Hey all, let's get some pictures going. Your favorite retro AR and a favorite
Foreign military rifle. I'll start, AR is my xm16e1 clone with the 80% supplied by braceman.
The FAL in a imbel and built by our very own John Thomas .





Your turn...

nice photo's....

Yes, very nice photos. I dont understand why the FAL is so often over looked. And still can be bought for a reasonable price.
I got my hands on an all matching numbers Imbel parts kit and dropped it onto a Coonan upper receiver. I built it myself. I can post a photo but
Its got a scope on it... dont want to deviate from the "retro" Im now working on a Colt 603. Similar to what I was issued when
I was in the SeaBees. 1988 to 1993 . All our $h!t was retro : )

Very nice Trimdad,  thanks for sharing.

Pic blows but 604 from 4 MOA shoot is pretty accurate for USGI parts(better pic in other post)  and Chinese milled SKS with only 40 rounds on it.  Haven't fired SKS since 1993.  Need to give it a dusting but was able to hit a 8 1/2x11 sheet of paper at 175 yds 17 out of 20 rounds using Chinese ammo and spike bayo for bipod when I did fire it. Picked it out of 5 crates when they were $60 each and stashed it away.  Doubt seriously if I could repeat shooting today but it shoots much better than a SKS gets credit for.  

My most accurate rifle at distance with irons is a Swede CG-63 with match sights and probably a 1 brass tag stamped throat erosion Swede 6.5 sniper using a scope with reloads.  I'll try and get pics of them next time I go by dad's.  Only room for so many here.  I've got a lot of AR's but for what it is the 604 was cheap to build and performs excellent.  That rifle has paid for itself 6X making wagers. My Colt A-2 with service rifle match components bla! bla! will out shoot it farely easy with match ammo but not really comparing apples to apples.  You said retro and import.  

Got a 2 stamp erosion octagon Mosin sitting here besides my PC and a SKS I actually shoot ( well over 10K rounds) but I really don't enjoy shooting the Mosin as my shoulder is messed up from shooting a lot of large caliber rifles over the years and it kinda makes me wince a bit when I squeeze it off.  It's decent for a few 100 yds with good ammo but no Swede.

Now that I know John Thomas builds FALs, I'm going to send him a box of parts for him to assemble.  I have an all-matching STG-58 kit with FN marked barrel and an LMT made DSA Grayslake Type I receiver that I bought in the late 90's.  I never got around to build it out since I contracted RBRD.  But your Imbel carbine build gave me the motivation I need to get back into FAL's.

Thanks , my wife just doesn't understand
But the dining room table has the best lighting

I fear that will be my problem with FALs... The reasonable price.
This is my first one but now I want a Rhodesian and heavy barreled izzy

Nice. I don't think I've ever seen you post a pic

Ya John did a great job with it. I wish I would have taken a before pic but it was
Pretty rough. Ya , i sat on these parts for a long time also, maybe eight years, or ten
I can't remember . Must have been a wile because the receiver ( imbel) was 250$
And now they are almost double. I should have had it build a long time ago.... But
I got stuck in the addictive AR world

Great looking rifles, love the 18"-ish FAL, really sharp. And your XM is beautifully worn in!

Welcome to the FAL addiction Trimdad, YOU ARE DOOMED!!

Thank you sir. That's what I fear, another ar15 like addiction.
That's probably why it took years to get it built

My XM-177 E2  and a Beretta AR-70

Beautiful

Model 70 for the win.  Thank you very much for posting.  I believe that's the first one of those I've ever seen assembled and not in kit form.  I looked hard at some kits a few years back but figured I'd never be able to complete them.  Thanks for sharing.  How does it shoot in comparrison to AR or AK in .223.  Very similar I presume!  XM177 is an excellent job also but that Beretta is nothing but awesome.

I remember probably 5 or 6 years ago there were two new pre ban mod 70s
At a local pawn shop for 1200$!
Still regret not buying one.  Now I can get a receiver but parts kits  are gone.

HI, Trimdad. I haven't been on here in a while but I picked up one of the M16A1 kits and a Green Mountain 1/12 barrel recently and am waiting on my turn to get a receiver for it from Harlan. In the meantime, I have been a bit busy with quite a few other projects, including one it sounds like you might appreciate. I've been on a bit of a Rhodesian Bush War bent as far as picking up various firearms popular with the mercs of the era, and also have almost completed a clone build of the SUIT scoped FN that the RhSAS soldier is seen holding in this photo:



It's built on a non-matching but all Rhodesian marked R1 kit, with a Coonan R1 receiver with the s/n matched to the lower's s/n. It has the English SUIT scope and an RPD bipod (as the photo shows the bipod missing from the RPD next to him and looks the same) and the details are as close as I can determine based off one photo. It is sitting next to my Browning 1968 T-series High Power with the extended safety and 20-round magazine (which was also a popular way these were modified in that area). Here's where it sits as of now:









Got a few other firearms that were popular at the time there (according to a reprint of a 1979 article in one of the "Book of the AK" magazines that was written about the guns of the mercenaries at that time) but I thought it sounded like you might enjoy it. These are great projects, but Rhodie parts kits are going up as the kits dry up so if you are thinking of a build, you might want to squirrel one back before too long and try to get on the list to get a R1 receiver the next time Coonan does a batch of them again.

That is a awesome rifle!  I'll prob start looking for a kit soon, I have another project I want to finish first. Worst case
I could always build another and let Mr. Thomas replicate the rhode paint job.
It seems the learning curve on FALs is retro ARs, lots of details.
What's the difference between a coonan receiver and say a DSA?

A picture from a few years ago. I had just gotten back from a trip to Zimbabwe and brought home these camos. (This pattern is now illegal in Zim and had to be smuggled out) Figured a family shot of me in those holding my FAL and my son in his holding his .22 GUU-5/P was appropriate. (the boy is now 14 and a little over 6'2' tall...)

This FAL was built from a Rhodie kit and matched up to a Type 2 receiver (tried to make a copy/clone of one I shot in Rhodesia on my first trip in 1978 when I went over with a school friend to his families farm)  Baby poop camo on rifle is original and shows lots of wear.

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Nice!  Why is that camouflage illegal there? What was the occasion for your trip?

I tried to get two of the same vintage for my pic. The STG is 61' vintage, which i built from kit in late 80,s.  And of course my pseudo 6011!

Anything to do with Ian Smith era is bad. Rhodie camos are a symbol of White rule and not allowed.  Funny tho – in the Harare Airport gift shop (at least 4 5 years ago) you can get coffee mugs with the various patches of the Army printed on them...and the new Zim Army camos look very close to the old ones. I tried to get a set, but was unable. The Zanu PF guys had no sense of humor...

My trips – first one was with a High School friend to his family’s farm (still suprised my parents let me go ) and my others have been all Faith based to visit/work with a Pastor friend.

VERY nice! I'd love to find a set of those original pattern camos, but they are not easy to come across and the reproductions aren't bad, but they aren't "right" either. Perfect fit for the rifle in hand.

Here are some of my foreign "retros", along with one of my 601 replicas.

From top to bottom:

- 601 replica
- L1A1 with wood stock set (British)
- Type 56 AK (Chinese)
- G3 with wood stock set (German)
- AR70 (Italian)
- Sten SBR (British)
- UZI SBR with wood stock (Israeli)

John Thomas

That's just a goddam beautiful pile there, John. Love the 56 and the L1A1. Gorgeous!

Thanks! It's been the better part of a year now in the making and I'm still not 100% done with it. LOTS of "little details" indeed, much like putting a retro AR together. Of course, how far you go with it depends on what level of obsessiveness you want to chase parts with. Not like there's a "Retro Police" or some such. But I just like for something to be as near to right as I can make it, once I start one of these gun projects.

As to the difference in the Coonan vs. the DSA- the DSA receivers *were* forged whereas the Coonans are cast, but last I heard DSA went to cast as well recently so that isn't as much of a point as it once was. I had originally started this project on one of the older DSA forged Type II receivers, but I found out that even though DSA isn't making any more of the R1 pattern receivers anymore, Coonan still makes a run of them every so often AND Coonan would let me order one with a serial number to match my lower. By the time the receiver got painted, you would be hard pressed to tell it from an original from the outside (although it IS a semi-auto only receiver internally) since they do all the external dimensions to a match of the South African R1 pattern, which was unique in that it took elements of the Type I and the Type II to make their own design. Either receiver WILL build a decent rifle; don't get me wrong. I kind of wish I'd hung onto the DSA Type II to build a para FAL clone next, in one way. Although the next FAL I build may wind up a clone of the Kanada Trials model EX-1, since I picked up one of the original serial numbered magazines for one recently- IF I can find the rest of the Canadian parts for putting one together. If you think Rhodies are hard to come across, try Canadian parts; especially the pre-acceptance versions. Only 2000 of them made in the first place, and their government destroyed most of them a few years ago so all that is out there is individual pieces that pop up now and then. These were so old they are still metric instead of inch pattern, and were made in Belgium about the same time as the BGS kits.

Anyway, good luck with it and either way you choose, either a DSA or a Coonan will work. I will say this; IF you go with the Coonan R1 be prepared to wait a couple of months at least, as they only do a run of them when they are doing FAL receivers and even then, only if they have enough demand for adding the extra set-up to the mill, as I understand it. But on the bright side; that gives you more time to search for Rhodie parts...

AR-10 Portuguese (w/Specialty Arms lower)
AR-15 Proto replica (w/AR-10 Sudanese handguard)
AR-15 Proto replica

Those last ones were the "brown ones".  These are the "green ones":

FAL R-1 with Coonan type 2 receiver, long R-1 stock, all new paint.
FAL R-1 with Coonan type 1.5 receiver, 50% original paint.
601 replica with many repro parts and my best furniture set
601 replica with mostly original parts and my most worn furniture set.

:::drool:::  

Canadian C7 designed & laid out by myself, more clones in the works

Xm177E2 & 629 Middy

This is such a GREAT thread, i love pics! Hope ya,ll dont mind me putting a second submission. ARMALITE PROTO, MAS 49/56, MAK90

Nope. Don't mind a bit.

Thanks for the imfo! There is definitely a much steeper learning curve with the FAL vs retro ARs.
But that's part of the fun.... And the hunt for parts!

All of you have some increadabily impressive rifles !

Here is my 601 and faux 91. PTR

Damn Hal, I'm in love with #44. Nice poo kits, man!

Got my pckage the other day BTW, everything is beautiful, thank you for the fix, I needed it!!

Looking real good indeed!

Hey fellow Washingtonian. I have to ask.
Are you a member of the Washington Arms Collectors?
If yes. Are you the one who had the fantastic AR display the last October show?
If you are.....thanks a lot!!!   Your the one that put the seed in my head to build a
Colt 603 clone. I think Im about half way done....I think.

Yep, I'm a member of WAC, but nope, that wasn't me.  I've met him at Puyallup, but don't remember his name right now.  If Somebob reads this (also here in WA), he'll remember.
He had covered his proto replica with a fiberglass pattern and I went to the same company for the material on the stock of one of mine.

I'll probably be at that almost totally useless gun show of theirs in Monroe early Saturday.
I did find an M231 upper once at that show, but usually walk away nothing more than a token purchase (ammo can).

I'll strap a retro over my shoulder if you'll be there and need some more retro encouragement.

Is that a Braceman lower I see on the 601?

Yes sir. That is bracemans handiwork .

Ha Ha that useless Monroe show. I too will be there early morning. Ill keep an eye out for ya!
Andy
Oh and verrrry nice collection.

Trimdad, That PTR is gorgeous. I love the integral bipod and the all-black look.

Thank you sir. I really didn't like the factory hand guards that come on the PTR.didnt look right.
It doesn't have the flare of a real HK but I can't bring myself to pay 4k for a rifle that cost
1500 (-/+) back in the day

Hal143, I just finished making one of those.  Nice and UGLY!  Pictures are below:

John Thomas

Ohhhhh,,, that is awesome .  
Looks like it has it has some blue in it?

Thanks.  Yes, there is a little hint of blue in the darker color... these horrible colors are matched from original parts.

John Thomas

Where are y'all finding those parts sets?  Assuming that's what I'm looking at........

Rhodesians... Don't have.

Submission of Foreign and Domestic: Belgian Waffle.

I got my parts for about $150 or so... 15 years ago.  The paint finish is all reproduction though.  Everything was taken down to bare metal before I started.

John Thomas

Glad to here it MrM1A1 !

As for finding Rhodie kits, their out there, but always snatched up fast.  I bought mine as partial kits 5-6 years ago when they were common. Those are all
original poo and Zim paint.

Nice work JT.  I'm expecting you to publish a coffee table book of all your work someday.