I had a cetme and was fairly impressed do they compare to the fn-fal and how much of a differance in shooting are they and in price?

The FNFAL is a far superior weapon to a CETME. The CETME is a decent rifle and is an adequate MBR. The FN is superior in design, materials, durabilty, and accuracy.

In the current market, a good quality FN clone can be had for $650. By a clone, I mean that the upper receiver will be a replacement and if it is a post 1989 built rifle, it will have 7 of the original parts replaced with parts made in America. (The upper receiver is the controlled part rather than the lower as with AR15s)

Genuine Belgian made FNFALs bring a premium price. There weren't that many imported and there are enough "factory original" gun snobs out there to keep the price artificially high. Springfield Armory imported some FALs built in Brazil by IMBEL. IMBEL is a licensed manufacturer of FALs and they produced fine quality rifles. In fact, they are still making them. SA called their imported FAL the SAR 48 and SAR4800. SAR 4800 being the post ban version.

There are several gunsmiths that assemble top quality FALs. I would suggest that you surf on over to www.falfiles.com and search around a while.

You might wish to contact Derek at AZEX Arms and have him quote you a price.  He does excellent work and is less expensive than DSA.  He's built two for me.

Regards,
Gary