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Posted: 5/17/2024 9:02:32 PM EDT
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Looking to purchase my first FAL, and I'm wondering if there are any specific load/weight restrictions due to the recoil/gas system. I know some systems don't do well over certain weights, and as a handloader I was hoping I could use my match175/180gr loads as well as 110 varmint loads. From my reading any factory 308 ammo is fine regardless of the 7.62x51 designation on the rifles. I also have a banish 30 suppressor I'd love to try on the FAL as well, but I'll cross that bridge later. Thanks, gents! |
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| That's one of the benefits of the adjustable gas system. The rifle is intended to fire 147/150 gr. bullets, but you shouldn't have an issue going up to 175/180 gr. A lot of folks use 130 and even 110 gr. bullets. |
"What is socialism? The most difficult and tortuous way to progress from capitalism to capitalism." -Stated at an intel conference, East Berlin, Oct. 1988
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
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Originally Posted By Frens: The heavier stuff didn’t perform that well out of my StG58… not worth the extra cost. I decided to stick with 150 grains. My FAL is a 3 Moa gun.. maybe your will be different. Same. You can go smaller and higher velocity. But none of my FALs like heavier boolits. |
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Originally Posted By Frens: The heavier stuff didn’t perform that well out of my StG58… not worth the extra cost. I decided to stick with 150 grains. My FAL is a 3 Moa gun.. maybe your will be different. For a second I was thinking you were PaoloOrange from falfiles. He shot a specially tuned aussie SLR though. He liked the 150 SMK over the heavier bullets. He was doing some real good work in the Italian National Matches in the category that allows FALS. His best trick among many was bedding the rear action to eliminate play so the sights stayed in the right place. The fact that the sights were on two different major assemblies was ok for a combat rifle but unfortunate for target shooters. |
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Pretty much of the opinion that basic 147 gr FMJ is the perfect ammo for the FAL….unfortunately! Just not a great design for accuracy. My favorite battle rifle, but gotta call things truthfully as well… That being said, best I ever shot one was iron sights, on a rickety table at 25 yds, parts kit STG-58 with Steyr barrel, and Port. surplus ammo. Punched 3 rds thru the same hole, it was about .40 cal diameter. Decided it was good to go…moved onto the next rifle. Story time- once walked up on 2 team mates trying to hit a 2’x2’ sniper plate at 200 yds- with their Glocks. Needless to say they were not hitting anything. Walked up, lined it up, gave it some elevation, and drilled it on the first shot with mine…. Should have holstered and walked away then….but I didn’t. Figured I could repeat it, 15 more rounds, never touched it again…. That was when I learned when to stop while ahead! |
a loaded gun won’t set you free, so you say…
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150 grain Sierra Match King. A good bullet through a good barrel will usually give good results. But remember, most FAL’s are 4 moa guns, even with a good bullet. Mark Graham is right. The FAL is an axe,… not a dental pick. |
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They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin, 1775
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin, 1775
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Originally Posted By W_E_G: 150 grain Sierra Match King. A good bullet through a good barrel will usually give good results. But remember, most FAL’s are 4 moa guns, even with a good bullet. Mark Graham is right. The FAL is an axe,… not a dental pick. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and say “This is a battle rifle that meets its design specs and does the job entirely adequately”. |
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Originally Posted By SteelonSteel: For a second I was thinking you were PaoloOrange from falfiles. He shot a specially tuned aussie SLR though. He liked the 150 SMK over the heavier bullets. He was doing some real good work in the Italian National Matches in the category that allows FALS. His best trick among many was bedding the rear action to eliminate play so the sights stayed in the right place. The fact that the sights were on two different major assemblies was ok for a combat rifle but unfortunate for target shooters. I know PaoloOrange personally. He’s a great dude with awesome shooting skills. Eliminating the play between upper & lower is the starting point of a few mods.. another one is shimming the rear sight if it’s too sloppy. |
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Originally Posted By W_E_G: 150 grain Sierra Match King. A good bullet through a good barrel will usually give good results. But remember, most FAL’s are 4 moa guns, even with a good bullet. Mark Graham is right. The FAL is an axe,… not a dental pick. They are not inherently 4 MOA guns. 4 MOA was the outer limit of acceptance standards. Maybe 4 MOA on home built guns using clapped out parts kits with mediocre shooters. |
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Been a while, but I shot everything from 147-150gr, to 168gr and 175gr out of mine. All fed fine, and it loved the 168gr SMKs over and appropriate load of 4064. I never shot it over 500 yards or so, but the 175 were getting there. I imagine after 750-800 yards the 175s would be better because the 168s would have gone transonic and less stable. I never did get around to the 110s but that was my next thing. Somebody broke in my house and stole the gun, and when I got it back a year and a half later, it had rust in it. So I sold it. Hornady 110s were supposed to be a great bullet out of them. Mine was a DSA custom build, sent to a well known member here and at FALFiles at the time, 2003. He accurized it. It was a an Austrian front half, wuth an X Stock on the rear, series II receiver. It was a fantastic shooter, with no stringing after the work was done, with a Badger match target barrel. Good luck with your build. |
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The only time I have ever left the range feeling impressed by the FAL’s accuracy was when I used my own handloads. And it’s still not an AR-10. I think I used Sierra 150’s and IMR 3031, and the weight of the powder charge was at the low end toward the minimum.. Oh yeah, and an original STG-58 barrel really helps. The most accurate FAL I’ve owned was a 58 clone and it had an area behind the muzzle that was pitted. Still more accurate than the Argy chrome-lined or the garbage Badger barrel. |
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My dsa 16" likes the 150 and 168s, have never shot for accuracy per se but groups avg around 2.5-3" at 100yd with my hand loads. I've shot it with irons to 550yd, very difficult past that due to sight post size was wider than the targets we were shooting. It is by far my favorite rifle to shoot. |
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I have messed aroound a little with a scoped FAL. You can get decent but not great doing a couple things. Get a decent bullet that consistent. More on the lines they basicaly weigh the same and caple of doing an inch out of a decent bolt gun Expensive match just doent matter except they are consistent. You can get cheaper ones though FALs like a heavy muzzle device. I think it boils down to how the gun locks up and it helping it with slower barrel whip. So the bolt tends to lock up in the same position. A bolt that is headspaced tight and ammo the is all the same OAL makes a BIG difference. If you chamber a round out of a mag remove it and push up on the bolt in the mag well basicaly the same each time. Leave the mag out. You just might be amazed what it can do repeatably. Not very praticle though. The bolt lock up is what kills its potential. Heavier barrel like DSA use to make helps. From less barrel whip and more consistent lock up due to less whip if you ask me. I have a Isreali HB. I have thought to close off the gas port remove the piston and use the forward assist to make it into a kind of straight pull bolt. |
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Originally Posted By ARMALITE-FAN: I have a Isreali HB. I have thought to close off the gas port remove the piston and use the forward assist to make it into a kind of straight pull bolt. So...at pains...I have been shooting FALs since forever. Not to be a brat, but I take the same FAL to almost every match I shoot. People who hate on the FAL, and own one, need to flip the gas plug to G and go shoot some groups. If it doesn't get any better...it's your bbl. If it does...come see me. |
Happiness=UPS+ORMD
See my youtube page at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvx8dT3bnLFUvuEQ-N3Z6rg
See my youtube page at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvx8dT3bnLFUvuEQ-N3Z6rg
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Originally Posted By KentuckyMarksman: I personally use 150gr Hornady FMJs in my FAL. LC brass, CCI 34 primer, and 45.5gr of BL(C)-2. Shoots and functions well in my rifle. My FALs really like Hornady 150 FMJBT, CCI200, mixed military brass, and either IMR 4895 or Tac traveling at a fairly leisurely 2650 fps. Extreme spread over two twenty round batches was 50 fps. |
"What is socialism? The most difficult and tortuous way to progress from capitalism to capitalism." -Stated at an intel conference, East Berlin, Oct. 1988
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." -H.L. Mencken
| Not really, no. It has an adjustable gas system. |
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Using carefully tuned handloads with new or virgin barrels, assembled using good tools, will produce much better accuracy than the FAL's reputation would have you believe. My best-shooting FALs are consistently sub-2MOA with this setup. The best results I've gotten were with Hornady A-Max 168-grain bullets over a fairly hot charge. This was developed using the pressure node theory, which turned out to work. That being said, some surplus barrels do seem to prefer 147-grain bullets. Edit: You also have to use a good quality scope, mount, and rings. |
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Originally Posted By Fang: Using carefully tuned handloads with new or virgin barrels, assembled using good tools, will produce much better accuracy than the FAL's reputation would have you believe. My best-shooting FALs are consistently sub-2MOA with this setup. The best results I've gotten were with Hornady A-Max 168-grain bullets over a fairly hot charge. This was developed using the pressure node theory, which turned out to work. That being said, some surplus barrels do seem to prefer 147-grain bullets. Edit: You also have to use a good quality scope, mount, and rings. I have an old Guns and Ammo issues where they tested different assault weapons (their term; it was popular in gun rags before the antigunners) available in the 1980s including a brand new FAL from FN and they got 1.75" groups at 100 yards using commercial ball ammo (I forget which brand, but it's still made today). Some folks have gotten incredible results. One guy, who I think goes by stubdog25 or something like that, had amazing groups with his StG build. IIRC, at 715 yards he had a 13" group or something like that. I think PaoloOrange was already mentioned. He measured using mean radius instead of extreme spread, IIRC. My FAL does not like the 168s, at least not the Gold Medal Match. I've shot some AMAXs at steel up to 200 without issue. GMM, though, keyhole at the slightest disturbance. I think they are barely stabilizing and my groups were only a little smaller than surplus ball. The trajectory also left something to be desired. It does, however, like the Hornady 155 ELDMs. Sucks that the loaded ammo has been discontinued, but AMAX of the same weight in Hornady Black has been almost as good. Groups are noticeably smaller, it bucks the wind well, no stability issues, and out of my 17" barrel the trajectory is almost the same as military ball out of a 21" barrel, so the sight graduations are correct for this ammo. I have been able to get multiple hits on steel past 700 yards using irons with this stuff. I need to start handloading. |
The finest opportunity ever given to the world was thrown away because the passion for equality made vain the hope for freedom.
-Lord Acton
-Lord Acton
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Remember... its normally a 1:12 twist... not made for long (heavier) bullets... most NATO std bullets I have weighed are between 143 anad 147gr... although i have shot M61 out of an STG build that averaged 3" (best one-off=1.5") ... 150 Hornady shoot good. I had a G1 that was reliably 1.5" and 4 other builds were all under 2.5 with most milsurp ammo. - using iron sights- I could never rationalize putting a scope on the topcover being of any worth. |
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The SAR48 is pretty accurate by FAL standards. American Rifleman magazine tested one in the 80's and it grouped better than the FN they tested previously. Their results were an average group of 1.93 in. with PMC M80 ball. I have the article open in front of me right now and just looked it up. I've only used M80 ball or equivalent surplus FMJ, so 147 to 150 gr. and have had good results. I just mainly shoot steel with mine and enjoy it that way. Don't really measure the groups. I'm a giant fan of SAR48s and Argentine pre-ban FALs. The older OEM built FALs like these are very, very good. |
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