Teach me about the FAL

[MountainRaven]

Recently reacquired an FAL from my father and need magazines.

It seems that the surplus mags have effectively dried up.

DSA mags seem to be hit-or-miss.

Does anyone know if the claimed New Israeli mags on Numrich are actually new IMI/IWI-manufacture FAL magazines? And does anyone have any experience with the polymer Moses Mag FAL magazines?

[El Mac]

Recently reacquired an FAL from my father and need magazines.

It seems that the surplus mags have effectively dried up.

DSA mags seem to be hit-or-miss.

Does anyone know if the claimed New Israeli mags on Numrich are actually new IMI/IWI-manufacture FAL magazines? And does anyone have any experience with the polymer Moses Mag FAL magazines?

There are still surplus mags available from individuals. www.falfiles.com Plenty of sellers over there.

The Moses mags are excellent. Recommend.

DSA mags are generally "ok" but you might need to tweak them a bit for your individual rifle. DSA also offers some upgrade kits to revive worn out surp mags.

[MountainRaven]

Might order a couple of Moses Mags for hiking, &c. but we'll see if the Numrich mags are new Israeli ones. From what I've been reading, it sounds like they are. Will report back when I have received them.

[tat2]

How much are the Israeli mags?

T

[MountainRaven]

How much are the Israeli mags?

T

$25 a pop.

[MountainRaven]

Numrich IMI/IWI magazines received today.

They were not in the brown wrapper, but with the goo they are coated in, it appears that they were. Initial inspection of the magazines looks good. Two of the six had Israeli markings, the other four were unmarked (not unusual from what I gather for IWI/IMI FAL magazines). Will update once I have had a chance to de-goop and again when I can function test.

[MountainRaven]

Finally got around to cleaning the magazines up, today. They look pretty good now that they're cleaned up: No signs of rust, no dings, just lots and lots of whatever goop it is that the Israelis dunked the mags in... and the wax paper they subsequently wrapped them in.

Of the six, one fits tightly in the mag well (older production DSA Para lower) - it is one of the two with the IWI/IMI markings, but fits - and one does not reliably engage the bolt catch (it fails to catch while manually charging the rifle the first time, but seems to always catch the second time). This was all done with empty magazines. Because work and stuff means no actual shooting. Yet. I may test with snap caps later this evening.

ETA: Have come to the conclusion that the aluminum A-Zoom snap caps are pretty much worthless for testing in FAL magazines, due to the extremely short OAL of the snap caps... namely, the bullet part of the snap caps.

[Will_Power]

When it comes to the Moses Mags, has anyone had a chance to run them hard or do any (independent) testing?

Moses over at the FAL Files is to be commended for all his hard work and money spent on this project, but I remain skeptical - as I would be about any new project - until I see some independent sources verify the durability and reliability claims he's made.

[Will_Power]

One year later, and I'm still curious about the Moses Mags.

[tat2]

One year later, and I'm still curious about the Moses Mags.

Well they seem very popular on FalFiles. Many people ( like any mags ) buy them and seem to sit on them. I have seen very few reports of people really using them. They were $27.99 and are now $25. I have bought many a surplus mag for $10-15 bucks. So I pass for that money. I would like to try one myself.... But have no reason to. Stay AWAY from the DSA mags!

They do come in all the "tacticool" colors now too....

T