I'm new to the FAL owner and fan club, and I was wondering if some of you reload for your FAL?  I was planning to, but see that mine is hard on the brass in general and pretty brutal on the case rims.  While I can resize away most of the neck and shoulder damage, it looks like more than half of the cases show less than concentric case rims after the rather vigorous extraction and ejection cycle.  I haven't tried turning down the gas setting yet (I'm at 4) and so far I'm using surplus anyway, but the prospects don't look good for getting any mileage out of the cases.  I could use some input.  Thanks much,
Brad

Para-Frog: My friend had the same problem with his SAR4800. The rifle would rip the $hit out of the rim. I/we solved the problem by opening up the gas regulator a bit more. I would double-check your procedure for making the gas adjustment on that little adjustor wheel.

Remember to make the correct adjustment on your gas regulator: you're suppose to start with the hole uncovered, and shoot one round, this will cause your gun to not eject, manually eject the spent casing. Close down one hole, ie cover up the hole by moving the adjustor one notch, and shoot one round. Repeat the procedure of shooting and closing down one notch until the cased ejects, and close down one more notch. And you're done. Don't close down the adjustor too much, because you will be stressing your gun needlessly, and you will rip the shit out of your extractor rim on your case.

Para-Frog, I handload for several of my FAL's. A good combination of components that shoots well "for me" is either the 168 Hornady BTHP or the Sierra 168 MK, with Varget powder and CCI BR2 primers. The make of brass is less important. Just make sure it's good brass like Winchester, Remington, etc. I avoid Federal. If you use milspec brass like Lake City or IMI remember that they have less capacity and you must work up loads seperately for those cases. For me, it's usually about 1.5 grains less powder.

Start low on your powder charge, and work up in .3 grain increments until your groups have minimal vertical dispersion. With the load I mentioned, 42 grains of Varget would be a good starting point. 45 grains would be maximum. You should find an accurate load before getting to 45 grains. One thing I have found is that an FAL can be very picky about what powder charge it shoots well. A difference of only .5 grain can take one from 3" vertical groups down to 1" groups.

I seat the above mentioned bullets to 2.80" overall length. That leaves the bullet about .025" off the rifling in my rifles, but they shoot well there and more importantly they feed through a mag easily.

I also have the problem with case rims getting bent on extraction. I have backed off the gas enough for one not to feed and it still did it, so accept it. I only get 4-5 loadings from a case anyway. They either get neck splits or the heads start seperating. Because of this, I keep my brass seperated into batches that all have the same amount of firings on them. Once I prep a batch of cases, they stay together until they go into the trash.

I know, before someone tells me that I'm sizing brass too short, athat is why I'm geting case head seperations, I size for about .002" headspace, using Redding Competition shellholders. If you want to see something weird, get an RCBS Precision Mic and look at how much you have to bump the shoulder back on a ffired case from your rifle to get it to chamber again. For me it's usually about 004" - .005".

Raf is right. Make darn sure your primers are seated flush or better still, a few thousandths below the case head. Even though the FAL has a spring loaded firing pin, it will still make contact with the primer on feeding and leave a little dimple on it. Never load a round into the chamber by hand and then let the bolt fly closed by flipping the BHO.

There's a lot ore to tlak about bu it's late and I'm tired.

Good luck.

Gents,
Thanks very much for your time and benefit of your experience.  I have reloaded for years but sporadically as life events and different assignments affected my discretionary time.  I was going to dust of the equipment for the newly acquired FAL, the upcoming Special Edition AR10, and a Snipers Hide special edition rifle being built, (all in .308) so I'm trying to come back up to speed for both precision reloading and the anticipated higher volume (progressive loader) for the autoloaders.

I was at the range last week and the folks in the neighboring lane had a couple of FALs on the line.  I was examining the damage to my brass and asked them if they reloaded.  They both kind of snorted and displayed the damage to their brass and basically told me it was a waste of time for the FAL.  It sounds like theirs is not the prevailing opinion, which is good since a large quantity of brass and bullets just showed up on my porch this week from Natchez.

I appreciate your responses.  Thanks again,
Brad

Quoted: I'm new to the FAL owner and fan club, and I was wondering if some of you reload for your FAL?  I was planning to, but see that mine is hard on the brass in general and pretty brutal on the case rims.  While I can resize away most of the neck and shoulder damage, it looks like more than half of the cases show less than concentric case rims after the rather vigorous extraction and ejection cycle.  I haven't tried turning down the gas setting yet (I'm at 4) and so far I'm using surplus anyway, but the prospects don't look good for getting any mileage out of the cases.  I could use some input.  Thanks much, Brad

    If it is treating the brass that roughly , turn down the gas .  It should be adjusted so it will just cycle the action & pick up the next round from the mag & then one number higher .

    Cost wise , you will not save a great deal over cheap mil-surp ammo ( which I use mostly ) .  You can often get better accuracy .

    As long as the brass has no splits , i pay little attention to dents and dings , they all get ironed out when the primer goes off.  :-)


God Bless
Wyr

Quoted: Aside from the usual, important reloading warnings/precautions, make sure to do the following: Pay strict attention to primer seating.  Make sure the primer pocket is clean, and the primer fully seated.  As the FAL has a floating firing pin, make sure to use CCI mil-spec primers, to help avoid slam-fires.     A primer pocket trueing tool is useful to get all the primer pockets deep enough & bottom perpendicular to the sides . God Bless Wyr Using once-fired or Winchester brass is recommended, as the brass itself is thicker, and at least in the case of the mil brass, the rim is also thicker. Use IMR 4895 powder and 150 gn fmjbt bullets with cannelure.  Crimp 'em. Start low on powder and work up to mil spec.  Remember, civilian .308 loads are usually hotter than mil-spec. A chronograph will help you a lot.  Chrono a few GI ball rounds, and work up your reloads to match their velocity. Remember, it is up to you to follow safety rules when reloading.   One other thing, check your warranty, if any.  Some mfrs will not honor their warranty if you use reloads.

Quoted: Gents, Thanks very much for your time and benefit of your experience.  I have reloaded for years but sporadically as life events and different assignments affected my discretionary time.  I was going to dust of the equipment for the newly acquired FAL, the upcoming Special Edition AR10, and a Snipers Hide special edition rifle being built, (all in .308) so I'm trying to come back up to speed for both precision reloading and the anticipated higher volume (progressive loader) for the autoloaders.     You have no idea what brass damage is untill you run it through a fluted chamber rifle , H&K or CETME ! God Bless Wyr I was at the range last week and the folks in the neighboring lane had a couple of FALs on the line.  I was examining the damage to my brass and asked them if they reloaded.  They both kind of snorted and displayed the damage to their brass and basically told me it was a waste of time for the FAL.  It sounds like theirs is not the prevailing opinion, which is good since a large quantity of brass and bullets just showed up on my porch this week from Natchez. I appreciate your responses.  Thanks again, Brad