ok so i am new to the fal world i have been doing some reasearch and i have come up with a short list of questions that i have any responses are greatly appreiacated i have built sevral ar15s and i am looking for somthing bigger prefrably with a 16 to 18 inch barrel and a folding stock i am kinda on a budget so any help would be appreiacated

1. should i buy parts kit and just build one upfrom there or just try to find a complete rifle that has what i want?? and if i go with a parts kit which one should i buy?
2. what is the diffrence between "metric" and inch"??
3. assumeing that i am going to be going with a "para" model cause i want a flolding stock are there any shortcomings that i should be aware of versus the standard fixed stock models?
4. how hard are fals to assemble versus an ar15?


again thanx for  your help in this venture

chris

Quoted: ok so i am new to the fal world i have been doing some reasearch and i have come up with a short list of questions that i have any responses are greatly appreiacated i have built sevral ar15s and i am looking for somthing bigger prefrably with a 16 to 18 inch barrel and a folding stock i am kinda on a budget so any help would be appreiacated--I hope your budget is bigger than the ones I usually have 1. should i buy parts kit and just build one upfrom there or just try to find a complete rifle that has what i want?? and if i go with a parts kit which one should i buy? 2. what is the diffrence between "metric" and inch"??Metric is most common made all over the world, Inch produced in British Commonwealth (UK, Australia, Canada); India has a kind of mixed breed, mostly inch, but some other things thrown in for fun. Not really that big a difference, just metric parts and mags are easier to come by. 3. assumeing that i am going to be going with a "para" model cause i want a flolding stock are there any shortcomings that i should be aware of versus the standard fixed stock models? 4. how hard are fals to assemble versus an ar15? again thanx for  your help in this venture chris

I answered the only questions I know anything about. The Para FAL is very cool, I want one eventually. Building is a little more complicated, I think. I've never done it, so someone else will need to chime in. Imbel Kits are usually pretty good. If you can find Argentine parts, they seem decent too. You might want to wander over to falfiles.com for more information.

Quoted: 1. should i buy parts kit and just build one upfrom there or just try to find a complete rifle that has what i want?? and if i go with a parts kit which one should i buy? There aren't really any simple answers to your questions.  What tools do you have? What is your skill level? How tight is your budget?    If you decide to build, the best kit is an StG58 kit. DS Arms still lists them on their site. The next best would be an IMBEL kit. ( Current market). There are still some South African R1 kits on the market, but these should be your last resort. The reason is that R1s were used heavily in combat and the kits show it. 2. what is the diffrence between "metric" and inch"?? The answer to this question are too complex to be fully answered in a short post. Metric kits are far less expensive and easier to come by than inch. 3. assumeing that i am going to be going with a "para" model cause i want a flolding stock are there any shortcomings that i should be aware of versus the standard fixed stock models? The only real shortcoming ( if you want to call it that) on a para is the recoil spring set up. It is more delicate than a standard and for someone that is not familiar with it's design, easily messed up. It isn't that big of a deal, so long as you understand it. 4. how hard are fals to assemble versus an ar15? The only real difficult part of building an FAL is setting the barrel in the upper receiver. The reason for this is that the upper receivers tend to vary just a little bit in the barrel face area and it is common for the barrel shoulder to need to be machined in order to time properly. The shoulder shaving can be done at home if you have the tools. Shoulder shaving tools are sold regularly in the marketplace forum at FALFILES.COM. Beyond this, FALs are very easy to assemble. again thanx for  your help in this venture chris