I've got a itch for one of these but I've never shot one.  What are they like to shoot?  Thanks!

John

Shoots real nice, just like a Galil but I think a little more accurate. I no longer own the Galil in 308 but I am keeping the Valmet. I have a Hunter and the mags interchange.

JMikeSteen,

I've looked into these in more detail and the problem seems to be the scarcity of the mags.  With my 76 folder in 223 the problem was one of cost - you could still find them at a price - the 308s don't seem to be available at any price.

John

Jim Rawles had mags a while back for $200 ea IIRC.

People have converted .308 Galil mags, but those aren't cheap either.

I have a bunch of 12 round Galil mags I got from CDNN and they only needed a little off the sides at the rear. I went through 15, 25 round galil mags and found 5  that fit with no grinding but yes the mags for the 76/hunter are very scarce and getting sccarcer all the time. By the way the converted M14 mags for the galil won't work at all and are too thin on the sides to grind. The mags that jim has are all Valmet 78 with the double sides and won;t fit the 76 without milling.

This is interesting.  I've been playing with Valmets for a few years now, and I never even thought about trying a .308 Galil magazine in my M78 chambered in that cartridge.  I just tried the four .308 Galil magazines I have (two 12 rounders and two 25 rounders) and, while very tight (and a little tough to get in), they locked into place securely.  Are there any "feed angle" concerns using the .308 Galil magazine in a Valmet?

I have a model 78 also and have tried two solutions.  Bought some steel G3 mags, fitted a steel hook on the front and a carbon fibre flat epoxied to the rear.  I had to file the sides of them to fit the mag well.  They work, they're cheap, but labor intensive.  Bought a 12 round Galil mag for $20 plus shipping from What a Country, had to shorten the rear locking protrusion and file down the top front of the mag to get it to fit.  It is loose side to side in the mag well.   It works also, but isn't an entirely satisfactory solution.  I like the rifle but don't want to drill and tap for a scope mount (with the bipod and heavy barrel it should have excellent acuracy), can't get original mags, so it spends most of the time in the safe. hinking.gif