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Posted: 4/25/2011 12:39:06 PM EDT
| I was out shooting with a bunch of family yesterday during Easter and brought a bunch of guns and helped some new shooters safely try shooting for the first time. Anyhow one of the guns I brought was my FAL. It was working fine to start with but after a few rounds something went wrong in the selector switch and it would no longer detent in safe or fire. The gun would not fire on safe and it would fire if on fire, however the selector would need to be held in those positions or it would just droop down to the six o clock position and not fire. I did not have time to mess with it, so I just unloaded the gun and put it back in the truck and went about with other guns. Then I got busy with Easter dinner and put it in the safe and have not had any chance to look it over since. Any idea what I'm going to find as to why the selector won't detent? I am not really familiar with the FAL fire control group. |
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FAL safety detent is inside the "button" at the end of the safety, and engages the dimples that are cut into the side of the lower receiver/trigger housing.
Sometimes you can get crud in there and the detent will stick in the retracted position. On older/surplus/kit parts, you can have a similar issue as well as just corrosion/failure of the spring in there. It's trivial to pull the safety out of the lower, I would pull it out, look it over, maybe scrub around the detent with some solvent/lube, push in on it a little to see if you can free it up or what is happening. If you're handy with working on small stuff you could drive out the pin, clean it up and replace the spring.... or else just replace the safety. |
I had a similar problem with a DSA US made semi selector on my STG 58 - the safety was starting to 'float' out of position, when I tried to remove it from the lower to check the detent it wouldn't slide out when the the keeper key was indexed. Upon further inspection I noticed a shiny spot on selector shaft with a large 'burr' around it. This had been caused by hammer rebound, guess the safety shaft dimension didn't provide enough clearance for the hammer. I had to file this burr off the safety while it was still in the lower. Once out and inspected the selector appeared to be bent from the hammer rebound (maybe not hardened to specs). I dressed the area that I had to file, brought the safety back into shape in the vise and reinstalled, works okay, I then took it back out and parked it on the bench. Now I have installed a factory spec safety and all is well. The part in question did last for a few thousand rounds, but the originals will last a civilian a lifetime.  - sorry to run on but a good experience to share. Hope this helps. 
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Quoted:
I had a similar problem with a DSA US made semi selector on my STG 58 - the safety was starting to 'float' out of position, when I tried to remove it from the lower to check the detent it wouldn't slide out when the the keeper key was indexed. Upon further inspection I noticed a shiny spot on selector shaft with a large 'burr' around it. This had been caused by hammer rebound, guess the safety shaft dimension didn't provide enough clearance for the hammer. I had to file this burr off the safety while it was still in the lower. Once out and inspected the selector appeared to be bent from the hammer rebound (maybe not hardened to specs). I dressed the area that I had to file, brought the safety back into shape in the vise and reinstalled, works okay, I then took it back out and parked it on the bench. Now I have installed a factory spec safety and all is well. The part in question did last for a few thousand rounds, but the originals will last a civilian a lifetime. - sorry to run on but a good experience to share. Hope this helps. Thank you for sharing, I will take a look at mine |
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