Am considering buying a FAL type rifle and need advice on what to look for and what to avoid.

I am somewhat confused after doing my reading. There is lots of conflicting advice. Some people say to avoid the current DSA rifles like the plague because they are no longer milspec - whether thats true or not I dont know. Others say they are fine and of high quality. The only off the shelf current new production rifle is the DSA. There are lots of complaints about DSA on the web but the web being the web everything is amplified so you have to take it with a grain of salt.

I have also read to avoid Enterprise and Century rifles totally. Other say Enterprise receivers are ok.  

Lots say to buy a used FAL with an Imbel, G1 or STG kit - you will get the best quality and bang for your buck. Everywhere they say that the original milspec part kits which used to be common have dried up.

Also I live in the People's Republic of NJ (PRNJ) where just about everything is illegal. FAL by name are banned so it cant say FAL on it anywhere and we have all the usual BS about 15 round mags, no flash suppressors and no collapsing stocks. Here in NJ most shops dont have a ton of used guns of any kind least of all FALs. So that leaves buying over the web.

So at this point I dont know. I would like to get some advice before I open my wallet.

PS. Are there any shops in PA that have FALs?

I only have experience with the 1 DSA SA58 that I owned. It seemed very well put together fit and finish wise.

It shot just fine, I plinked with it out to 300 yard steel plates with no issues shooting mostly Winchester 7.62x51 FMJ. Never really put it on paper to assess accuracy.



I know a local guy that recently bought the Para version and he loves it. I'd recommend DSA if you are on the market for an FAL


I'd call DSA, I think they make a "ban" version.

I have a DSArms built STG-58. Great gun, no major issues with the rifle. The DSArms magazines I've found aren't so great. Buy GI if you can.

Early DSA guns with the surplus parts were and are great guns overall. I have had mine for years and it's one of the earlier guns when they were not offering as many options , Maybe mid 90's?

Current DSA guns are still great FALS and some folks may think they are sub par to the original parts guns and they could be. However, I have seen little in side by side shooting to show me that they are indeed sub par.

On the Century and Enterprise guns , they are kind of crap shoot from fantastic to just ok and may need some work to get 100%. Some of the century guns may look like crap, but are decent guns and most of the time they can be bought for a lot less then a DSA gun. Even if the gun doesn't run the best, you can rework the parts or send it to a number of guys to fix.

Another option is too look for a SAR48 from Springfield. Occasionally I will see some of these go for under $1500 and they are great guns.

Good luck

I would agree that if you found a used Century gun on an Imbel or other imported receiver you would be pretty safe.  If such a gun had problems they could be fixed.  A bad receiver is harder to fix.  Century bought receivers from Argentina and Brazil.  Both were those nation's milspec or quality equivalent.  

Coonan makes a good receiver too.  

My suggestion is spend some time reading some of the old posts on Falfiles.  It's a treasure trove and every question probably has been asked and answered over there at one point or another.

My advice is learn how to identify those Argentine and Imbel receivers that Century used and find a deal on a "junky" Century.  People pile the imported receivers in with the crapshoot in house Century receivers.  This is a mistake but also an opportunity to save.

See if you can find a M-444 (Imbel parts kit on Imbel receiver). IIRC the Hesse muzzle brake is a POS and actually increases felt recoil, or at least it did on mine so you may want to change it out for something different. It has 2 plug welds hidden pretty well but once you get past that there are threads still on the muzzle.

Buy Rhodesian!

My brand new dsa 58 still needed about $100 of gunsmithing to actually work right. Totally killed my confidence in the gun and hurt my fal love quite a bit too.

so I say buy a kit and have it built by the best.

Same advice I give all new guys:

Buy one like this, 99% chance it will run right out of the box   http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=526673391

No flash hider, no bayonet lug.

If the stock & PG combo is not legal in NJ then cut off the section that's not needed, including the "pistol grip" part (you need the top 1" or so to keep the trigger return spring in place)

No brainer.

I'd say f**** the government and get what you want! Where there is a will, there is a way!

Not to Highjack the thread, but I am in a similar boat....

Any idea on what a Rhodesian Build FAL 18 inch. Built on imbel by Greg at global gunsmithing is worth?  Would something like that be GTG?