September 2002

FAL Rifle Test: Do Less Expensive Models Make Sense For You?

In our testing, we found Brazil’s Imbel to be okay, and Century Arms’ lower-cost R1A1 rifle was worth a look, but we would avoid Century’s budget-priced carbine rifle.

Recipe for fun: Take a good FAL and add cheap ûammo. This loose .308 ammo was salvaged from ûmachine-gun belts. Of mixed origin and slightly faulty, its cost was low.

Is there such a thing as a bad FAL? FAL is an acronym for the French words meaning Light Automatic Rifle. In our very limited experience prior to this test report, we had seen only variations on excellence in a dozen or so different FAL rifles. In the July 2000 issue, we tested the U.S.-made DSA, Inc. “shorty” version of the FAL, which at the time was listed at $1,495. We have long wondered if you could buy a functional FAL for less money, and decided to find out. …
 
Subscriber Login
Subscribe Now.
  Click Here to download Adobe Acrobat