As you’ve read here I traded my AK for an FAL.
The reasons mostly were shitty sights, horrible ergonomics, and an intermediate cartridge for the AK, and on top of all that I just didn’t have a ton of fun shooting it. The FAL appears to have bested all of those drawbacks. (And the Ergonomics will only get better when I get around to swapping out the stock…but even shouldering the FAL and taking the safety off with that craptacular thumbhole stock is better than doing the same with an AK) Seems Warrior Talk News thinks a lot of the same things, and he has this really neat article on building a “Guerrilla Sniper rifle” from an FAL.
Very neat, and super-nice gun. I personally am of the school that if I need to engage a target outside of 200 yards I probably should be running away or setting an ambush, and if things are so damn bad that I’m plinking hostile targets at 200+ yards in range, they’re probably bad enough that the glass in my scope got cracked, and the tube flooded, and/or the battery in my illuminated ACOG just shorted out. For serious guns I’m a bit of a luddite, I want everything stripped of failure points, and IMHO good solid iron battle sights don’t break, and if they do, your rifle probably isn’t safe to shoot because of that level of abuse.
While I really really like the idea of a battle rifle for something that you can use in all sorts of situations, sometimes I wonder if a normal bolt-action hunting rifle might not be the better way to go. It seems like at long ranges that you wouldn’t need the autoloading feature as much, there are less moving parts to break, and it’s cheaper/easier to find. The only situation I can think of where the autoloader has an advantage (thinking like a guerilla fighter) is in a pitched battle, which means that you chose very poorly in your choice of locations.
With that said, I would really like a FAL or M-14…
Why I got my FAL is actually for a Riot/Suspense of Law-and-Order situation, or a situation where for some reason the area I live in is no longer safe to occupy (fallout, Disease, ect). While I mentioned 200 yards, that’s just as an extreme, My thoughts are overall in a worst case scenario it would call for engaging multiple targets at ranges between 100 yards and contact distance. So a semi-auto with a detachable box mag is a must, and frankly looking at ballistics and stopping power I just feel a LOT better with .308 Win over 5.56×45, or 7.62×39, or .30 Carbine, even tho all of those guns are proven man-stoppers at those ranges. IMHO the added weight and recoil (both of which I don’t consider unmanageable) are well worth the trade-off for added ballistic energy.
Oh and the FAL is a fucking sweet gun that’s a lot of fun to shoot and operate, so that’s an added bonus.
Someday… someday, when I actually have a disposable income…
The FAL is great gun; the downsides are probably accuracy (which seems to vary depending on the manufacturer and gun) and just the shear cost of shooting .308. With an AR-15, you can go to a match or down to the local pit and burn through 100 rounds of full-house, SHTF ammo for the cost of a round of golf. I just don’t get the same trigger time out of a .308 without going broke.
Also, with regards to breaking sights, what the heck are you doing with your rifle? You’ve sold your AK, so you’re not a Russian conscript anymore; so stop treating your rifle like one! 🙂 There’s a reason low-power optics have become so popular, and most people manage to avoid smashing them (and mount BUIS in case they do).
heh fair point. Also from what I hear the troops over in the mid-east all learn on Iron sight guns state-side, but when they get to the sand box they’re all issued ACOGs, so they obviously work in real-deal fire-fight conditions, so maybe I’m just an old fart.
But to toss an optic on the FAL I’d need to get one of those rail action covers…and of course an optic, which costs money, money that I I’d feel better spent on ammo, and getting a proper stock and sling on this gun….maybe one of them slick spare-mag pouches that strap to the stock.
Plus I LIKE Iron sights 🙂
I’ll totally agree that’s it seems a pain to mount an optic on a rifle totally not made for it, like a FAL. And with a .308 battle rifle, you’re certainly going to need that money for ammo!
There just aren’t that many good, modern .308 semi-automatic rifles, and the FAL is a pretty classy choice. I’ll have to add a FAL to my collection eventually, and maybe start shooting USPSA heavy metal… but I’ll also mount an optic, somehow 🙂
The FNH SCAR-17 is a pretty slick looking rifle. I haven’t shot one, and its unproven compared to every other platform out there, but I totally dig on it for its weight and ergonomics.
Of course unless you have a trust fund, or a kidney you had no use for, the $3000 price tag on top of accessories, magazines, and ammo is out of the reach of most people….
I’ll second your notion of iron sights on MBRs. I had a forward-mounted red dot on one of my M-14s at one point, but found I wasn’t shooting as well as I did with the irons, and the irons were more fun.
I learned to shoot rifle with iron sights – and have run ARs at 600 with decent results with just an apperture sight.
IMHO, my ‘battle’ rifle is a CAR, 14.5″ with a can as the mood suits. http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/stuckma09/2009NortheastBloggershoot042.jpg
It’s a great gun, but heavy, and I plan on dropping two pounds or more in the next generation.
I have AKs too, and they are kinda fun in a wolverine type way, and their open sights make for fast pointing on target. And those very same sights make them ridiculous to actually hit anything with. Ergonomics stink too. ARs, OTOH, have peep sights, which I find are much more conducive to getting a good line on a target. And, they have conveinently located mag release/bolt hold open/safetys (and the distinct advantage of not using any rivets or spot welds!)
Personally I am in a bit of a quandry. I can get a scoped PSL for $450 and feed it 20c surplus ammo. I have a new AR10T that needs only sights ($250 for match irons, plus $$$ for glass) but it would be eating handloads which would likely be more expensive than 20c and infinitely more time consuming. Of coures the 10 could be a real tackdriver too…
500 yards with iron sights… no problem. Appleseed baby…. Good on you for the FAL. Nice rifle.