[Blood of Tyrants]

If you are looking at the sub $500 FAL's, be advised that they are assembled with CIA receivers, gas pistons, and hammer/trigger/sear groups whose quality is questionable/hit or miss at best and crap at worst. You may get one that performs perfectly nes, but the odds are against you.

My suggestion is to get yourself over to the FALFiles and learn about L1A1's and Imbels and FAC receivers and FSE HTS groups and Tapco.

[Long Cut]

Thanks for the tips on the FALs. I was looking at the IMBELs anyway, and my preference is for the CETMEs offered by Century Arms. I like .308s because they're more versatile (I can use them to collect dinner OR repel boarders in a pinch situation). I just DO NOT feel that I should pay upwards of $1600.00 for one, especially a military-design. I need nothing fancy; no scopes or lasers for me and no exotic accuracy jobs. Just a simple, reliable workhorse.

SOME "cheap" guns are pretty good deals...my shotgun, for example. Hell, I've been looking REAL hard at those Swiss K-31 straight-pull bolt guns, too, which clock in at about $100.00.

[Constitutional Patriot]

"If you are looking at the sub $500 FAL's"

Does this include the Cemte rifles (.308) that I have seen at a lot of the gun shows lately? They look a little rough, but not to the point of being junk. I was thinking of getting one.