[ExSoldier]

"I can legally put a flash hider on it?"

Me? I'd rather put a muzzle brake which will hold my recoil and flip down and make my shots more accurate to the volume of fire so I'll have fewer "incoming" to even worry about.

"Are L1-A1 rifles better than STG-58 rifles? Are Heckler & Koch G3 rifles heavier than STG-58 rifles?"

L1A1.....I' a wee bit confuzzled...is that the British "Bullpup" Battle rifle? I have some friends that used to be in the British army (and SAS). When they were soldiering for a living (seems everybody gets older and retires or moves on) they just hated that thing. I dunno why. I do think that the H & K series is a heavy rifle, but a durn good one....well proven in many conflicts.

"Anybody have any recommendations on a good home defense models of 20 gauge shotguns (he would prefer models which have a stock and not just a pistol grip)."

I wouldn't own any shotgun that didn't have some form of stock, even a folding stock and I dang sure wouldn't shoot such without the stock extended! It's just a personal preference, but I'll take a semi-auto over a pump anyday for self defense. I've seen the "short stroke and jam" scenario under competition conditions a lot of times, hate to think of what might happen when lives are on the line.

My Benelli M121 12 guage recoils about the same as a Remington 1100 20 because it's recoil action and "pro-porting" absorbs so much of the felt recoil. It's got an extended tube and rifle sights....Mighty quick. I can rattle off all rounds before the first hull has hit the ground and the hits will be on target at self defense ranges for such a weapon. VERY accurate with slugs, too!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Most FAL's made were metric pattern. The L1A1 is the British Commonwealth (Great Britian, New Zealand, and Australia) version of the FN FAL. It is slightly different and an inch pattern rifle. Most parts are not interchangeable between the two rifles, including the magazines, however, the kist are similar enough that you may assemble a metric kit on an inch receiver and vise versa.

I have an Australian inch pattern kit assembled on a metric receiver because at the time I also had an STG-58 metric rifle on a metric receiverand did not want another mag to buy.

Go over to the Marketplace forum at the FAL Files and see what people have for sale. A lot of the guys love to build their own but can't afford to buy a lot of guns so they build one, shoot it for a few months, sell it and build another.

[Blood of Tyrants]

As for a shotgun, a Mossberg 500 or a Remington 870, both in 12 ga. is hard to beat for functionality, reliability and price.

[2nd_Amendment_Defender]

I like flash hiders because you can shoot at night and not be blinded by muzzle flash. I'd take that over less muzzle rise.

I had a Springlfield M-1A that I bought in California. After relocating I had a flash hider put on. Barely any muzzle flash at night now with the flash hider on it. I was much more pleased.

[Nebr FAL owner]

The L1A1 was the British army version of the FN-FAL aka "inch pattern" as for the bull pup weapon & I use the word weapon advisedly, that is currently issued to British troops there have been problems with that item since day one & even Heckler & Koch doing an attempt at engineering the bugs out didn't work.

[SSN558]

I'd rather put a muzzle brake

I don't have experience with muzzle brakes, but I can tell you they sure are annoying when you are shooting along side someone else that has one. I guess this is one way to win matches, distract the other competitors.

I like the flash hiders. It gives you an extra split second with each shot to re-aquire or stay on the target. My Garand does not have one and the flash obscures the target for a split second.