I know I have been placing a lot of STG58 thing on this site but you guy's are the only one's that will help.

The rifle I saw was a Stery STG58 Centurion

308 cal with Imbel receiver and new barrel. 2-20 rd mags, 20" barrel ,pistol grip stock. Excellent condition for $479.00

I don't know that much about the STG58 and I'm trying to find out more about them because I have a choice between the STG58 or an RRA AR-15. I'm trying to find out what one would be best money wise for ammo mags and other things .

So far I have been told to just spend the money to get a DSA if I'm going STG58 but I just want to see if there are any other STG58 that are just as good out there for a little less. Thanks for the help.  

btt

I'll buy it.  A FAL is the best .308 Semi rifle out there.  You will thank me when it come to cleaning.  It's so easy to strip and clean.  Fun to shoot too!

For the price it is a good buy. The Imbel receivers are the best, licensed copy of the original. May have a bent gas piston, just replace it with a DSA piston and should be good to go. Mags can be bought for $7-$15, and milsurp .308 is at an all time low price. Check out the Falfiles message boards for more info.
www.fnfal.com

does anyone have or shot a M-444 FAL?

For the price that it is at $479 I'd save about $316 over the DSA ones. That means that I can buy about 2000 rd of 308 ball a shit load of mags and a nice scope mount for it.(And the wife may say ok to it sooner.)

And quite possibly have a questionable rifle.

Save your pennies until you can buy the DSA.

With guns, penny wise is often pound foolish. You get what you pay for. You'll NEVER regret waiting for the DSA, you MAY regret the other rifle. The need for immediate gratification is self-defeating when it comes to firearms purchases.

go for it. I brought a frankenfal"L1A1" by century 4 months ago for $475. it has the imbel metric reciever & is a damn fine shooter out the box. yes it could use a pro repark on it but with $6 mags & cheap surplus ammo, I rather shoot the balls off of it then make it look pretty[heavy]

Care to expound?  Is this an educated slam on Century?  Are they using different mil-surp parts than every other assembler out there?  Or maybe the receivers came from a bad Imbel lot?
Is the DSA receiver better than the very popular Imbel?  I just don't get what the name matters on the gun.  Seems like Lincoln vs. Ford to me.

I'd LOVE to expound. And YES, it IS a bit of a slam.

See the post above yours where the owner of one of these off-brand FAL's calls his a "FrankenFAL."

Truth is, Imbel makes the SECOND best receiver out there. The BEST receiver is DSA's. THis is NOT just MY opinion.

Some of teh MOSt knowledgeable FAL people will back me up that SOMETIMES Century produces a decent FAL. Sometimes they are PURE HORSE EXCREMENT. Why take the chance of getting a lemon??

Further, ALL the Century FAL's require an upgrade of the gas system to function consistently.

ALL kit FAL's use mil-surp parts (for OTHER than the receiver). DSA happens to use ONLY the pick of the litter. My DSA ($795) barrel looks just like brand new. In fact, the entire rifle is near perfect.

the point of my post was to suggest to tayous1 NOT to let his emotions get in the way of making a GOOD decision. As I said , yielding to the need for immediate gratification is NOT good here. If ALL you want out of your FAL is something that will go "bang" the Century's MORE than fit the bill (usually) If you are into consistent function and hitting your target, the DSA is DEFINITELY worth the extra graft. I simply wanted to help him see all the options clearly.

Or, you can just conider me a "gun snob."  [:D]

Thanks Garandman.
I knew with some prodding we could get the good dirt out of you.
I understood the point of you original post.  Just thought it was centered around "watch of for the boogeyman."
Your second post gives excellent material that I can use to base my own decision on.

I have the money for both of the rifles It is just that with the $479 one I could buy more mags and 2000rd of ammo for the rifle and a nice scope rail. For less then I was paying for just the DSA rifle.

I don't know that much about the STG58 at all and I was going to buy a Ar-15 because of the ammo cost(Sorry like the 308win a lot.) and other things until I saw the STG58. Now I'm trying to see what is the best STG58 out there.

I'm just wondering if the STG58 is going to be the best buy over the Ar-15. The ammo that I found is the same price the mags for the STG58 are cheaper. STG58 ammo is heavier the gun is also as I was told.

I'm just so confused right now on what to get maybe I'll place a poll out on Ar-15.com and see what the people have to say.

tayous1 –

1. Century does not use SEVEN U.S. parts in the body of the rifle.   This means that the additional parts are the follower and baseplate of the magazine that they send with the rifle.   To use foreign magazines, you must come up with two more U.S. parts.   Both additional baseplates and followers or more expensive gas pistons, etc must be purchased if you wish to have additional magazines, and remain legal.
2. The U.S. parts that they do use are often of questionable quality, as garandman has said.
3. They take shortcuts in the assembly of the rifle.   For example- the magazine activated bolt hold-open often takes some effort to fit, so they grind it off.   Proper replacements run about $15-25.00.
In addition, The FAL requires more skill to assemble than an AR.   On the FALFiles, someone posted a link to a Century want ad in their local paper.   They were offering all of $7.00 an hour for the people who assemble their guns.  
The chance of getting a POS with a Century FAL is just too high for me to risk my money on it.  And the cost of fixing a troubled Century FAL could very well exceed the “savings” over a DSA.