Guys, I need some advice as a new FAL family owner. I recently purchased a complete (not kit) STG 58 Carbine (18") from DSA, while ordering it I asked: "what kind of accuracy to expect, is 2 MOA a reasonable expectation?", and was told "oh, absolutely". Good to go, order made, carbine delivered. Nice looking, trigger on the heavy side, but I can manage. I install a Redfield 5 Star 6X on an ARMs #3 mount, along with a DSA hooded apperture rear sight as a backup, and off to the range I go, high hopes in hand, along with a selection of LC ball, M 852 match & M 118 LR ammo on board. First couple of shots, good to go, grouping a tad left, 9's at 9:30, adjust right, an 8 out at 1:00, followed by a 7 at same, followed by a 6 in that area as well. In other words, vertical stringing along the order of minute of paper plate accuracy at 100 yds, a wee bit off of that 2 MOA spec. Changing ammo (of course) had no effect, neither did shifting to irons. To establish a baseline, let me add that I have points towards Distinguished, earned with the M14 as well as the AR, so this ain't my first trip to the rodeo. I started searching on "vertical stringing" and have discovered that this is not at all unusual for a FAL series weapon to exhibit! I called DSA and was told to test it by: shoot with mag installed but empty, single load only. Remove sling swivel and shoot. Try different ammo and repeat above.
Guys, I thought they meant 2"-3" MOA WITH a loaded mag in place and utilized, otherwise I've got a really cool looking single shot, or a really inaccurate semiauto (that STILL looks cool). Is this "the deal" with FALs? Is this what they all do? I need to know, preferably from those that have real experiance with these rifles, and also possible causes and fixes as well. To me, an honest 2"-3" MOA would be acceptable, but not 2" X 10"! Let me know!
R/OMC