Once again keep an eye on the Falfiles marketplace. Nice StG 58, G1, IMBEL and even Argentine kits pop up as well as some rare kits but you have to be quick because they sell fast. Buy a kit and have one of the excellent FAL smiths like gunplumber or Randy Kline build you a rifle you could take to war if need be.

ETA: I should say that I'm in no way bashing DSA. I'm glad they're around. They kept the FAL alive for Americans to enjoy. I bought a lot of parts and several rifles from them in the past. Some of their new parts I've saw break, bolt, locking lever, fire control group including several hammers. They may have fixed these problems. Their barrels are nice, their trigger frames, what most call the lower are nice, their furniture is first rate and of course their receivers.

I've developed a recent interest in picking up a Fal variant or two. So to that end I spent a couple hours looking through threads over on Fal Files and it appears that DSA quality over seems to be considered pretty suspect. That said, much of the membership there appears to trend more towards collecting rather than shooting. Does anyone have any experience with recent manufacture DSA rifles? Are quality kits builds still relatively available and viable?

Any thoughts from Fal gurus would be appreciated.

[Moose-Knuckle]

I want one, just don't have the funds to devote to it. When I do I will be looking for a NIB Springfield Armory (SA) SAR-48 "Bush Rifle".

Springfield contracted with licensed-FAL producer Imbel in Brazil to make a semi-auto metric pattern rifle for the US import market.

Labeled and marked as the SAR-48, this rifle was as close to a Belgian made real deal FAL as you could get, other than the fact that it was semi-auto only.

[Vorpal_weapon]

It is certainly more challenging to come into a decent FAL these days than a few years back. I would echo many of Berserkr's comments. Bottom line, if you're really in the market for an FAL, you will definitely need to do your homework. Strangely, its often cheaper to buy a finished rifle than buy the parts, etc. This is particularly true if you lack the ability to build it yourself. I would opt for an original import, a quality custom build or an older DSA rifle (or . . . save up for a SCAR17S).

To address your questions - kits are still available although less abundant and spendier than before. Keep an eye on the FF MP and Gunbroker (or . . . Sarco was recently offering FAL parts and kits if you understand what dealing with them can entail). Apex is still offering lots of parts. If it were me, I'd be looking for a nice StG-58 or G1 parts kit to start with.

The older DSA type I and type II receivers (manufactured by LMT) were approximately equal to original Herstal and Steyr receivers and were always my favorite. These can be identified by the DS (as opposed to DSA) serial number prefix. Imbel receivers are also GTG, but are a bit heavier being type III (this is found on the SAR-48). Its my understanding that recent DSA receivers will undertime with an original military (or original spec) barrel. Although my experience with them is limited, I’ve been favorably impressed with what I’ve seen of the more recent Coonan receivers (and would prefer one to the current DSA offerings). A good friend recently got back an L1A1 project from Mark Graham (affectionately known as the GP or gunplumber) which used a Coonan receiver – it was beautiful and shoots quite well. Quality FAL receivers for sale are not uncommon.

FAL is a tremendous system - I would not be without a good FAL or three. BTW, there are plenty of shooters on FF and its still the best repository of info on FAL. I can't stress enough the value of doing your homework if an FAL is to be in your future.

[Firefly]

I don't wish to be negative but, the glory days of the FAL are pretty much over.

I had an STG 58 that I paid like 500 for in the late 90s. It was Austrian with a Century Imbel receiver. It ran like a sewing machine and I stupidly sold it. One of my big regrets. Shotgun news had pages of parts kit ads. The barrel ban and just the aging out of the FAL in general makes it hard to get into.

I miss my FAL but...if I were going to get something like that, I would look hard at a SCAR. I'm not really chomping at the bit for one but it comes direct from FN, it follows a battle rifle legacy, and just pricing them they are getting more reasonable in price.

A good FAL will cost you almost 2 grand and authentic FALs can get up there on funbroker.

And in a way...the torch has been passed with some African troopers using it. I'm still not in SCAR country but it's looking like that is where it is going.

But if you just really want a FAL...good luck. 15 years ago it would have been a bit easier.