I've worked out a trade for and AR upper that I'd thought about unloading for soemtime now.  The trade is for a 5 year old CAI FAL "R1A1Sporter" built on a Hesse receiver.  I've confirmed with the seller that it has the widow's peak feed ramps and not the dredded unibrow.  He says he's put close to 300 rounds through the gun over the last five years (he bought it from CAI) with only a few ftf.  Monetarliy I'm OK with the trade, but as I'm new to FAL's, you guys have made me paranoid as hell about the Hesse and CAI names.  What's your thoughts, should I be OK with this blaster, or am I getting ready to make a big mistake?  By the way, the seller has been an ARF member for over 3 years and has over 400 post.  He's also given me a three day trial period to see if the rifle is what I want.  Eventhough the masses think this gun to be a piece of shit, I'm think I'm gonna give it a go!  Comments please.

Hesse... (1)

CAI  (2)

That's 2 strikes against you.
Save your $$ for a DSA.

I had one of those guns, and I wish I had never traded it - Foolisly, I traded my Hesse in toward a DSA thinking I was upgrading... I am still tempted to buy it back.   Don't worry about the equipment snobs,  FAL's are second only to AK's in reliability.   Some people have had bad luck with Hesse and CAI, but they are not universally bad.   I say do the deal, and if you like the platform and want something better you can always trade up to a DSA or whatnot later..

I traded a $250 .38 spl for a CAI FAL.  I didn't really know a whole lot about the gun.  I will tell you that it took a $200 trip to the gunsmith just to make it function.

Ok so I had the barrel cut and a compensator put on too...

Quoted: Monetarliy I'm OK with the trade, but as I'm new to FAL's, you guys have made me paranoid as hell about the Hesse and CAI names.  What's your thoughts, should I be OK with this blaster, or am I getting ready to make a big mistake?   Eventhough the masses think this gun to be a piece of shit, I'm think I'm gonna give it a go!  Comments please.

I'm fairly new to it too, but i know 6 guys who own then locally and only one has had trouble.

Guy#1 CAI Hesse gun with beautiful Ironwood furniture on it. Gun runs like a top,
and wont miss a beat.

Guy#2 (Myself)  Generic cast receiver CAI with the dredded Unibrow ramp.  No FTF and runs
through SA .308 like there's no tomorrow.  Best $400 i ever spent on a gun.

Guy#3 DAS STG-58  Enough Said.  Over Twice what #2 cost.

Guy#4 CAI IMBEL Inch receiver gun.  Trouble Fails to extract/function at any ans all regulator settings.
I have been tryin to troubleshoot this gun to help get it working and i am at a loss so far. (See posts)

Guy#5 Preban ARGEN F.M.A.P. Nice gun...funs like a champ.

Guy#6 Enterprise Receiver on kit, home built....perfect function. Done in Black Duracoat. SHARP!

As you can see the CAI guns are not all bad. I will put mine up against any DSA gun for
accuracy and function.  I wouldnt worry too much about it if it works, even if it doesnt work,
usually it isnt something very major to get them working.

Good luck and you will love it!!

KyARGuy

I've got a dreaded Century FAL built on a Hesse receiver. It works great and has for the 4 years I've owned it. Maybe I got lucky or maybe alot of the guys that talk shit about century have never actually owned or used one.

Usually its "I heard" or "some one I know had" or some shit like that.

Real problems with these guns are usually minor and easily corrected for minimal money. Things like bad two piece gas pistons, Gas plugs installed on grenade settings, missing cross pins in the gas tube or bad mags. Rarely is there a truely bad gun. As a previous posted said the fal is only surpassed by the Ak in reliability.

Thanks for the responses.  Honestly, I feel a little better about the trade.

If you too only fire 300 rds in five years it might be a decent purchase for you. If you fire 300 rds at a setting you might not be happy.

Some of us put thousands of rounds through our rifles every year and that's our voice of experiance.  

I am also new to the scene and am shooting a Hesse HAR 15, its shooting a 1 in group at 100 yrds.  I find it simply impossible for one company to make all bad rifles.  For mild duty, if you get one like I did its a bargain, and you are right, most of the trash talk about Hesse on this site seems to be from people who never owned one and just "heard" they sux.  

All I can say is, those other FAL manufacturers must make some incredible shit!  I got my Hesse / STG58 yesterday, cleaned it last night, and shot the hell out of it today (witout one single problem).  Those BETTER name brands must shoot themslves, cause I just can't see how they could be THAT much better than the Hesse that I now have and love.  Who knows, I may layoff the AR's for a while and build a DSA FAL, but I seriously doubt it would perform any better.  Thanks to those that told me to go for the deal!