My shooting buddy and myself went out to shoot the Pacific Armament Corp. (PAC) FAL rifle I traded with another member here.  Here is what went down:

 After firing the first shot I noticed that the bolt carrier was not driven rearward to extract.  Couple more rounds and each had the exact same occurrence.  Disasembled the gas cap and removed the op-rod for examination.  The one piece stainless steel operating rod was bent.  Obvious solution, order one from DSA (which I have now done).

 What the heck, we went ahead and put the gas system back and shot it single shot.  The recoil was, for me, about the same as .223 with just a hint of some powerful pushing against the shoulder.  Nothing at all painful or uncomfortable.  I can only imagine that the recoil will be taimed considerable once the gas system is up and running.

 As far as accuracy, well... that's going to take some adjusting work.  The front sight is way to low causing it to shoot about 8 inches high.  For the life of me, why is the rear sight so close to my face that I have to wiggle around it to obtain a clear sight picture??  Couldn't the rear stock be longer??  Why the tiny little rear stock??

  Anyway, the FAL is pretty nice, it just needs "tweaking".  Oh, by-the-way, the bolt hold open device does not work as intended.  I guess someone at PAC felt the need to shave metal off the hold open so that, after last round if fired, it doesn't hold the bolt open.  No big dead though.  I don't particularly care  for that (holding bolt open on last round) anyway.  It could allow dirt, mud or other contamination in the mechanism while reloading.

 After I get the new op-rod, we'll take it out again.  Hopefully get the gas adjusted and work on those sights.  I am optimistic that we'll get it running good.

Lawdog

The more time I spend with my FAL, the more I like it.

I agree with your assessment - .223 recoil with .308 punch.

I also agree with the sights - seem kinda tight on the stock. I gotta really work to get my face down onto the stock to get a proper sight pic.

I haven't really had time to sight her in yet.

Just done some blasting with it. Its a real blast rockin and rollin thru a mag of 20 with it.

The stocks are available in different lengths - you might want to try out a longer one.  Beware when taking the buttstock off as the recoil spring is in there and it's under compression.

If you want to reenable the bolt hold open feature, check it over carefully.  Normally these were disabled by removing a pin not by removing metal, so you might only have to install a replacement pin to reenable holdopen.

Can't agree with the 223/308 similar recoil experience though.  First time I shot an FAL, one of the guys I was shooting with managed to break his collarbone with an improper placement of the buttstock.  Some of the FAL stocks have plenty of drop in them and can deliver a respectable jolt to the cheek upon ignition.  The recoil isn't at all troubling, but it's there.

I miss my FAL...