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Posted: 3/26/2002 4:27:06 AM EDT
[#1]
Given the price and availability of FAL mags, the people at Armalite are probably asking themselves this very question. A BIG error on their part, IMHO.
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Posted: 3/26/2002 5:36:54 AM EDT
[#2]
My guess is their desire to stay "100% American-Made", but to me in doing so they shot themselves in the foot. Doesn't an AR10 cost roughly that of a new DSA (not the STG-58)? Why take an already expensive mag who's supply is dwindling (M1A) and charge you AGAIN to convert it??
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Posted: 3/26/2002 5:59:10 AM EDT
[#3]
Yea! At least the M14 mag should work with no mods. Kinda sucks.
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Posted: 3/26/2002 5:59:50 AM EDT
[#4]
That's pretty much the only reason so far that I haven't purchased an AR-10. Every so often I pick up a few more brand new steel Austrian FAL mags for $10 each...then I look at 20 round mags for the absolutely beautiful and droolworthy AR-10 and notice that they go for $60-80. Stops me cold...
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Posted: 3/26/2002 9:00:54 AM EDT
[#5]
I believe Armalite tried to get approval from the ATF to convert FAL mags but couldn't. Also didn't M14 mags used to be like $5?
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Posted: 3/26/2002 9:21:46 AM EDT
[#6]
M14 mags haven't seem $5 in a LONG time! I wonder how ASA got approval. And I thought as long as the mag continued to work in the original gun there was no issue. |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 10:28:28 AM EDT
[#7]
The ASA .308 rifle takes unmodified FAL mags.
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Posted: 3/26/2002 12:21:25 PM EDT
[#8]
Armalite has answered this question several dozen times.
They experimented with several common mags, including FAL mags, but found that M14 mags feed rounds most reliably, and was most compatible with the AR15-style design. FAL mags feed ammo more to the center, like a "single-feed" mag, which doesn't work as well with the lugged barrel extension. Armalite tried to get a conversion kit approved to allow FAL "guts" to be used in their AR10 mag conversion kits, but BATF denied that, saying that the converted mag must be able to fit the original gun, or it was considered to be a new, post-ban mag. -Troy |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 2:43:36 PM EDT
[#9]
That always makes me laugh a bit, about Armalite reasoning etc. I sold my AR-10A2 because it was so unreliable. I even had the Armalite factory mag bodies, never could get it reliable enough to shoot in an IPSC match. And boy those were expensive jam-o-matic's. My FAL has never jamed that I can remember, my M1A works like a champ with it's M14 mags, but the AR10 was another story.
Bill |
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Posted: 3/26/2002 8:16:15 PM EDT
[#10]
Did you have the factory check it? I've got 3 AR-10s and all work perfectly with all my mags.
The FAL mag issue has been brought up many times and Troy's right. Check the DPMS industry site. They had the same problem trying to make FAL mags work in that design and ended up making a new 10 round mag. Of course, if you think ASA made it work you could always try them. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 4:33:07 AM EDT
[#11]
You may have gotten a lemon. I own an AR10, never have a problem with multiple uppers. Many of my shooting buddies have AR10s, and likewise have no problems at all... even with crappy ammo. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 9:00:46 AM EDT
[#12]
Yea, I'd have to say it was a lemon, it did go back to the factory, they replaced the bolt in their bolt recall, polished out the chamber because of extraction problems, looked at the mags and I had them install their factory match trigger. I have other firends with AR10's, one seems to work "ok" now that it has been back to the factory 3 times, the other guy shot his at the last IPSC rifle match, he could have shot in the "manual rifle" catagory, it jamed almost every shot, no joke. I don't know what mag he was using, but when you start using cut-up mags from another rifle design........well almost all jams are traced back to the mag.
Bill |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 9:25:19 AM EDT
[#13]
Might also take a look at the bullet in use. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 10:58:21 AM EDT
[#14]
Another-Bill
Something sounds goofy about this. Bill, please send the serial numbers of the rifles in question to us at [email protected]. We'll do a record check of the rifles and advise what has happened so far. These issues don't ring a bell. As we've said many times before, each rifle is test fired successfully before shipping. With thousands of rifles out there though, we'll occasionally have one stop working. That's what warranty work is for. We looked at the FAL mag. We stuck with the M14 mag because of technical reasons: the way the bullet tips tracked out of the mag during feeding. It matched the early AR-10 mag's track and meant that the barrel extensions would work. The FAL mag tracks out differently and requires, among other things, cutting more away from the 6:00 lug in the extension. Believe me, we would have loved to use the FAL mag. Troy is indeed correct. BATF limited what we could do with our mags, especially when we tried to convert FAL mags. Their rule is that the altered mag must still be useable in the rifle for which it was designed. If a FAL mag won't work in the FAL, you're carrying around a felony. Then again, you could always be the test case if you've got the time. This was one of the most interesting facets of the AR-10B design issue. We had more trouble getting the mags right than any other part of the design. |
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Posted: 3/27/2002 4:38:20 PM EDT
[#15]
"Something sounds goofy about this. Bill, please send the serial numbers of the rifles in question to us at [email protected].
We'll do a record check of the rifles and advise what has happened so far. These issues don't ring a bell." What exactly sounds "goofy" to you. I remember the Bolt Recall very well, on September 24, 1999 I sent my Armalite AR10A2 rifle, serial number US 54968 to Gary Barr at Armalite Service Department. In the letter I am holding in my hand, I noted that #1, my bolt was marked with the "C" and had to be replaced as per Armalite's instructions, #2, Check out your Tech Bulletin #1 regarding the falures to extract, I enclosed a bunch of factory loaded cases with the rim almost ripped off, and #3, I sent in 3 Armalite Conversion Mags I purchased, noting that mag #1 jams a lot, mag #2 jams "only sometimes" and mag #3 will not hold the bolt back at all. The UPS tracking number was IZ 588 83X 03 1003 136 6. As to the other guys, I'll try to poke around at the next IPSC rifle match and see if I can get their seral numbers for you, not. Bill |
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