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Posted: 11/21/2010 9:12:12 AM EDT
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So I just shot my new (to me) FAL yesterday. It shot beautifully. Soft recoil, good trigger, decent cloverleaf group at 25 yards. The only problem is this group is about an inch and a half right of where it needs to be. I tried to adjust the rear sight and found that the sight was as far to the left as it could go with the right side adjustment screw bottomed out.
So...what are my options here? I'm planning on running a scope on this as it already came with a DSA rail attached, but I like to have sighted in irons as well. Would getting an adjustable para rear sight like this give me enough extra adjustment? Perhaps if I left it just a bit to the left when I put it in? Any other ideas? |
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The Para rear sight is/was intended to be a short-to-middle range rear sight.
Your front sight base is likely canted, either from the base itself being mis-installed, the barrel being mis-installed, or both. It is not impossible that you might find your barrel is bent. You should correct this problem by finding/fixing the root cause. |
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Quoted:
Is this something that a run of the mill gunsmith could look at and figure out? Or do I need to send the rifle in to an FAL specific gunsmith? Most good gunsmiths can probably ascertain the cause. Given that, I would suggest sending it to a good FAL-smith, as he will have all the parts on-hand to fix it reasonably quickly and he will have the experience to fix it properly, as opposed to your local 'smith possibly doing a less-than-correct job either from lack of experience, not having the right parts on-hand, or both. |
I've had bent barrels. I had a reciever that the face and barrel threads were .3 degrees off of true with the reciever. I've seen bbls not clocked properly. Had one barrel on a "home brew" imbel that was torqued to all of about 10 ft-lbs  .On an experiment, I took one of the "less than straight" barrels that was curved the right way and put it on the crooked reciever. Rear sight is in the middle now and the damn thing holds 2 moa.  I don't think a run of the mill gunsmith would be in a spot to be able to diagnose your problem. I'm a toolmaker and have the necessary equipment and measuring tools to do this sort of thing. (surface plates, indicators, height master, etc etc) Unless you have armory style jigs and fixtures, you need proper measuring equipment. |
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Quoted:
Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but have you loosened the sight adjustment screw on the opposite side from the screw you're tightening when moving the sight? +1 I want to say (from memory) mine, too requires adjusting but the left and right screws to adjust windage in the rear. Loosen up one side, then tighten the other to move the sight. |
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1 1/2 " is a lot at 25 yds have you tried 100 yds ?
One thing you can try before barrel bending etc... put a small O-ring under the windage screw that bottoms out, when you tighten it down it will squish into the gap and push the base over some more against the other screw. The crappy thing about FAL rear sights is they don't have alot of Wind adj in them.... |
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I guess I got lucky in buying a DSA-made StG 58A, because the bbl was installed right, and the whole rifle sighted-in well enough. I did have to buy a special 'Z" spring for the rear sight, so that the indentations on the rear sight screws would work. The spring they originally provided with the rifle would not work right with the rear sight screwt The FAL rear sights are set once, and forget. The M1/M1Asights are best utilized by trained Riflemen
Once I got the thing sighted-in there has been no need to change anything. Of course, I first installed a 700M rear sight, and drilled and tapped the rear aperture to accept common threaded rear peep aperturres. Simple enough, and the threaded OEM rear sight, sans insert, makes for a good rapid-fire/night sight aperture. |
I had similar issues with my rear sight... I ended up swapping it out for an A1-style sight and everything has been great since.
Yes... it's a Hesse.... but the only issues I have had with it were the rear sight and later the multi-part selector was misaligned and I had to tack it in place. I've never had a function failure. |
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SOme basic diagnostics can be done without much in terms of special tools and jigs. If you have a couple of pieces of straight bar stock, straight brass rod, etc. you can lay one across the front sight ears and lay the other across the flats on the rear portion of the upper reciver. The two rods whould be perfectly parallel if the barrel is properly timed. Even small errors will be noticeable. If things are parallel, then a bent barrel starts to look mor likely.
Fixing an over timed barrel is not all that hard if it is just over torqued. But it will require a FAL action wrench to correct properly. Depending on torque when properly timed it may or may not need a shim, or could perhpas be stippled to take up a very slight gap. But if the tolerances are correct, just getting things properly timed should put things in the proper torque range. In any event it is easier to correct than an under timed barrel where metal has to be removed. One thing to consider is that everything is connected so if you loosen the barrel slightly,you are increasing the head space, and that may require a thicker locking shoulder to re-establish correct head space. And when checking head space on a FAL (or any semi-auto) close the bolt on the gauges under finger pressure only. In any event, the FAl is different enough and uncommon enough that the average gunsmith may be a bit out of his or her element with one. |
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Quoted: Ummm, I think something's missing in this picture.I had similar issues with my rear sight... I ended up swapping it out for an A1-style sight and everything has been great since. http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk304/vwcraig/new%20toy%20pics/IMG_0260.jpg http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk304/vwcraig/new%20toy%20pics/IMG_0262.jpg Yes... it's a Hesse.... but the only issues I have had with it were the rear sight and later the multi-part selector was misaligned and I had to tack it in place. I've never had a function failure. |
Take the handguards off, take the lower off. Put a .22 caliber rod through the handguard hole. Lay another rod across the top of the reciever. Sight over the two rods with the assembly level and the rods balanced. and if the barrel is off, it will be fairly easy to see. Another problem I have seen was a badly gouged barrel at the end. Crowning with a brass screw and grinding compound solved the problem.
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If it's shooting groups and not a shotgun pattern it's probably not the crown.... I have an L1A1 barrel that looks it was cut with a band saw and crowned by a beaver that shoots a shotgun pattern but is timed right. Of course it came off a Century built rifle(explains the beaver) and the barrel was only a little more than hand tight 
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