Replies

Your replies are perfectly OK -- for a personally owned weapon, owned by someone who cares for his tools. As you point out "the needs of American gun owners are different from those of military orgs".

The average military weapon is handled by generation after generation of soldiers. However well trained they are, Joe (or José) Snuffy doesn't treat the weapon like some guy who laid out two weeks' take-home pay for it -- or built it on his own workbench. A GI thinks nothing at all about using his weapon to break his fall, to pry open boxes, etc.

Believe me, I have seen hundreds of FALs with broken extractors and ejectors. And it's also true that a lot of these nations bought the tool -- when the bought the FALs (in some cases, that would be 1958). In fifty years one sight tool per company's worth of weapons usually goes adrift.

The cheapness of FAL parts from SARCO or whomever is small consolation in embargoed Rhodesia, isolated Suriname, or penniless Bolivia.

The "spare bolt carrier group" is how the broken extractor is usually resolved in the field, but because these poor nations have few if any spares, the "spare" comes from another weapon that is downed for cannibalisation.

You probably won't believe this, but in most of the armies of the world, even an infantry soldier never fires a rifle round again after basic training, unless he sees combat. (Even in the well-funded US Army, training ammo for most soldiers has been restricted to enough to pass the qualification tables annually -- about 40 rounds per soldier. The new Chief of Staff intends to fix this).

For a private owner, I will agree that the FAL is a superior weapon to the others you cite. It handles much better than the M14 series, and is less awkward to carry (and I have carried both of them on week-long patrols). I also like it better than the G3/HK91, which I guess is a dead issue for private purchasers with the AWB in place. I have seen some pretty crummy parts-kit FALs though, so a novice should probably make sure he is dealing with a reputable smith or firm (or he winds up like the CETME people or the guys that bought Norinco cast-receiver "M1As" - hosed).

For most people, shooting humans is kind of theoretical and so they buy what they like. For practical purposes they would probably be better served with a nice 10-22 which they'd shoot a lot more, and a shotgun for home defence against random acts of goblinry. But people want what they want, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Better to have it and never need it to ever need it and not have it, right?

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

Since we're doing a "daily gun nut thread", I guess we should start it when this one reaches a certain number of posts, like 1,000 or so. Tough to do right...seems all the continuing threads that work well have women managing them...hmmmm...

Anyway, for my first set of questions for the experts today:

1. Archy, you mentioned the Swiss K-31 rifle. I've seen this piece advertised a lot in Shotgun News...is it as good as it looks for the money, and is ammo relatively easy to come by? What mods, if any, would one of these need?

2. For you FAL-aholics out there, I've been eyeing one or another FAL clone for years, but some things about it elude my pea brain. For instance, how often should one adjust the gas regulator, and how is this done? I've heard that they sometimes break gas pistons; are these difficult to replace? Lastly, PLEASE, will someone explain, in simple terms, this business of "metric" FALS vs. "Inch" FALs? The distinction drives me nuts. How do you tell? What mags work with which ones?

Oh, and just how much skill is needed if I wish to build my own? I'm no gunsmith, and my workshop has no lathes or other machine tools. Can I still do this?

Or should i just savbe up for a few years to get a DMS version?

For practical purposes they would probably be better served with a nice 10-22 which they'd shoot a lot more, and a shotgun for home defence against random acts of goblinry. But people want what they want, and there's nothing wrong with that.

You're definitely right about the 10/22 & shotgun (I own both ;>). For me, anything above and beyond that has been acquired mostly because I just plain enjoy shooting rifles, or because I appreciate the history associated with the firearm...or both (as with my Lee-Enfields ;>)!

;>)