just picked up my new FAL yesterday and it looks like something is goofy with it



does that look "off" to you?

won't get out to shoot it until the weekend after next so the real check will be to see how it shoots

can't see anything wrong, what were you referring to?

take the hanguards off and put them back on again, they are probably just a bit crooked.

I thought maybe this was going to be a picture of a boob job gone bad!  

i was expecting someone to reply with

"switch hands, it'll even out"

Colinjay

It is not the handguards. The seam on the handguards line up with the center of the front sight.

Red_Beard
By looking at the top of the receiver and the front sight it looks like the barrel might be incorrectly timed. I tihnk it is overtimed. Generally that is not a serious problem unless you run out of adjustment on the rear sight.

The one problem that I can see if it is overtimed is that the builder had to overtime it to get enough torque to hold the barrel. If that is the case, it can be solved with a breeching washer.

No matter what if you change the timing on the barrel you will need to check the headspace on the rifle. Although if you are only changing the timing by a degree or two I don't think it will have a significant impact on headspace.

If it is overtimed then find someone with a receiver wrench and barrel vise to help you correct the timing. Go over to www.falfiles.com and post in the gunsmithing forum. I am sure there is someone in your area with the proper tools.

Rusty

thanks for the advice

this is a DSA stg58 that they just put together, so if it's a problem, it should be fixed under warrantee

i haven't had a chance to shoot it yet (a week from saturday, damnit), but provided it shoots straight, is there anything to worry about? i.e. can having things a little bit out of alingment like that shorten the life of the rifle? if it shoots ok i'd just as soon not blow money shipping it unless there are other problems that oculd arise.

Red_Beard

As I said above. The only real problem is if you run out of adjustment room on your rear sight. Other than that it should be fine. It will not hurt it a bit to shoot it that way.

Rusty

Yep it's SNAFU just send it to me, and forget about it these things happen. I will dispose of it properly at no charge to you.

Everything looks straight to me, it just appears your bipod is whats off kilter. As it is an adjustable bipod, try this.

Grab rifle by buttstock, while bipod is on the ground.

Rotate buttstock counterclockwise.


Should be all done....

Thats one of those WWII German shoot around the corner guns.

I cant see anything wrong.

Quoted: thanks for the advice this is a DSA stg58 that they just put together, so if it's a problem, it should be fixed under warrantee i haven't had a chance to shoot it yet (a week from saturday, damnit), but provided it shoots straight, is there anything to worry about? i.e. can having things a little bit out of alingment like that shorten the life of the rifle? if it shoots ok i'd just as soon not blow money shipping it unless there are other problems that oculd arise.

I assure you if this rifle was built by DSA it is timed correctly. I also assure you if it was built by DSA, all of it is built correctly. DSA barrels don't over time as a matter of fact, I have never seen a better FAL barrel and if it is a used Steyr barrel the same applies as all DSA receivers are made to Steyr spec. If DSA did it, it is right rest easy.