I have a chance to pick up a Century Arms FAL L1A1 in a trade.  It has the ugly thumbhole stock that would have to be changed.  Are these any good?  I would possibly like to use it as a patrol rifle for work down the road.  Any thoughts? I have no info on FALs as I have never been around one.  I do like the look of the DSA'S though..............

Thanks for your thoughts.........

It would all depend on what you are trading, the average value of a Century L1A1 with the butthole stock is around $400, if even that.  Also, you might want to check to see if it's built on an Imbel or Hesse reciever, all Century FALs are hit or miss with functionality, but the Imbel based versions seem to have had less problems than the Hesse.  I have one of the later Imbel based rifles, cheap Century stock, not the Bell and Carlson butthole series, and it has worked from day one without a hitch.  There are a few good options for the stock replacement, you can get the Century cheapo stuff, or, change a few other parts, such as the gas piston, mag floor plates, cocking handle, and add some original British or Aussie stock parts.  A good place to find such parts would be Gunthings.com, they have everything you would need to do a swap out, and keep the rifle legal.

If it has a Hesse receiver, run like the wind. You don't want anything explosive going off near your face inside a Hesse.

Even with the Imbel receiver (which are excellent), Century rifles may take some work to be reliable. If you're willing and have the inclination...taking a chance on a Century can be a good learning experience. On the other hand, you could get one that runs fine.

Century receivers have a "unibrow" feed ramp, unlike the true design that has a feed ramp with 2 semicircles (one ramp for each side of the mag).  If the Century receivers feed well, they usually work ok.  Century's are a crapshoot, either good functioning or not.. Mine, I had to learn to dremel a better ramp now works great.

If its a Hesse receiver, RUN!

Frankenfal1a1:

BTW- Derek at AZEX will be refinishing the frankenfal1a1 ASAFP.

I recently aced out on an auction and got an early thumbhole FAL for $250 with exc inch pattern parts on a metric reciver. Runs great, steady 2-3" groups. You can change anything on a FAL, except bbls are the most work and not cheap for the fresh ones.
Good bbl with kit + $150 in parts plus another $150 for Century receiver.
Thumbhole is fugly but only bugs my shooting when I try to work the selector lever.