If I was to build a FAL what would I need to buy  - I am talking major components.

Think of an AR 15 with a lower and an upper and slap them together....


Complete Upper Rec(?)
Complete Lower Rec
Front End

Anything else...am I missing anything?

I own an FAL but did not build it.  This will give you a start.  Purchase a parts kit from DSarms
for $295.  This was a gun but the upper receiver was removed and the gun is somewhat
dissembled.  
Buy a Imbel or Coonan(preferable) receiver from FAC.  

You also need replace 6 parts with US parts.
If you use a Coonan receiver that counts a one.  Any parts will do.  You can get more information at
TAPCO.

You can get a video on putting the gun back together at GunPlumber.  From what I understand, the only tricky part in installing the barrel and you
may need a barrel vice but there are other methods.  

The FNFAL.com has lots more information.

Good luck,

Spambo

Here are my projects....

quarterbore.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29

I am starting my build this weekend and I have listed my sources and what parts and some of the special tools that I have... I hope to take lots of pics as we do the first build...

Damn - this sounds a lot more complicated than the good ole AR 15 slap the upper and lower together...

I am intimidated

You need the 2 video and book set that gunplumber sells... best money I have spent in a LONG time!  In the video he shows how to work with the FAL and while the FAL is more complicated then an AR-15 it isn't so complicated that the average person can't do one....

If a person can't assemble an AR-15 then they had best not think about doing a FAL or AK build!

Contact Randy, aka Sledgehammer, he hangs out over in the FAL Files, he's the best FAL gunsmith there is in TEXAS, or anywhere else.

To have a functioning weapon, buy a parts kit, buy a upper receiver, contact Randy to get the barrel torqued and headspaced.  To make legal you will still need some US parts, I beleave it's seven.

Interested in trading the videos for the 1911 build videos from AGI?

Quoted: Interested in trading the videos for the 1911 build videos from AGI?

Not yet... I think I need to watch the video a few more times to digest the system still and I have 2-more builds to do...  just the same, my first build went pretty good and I have played with that rifle more then any of my other projects so far as the FAL is just so different!

Building an F A L is fairly easy. Torquing the barrel and setting the headspace is the only "difficult" part of the assembly. If you have the tools to do these two things, it is an easy operation.

The advice that was given earlier about getting a StG 58 kit from DS Arms is good counsel. The StG 58 rifles were the very best F A Ls ever made and saw very little service with the Austrian Army. The kits are essentially new rifles that had the upper receivers cut up to comply with the Moe,Larry,Curly importation laws.
Speaking of complying with moronic laws, you will need to replace seven perfectly good parts with US made parts in order to comply with the 89 import ban nonsense.

Of the 20 listed evil parts, the rifle may not have more than 10 of them. Of the 20,the F A L has 17, so 7 parts from the list must be replaced.
The F A L specific parts are:
Muzzle device
Barrel
Hand guards ( both right and left hand guards count as a single part)
Gas Piston
Upper receiver
Lower receiver
Bolt Carrier
Bolt
Charging handle ( some simpleton at ATF declared that the charging handle on an F A L is actually an operating rod. It isn't, but there it is)
Magazine Body
Magazine floor plate
Magazine follower
Hammer
Trigger
Sear
Pistol grip
Butt stock

Replace any 7 of these 17 parts with US made parts and your rifle will be in compliance with the 89 import ban. The most common parts replaced are:
Muzzle device
Hand guards
Pistol grip
Butt stock
Fire control parts

If it were my rifle, and I were building an StG 58 kit, I would replace the:
Charging Handle
Gas Piston
Pistol grip
Upper receiver( DCI "Coonan")
Muzzle device
Magazine floor plate(s)
Hand Guards. (DS Arms Belgian style bi pod cut)