I have always wanted a L1A1 SLR and a Rhodesian type FAL. I realize that being an inch pattern, L1A1 FAL aren't as common or finding one that was

used in the Rhodesia would be nearly impossible.

Is there any other manufacturer besides DS Arms that makes complete FAL's, I know there quality has or is questionable at times?

Is there a list of specs for a L1A1 or a Rhodesian FAL? If I have to start with a DS Arms FAL which model would you start with?

Thanks in advance for the help.

There's a FAL built using a mix of Rhodie surplus parts on a DSA Type 2 receiver for sale on the FAL Files last I checked.

What exactly are you looking to acquire or replicate? The Rhodesians used a wide variety of FAL types. Most common were the South African-contract FN FALs (often sanitized) and South African-made R1s (sometimes leaving the factory sanitized). Portuguese m/962s, German G-1s, Brit and Aussie L1A1s, Indian 1A1s, Congolese 50.64s, Belgian and Force Publique M1s and M2s, early/1st contract South African FNs, and a number of other variants could be found in Rhodesian service. The parts kits that came here also included Zimbabwean-contract IMBELs.

Your best bet for an L1a1 is to educate yourself and shop the Century assembled rifles from the early 90's. I managed to find two rifles in the past couple of years for ~$500 each that were on Argentine FMAP or Imbel receivers. I'd stay away from Century, Entreprise, Hesse, DMPS, or other receivers.  These rifles came in with bbl's that had the threads chopped off and the lower receivers had the PG stud removed so that a terrible thumbhole stock could be fitted. These issues can be mitigated.
A good rifle can be had but, you need to know what to check. One of my rifles had the wrench flats on the BBL badly chewed up and rounded for example.

Gunplumber has a great tutorial on his site:

https://arizonaresponsesystems.com/tutorial-restoring-the-cai-l1a1-thumbhole-sporter/

HTH,

Blitz

I did this a few years ago, my advice:

Hunt Gun Broker, Arfcom and FALfiles for an already built L1A1 on a DSA
inch pattern receiver or maybe an early Entreprise ABNI receiver.

Or, keep an eye out on the above sources for an un built kit and an un built receiver
as well as the 7 required US parts. Once you have all the stuff you can send to
Arizona Response Systems aka: Gunplumber (Mark Graham) and have him turn your box of parts into
a thing of beauty.

I did the later and was pleased beyond my expectations with Mark's work.
I wish I had held onto it. However, I got all my $$ out of it plus a little extra.

I'd do it all over again.

Also like Blitz said the Century imported L1A1s are a good way to go also.

I had one in my hands once in Scottsdale in 99.
Should have jumped on it.

All depends on how "accurate" you want to go. I think gunplumber currently has a Rhodie "baby poop" clone (named for the camo paint used on some Rhodesian rifles) kit for sale. It's basically a Brazilian Imbel kit but it looks cool. His Rhodie clones are pretty amazing. Tracking down true Rhodesian stamped or South African R1 parts will be costly and time-consuming as you'll really need to know what you're looking for and what's authentic. "Metric" FAL receivers came in three main patterns....Type 1, 2 and 3. A typical Rhodie FAL would've been a Type 1. The Imbel receivers are Type 3. The Commonwealth "inch" pattern receivers are similar to the Type 1 but a main difference is a horizontal lightening cut on the mag well. Mag release and bolt hold open are also different, and they take inch-pattern magazines. I don't know of anyone currently making accurate Commonwealth receivers but they do turn up on falfiles.com, but as there's a finite supply, they're not cheap. I picked one up (a Coonan L1A1 receiver) for $500 a month ago or so. There's a DSA on there now for $1000. An L1A1 kit will run you around $500 (more or less depending on condition) on GB or falfiles. As falfiles is more "community" themed, you're likely to get better deals. Century "inch" receivers are plentiful on GB, but they're not true "inch" and they're...you know....Century.

A Rhodie FAL wouldn't necessarily be a Type 1.  I've seen pictures of rifles that had Type 1 receivers, transitional receivers (between Types 1 and 2; one is the "Type 1.5" and one is between that and the Type 1), Type 2s, and even an FN Type 3 (not IMBEL like the Zim-era FALs).  Also the South African version of the "Type 1.5", which differs from the Belgian version.  Pretty much the only production receiver not represented is the Type 4, which did not exist until after Rhodesia fell (the IMBEL receivers on the market a a forged version of the Type 4, it should be noted).

What is correct depends on the parts kit, assuming you get one that matches in type if not necessarily in serial number.

The look of them always appealed to me when I was a kid seeing them in the news with all the British soldiers and Royal Marines.

I really should have kept the L1A1, such a sexy beast and probably the best looking version of the FAL in my opinion.

Maybe I'll come across another one some day.

But I do enjoy this Brazilian hotty.....

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I have a Belgian 50.00 which is kind of a cross between the two.

The majority of Rhodesian FALs were South African R1's devoid of any RSA markings. It would have the following features:

-Type "1.5" upper receiver
-Type 2 lower receiver
-grenade sight gas plug
-long buttstock (originally wood, later synthetic). Wood stocks would have a non-trapdoor metal buttplate, and the synthetics a 1" thick rubber pad.
-combo device on the muzzle
-0-600m rear sight
-"narrow foot" bolt hold open tab
-plastic charging handle knob
-non-bipod-cut synthetic handguards
-non-bipod-cut barrel

Originally, they would have had sling swivels, but these were almost always removed entirely. Commonly, the G1/StG58 carry handle that came with the rifle would have been cut, leaving just the ring to occupy the slot in the upper receiver. I've also seen a couple pictures where there is nothing occupying that slot.

Some early R1's, as well as the Portuguese m962's and G1's that came in to the country had the standard gas plug, rather than the grenade sight gas plug. Parts got swapped around regularly. The second R1 kit I bought had an aluminum G1 charging handle. Early R1 imports were scrubbed of any South African markings before they left that country. They are recognizable by the silver dollar-sized hole in the magazine well. Other markings on the lower and wood stock were drilled down a few millimeters. That said, some marks were missed.

Aside from the sniper versions which were not exported, and the first rifle built (which is in a museum), R1s never had wood stocks.  They also would not have had any marking on the magazine well to remove, so no hole (more like quarter-sized) in the mag well.  Some R1s from the Rhodie kits have the SA markings intact, some have them defaced, and some never had them (factory sanitized).  Some early-production rifles were sand-cut.  At some point they adopted a different grip for the carry handle and switched to a horizontal frame lock lever (they used the later-style vertical one before that).

What I think you're thinking of with your "early R1s" are the FN-made rifles from the 2nd SA contract.  Type 1 upper and lower (I think the lower had the internal lightening cuts).  Type C stock, usually the long type.  Carry handle with short wire and the ribbed plastic grip.  Grenade sight gas plug.  Combo device.  NBC barrel and synthetic handguards.  The South African arms were engraved on the magazine well and M in U property markings could be found on several parts (but otherwise typican FN FAL markings).  Vertical frame lock lever.  Narrow BHO.  I think some early examples may have had the grenade sights and rear sights marked for yards instead of metres.  SA also got folding-butt rifles and FALOs during that time, but I'm not sure of any of those made their way to Rhodesia.

The SA 1st contract was similarly marked IIRC, and I believe had the yards-marked sights.  Plain muzzle with bayonet lug.  Standard gas plug, I believe.  Handguards were some sort of grey colour instead of black.  I think they were otherwise pretty similar to the FN rifles described above.

If you want a real beagle L1A1 with British made receiver there is one for sale on FAL Files for 4k.

These are the ones brought in by Century for LEO, and they are legal as they are not considered machine guns by the ATF as they were always fielded as Semi autos in the commonwealth army.

The next are the parts guns on DS arms Brit cut receivers and Coonan and Entreprise if you can find them.

Good luck.

BTW, the one for sale is seriously gorgeous and would be the envy of anyone that buys it.

A good choice that might satisfy both itches is to get a Rhodie surplus L1A1.  Either get one that's been built on the right kind of receiver or get a parts kit and track down a suitable receiver.  They're uncommon, but out there.  Saw some Rhodie L1A1 parts being sold not too long ago with a bit of paint still on them.  They got both British and Aussie L1A1s.

Precisely what I want and why.

Does dsa not sell the forged l1a1 recievers anymore?

Not in a long time.  They've done runs of in-house forged receivers of other types and I've heard a rumour that they may do a L1A1 run, but the quality of their in-house receivers, forged or cast, is quite bad.  The quality forged receivers they had in the past were made by LMT.

I've been searching for a Rhodie parts kit (or even complete build/gun) for close to a year and will keep searching until i've found one, probably one of the top 3 guns i really want

I have a Century imported Argy FMAP Metric receiver marked L1A1.

Very nice receiver to build into an Argy kit.

Oh yea, I just looked at their website and they only sell cast receivers. I’m glad I got into the hobby back when I did. I always heard their metric receivers were built on steyr machinery.  I wonder why they stopped making them, their forged recievers were considered top notch

Cast isn't the issue. It's their lack of quality controul. The older receivers were not made by them, but by LMT for them.

I put one together two years ago using a DSA R1 receiver.  I bought and RA marked lower group on GunBroker. Then got an SA metric parts kit through a guy on the FAL files. Cost around a grand some parts still had paint. Always wanted one so it was worth it to me.

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The SADF made no distinction while the rifles were in service as to whether the rifle was an FN-contract or a Littleton-produced R1. The list I posted would cover ~85% of the FALs Rhodesia used.

I remember back around 10 years ago, there was an on line ammo place, can’t remember their name now...they’re out of business, but they had loads of those kits still with the paint for cheap.  I bought one kit and had it parkerized to make it look new, then I built it onto a dsa receiver as my very first build. If I’d known the paint would have been so desirable, I’d have left them as is

Documents Peter Wells has posted on the FAL Files would indicate otherwise. They had different nomenclature for the different FALs, officially. In any case, they are indeed different.

While R. Blake Steven's work makes no mention of the nomenclature other than "R1", the section devoted to FAL-pattern rifles in FIREARMS: Developed and Manufactured in Southern Africa 1949-2000, co-authored by the aforementioned Peter Wells, makes a distinction for the original FN contract rifles only for the sake of discussion. Again, the SADF made no distinction, referring only to R1, R2, etc...

Well of course a work on weapons developed and produced in SA would mainly focus on the R-series weapons, which were the only FALs made in SA.

The documents he's posted on the FAL Files and elsewhere also show that the R2 is the designation for the G-3. Only the R1 and R3 were FALs.   Obviously R4 and up are Galils.

I'll see if I can find the images and post them.

ETA: For the time being, I'll post this from Peter Wells:

Good call on the R2. Forgot about that being the actual designation. Awaiting your source material.