I have noticed quite a few postings and I have received a few notes asking about which FAL type receiver is best to use to build one of the currently available kits upon.
This question actually intrigued me, before we get into the story further let me get a few things out of the way, I do not have any relationship with any of the business' listed in the text of this story. I can not be responsible for the wrongful or illegal use of the information listed in this text. I am a professional gunsmith with education from N.R.A. listed gunsmithing schools and from NRA gunsmithing programs also. In spite of this I do not claim to "know it all" far from it, everyday it seems I learn something new about my chosen field.
Now lets get moving, To get this idea/project going I purchased two Metric FAL type receivers from the dealers warehouse in Sacramento Ca. they are made by Imbel of Brazil.
I then proceeded to order a Israeli pattern receiver manufactured by Enterprise Arms of Irwindale Ca. and I also dissasembled a Century Arms L1A1 Sporter that had been setting around the shop collecting dust thus having another stripped receiver to use for the project.
I also checked into receivers from Armscorp and from D.S. Arms but I did not purchase any because to be frank I couldn't afford any more receivers Four just about wiped out the check book for the month. Now for parts kits, Since I am going to build four FAL type rifles for my collection I had to try and find the kits for the type of rifles I want to build. A quick note here, since the passage of the crime bill and the enaction of sec.922r it is not currently legal to build a FAL type rifle unless you use a thumbhole type stock. There are certain loopholes but for the average guy out there you are stuck with the thumbhole stock.
I proceeded to order the following kits: From century I ordered two British L1A1 kits and one Israeli Heavy barrel kit complete with wood furniture and bipod (these are beutiful) and from D.S. Arms one of theSTG58 spare parts kits made by Steyr- Daimler-puch for the Austrain Army. These are in my opinion the creame of the crop in FAL type rifle kits.
I am not going to go into all of the basics of assembly of the FAL rifles and I reccommend having the headspace checked by a gunsmith. I will give a quick overview of each gun during the building process though. For my first gun I decided to build a "Bush Rifle" for this gun I cut the British L1A1 barrel down to 16 1/2 inches, recrowned the barrel and installed a Smith Enterprises muzzle brake that is available from Enterprise Arms. This made an really nice package and the overall barrel length is about 19". This barrel was assembled on a receiver from dealers warehouse along with a thumbhole stock from the same place. the Imbel receiver required no real fitting other than the cocking handle needed to be draw filed to reduce the thickness enough to fit the channel in the receiver and the bolt stop diameter needed to be reduced a few thousanths of an inch to fit properly. The Dust cover of Inch pattern guns need to have the "Tabs" ground off to allow the dust cover to slide into place also, I only did this on one since Metric dust covers in truly excellent condition were available at a local gunshow for $2.50 ea.
The imbel receivers were very well machined and finshed, I would have to rate them about a nine on a scale of 1to 10. The other Imbel receiver was used to build a full length barreled L1A1 also and there was no real difference so I will not continue on that subject. One thing that may be important to you out there, the Imbel receiver is the only stripped receiver available with the Ejector block installed from the factory this option runs from about $30.00 to $100. 00 from the other manufacturers.
My Next project was the Israeli Heavy barreled kit put together on the Enterprise Arms Receiver, This receiver really was a good looking piece of work these guys obviously know what they are doing and care about the product, on the negative side this receiver is the most expensive available by well over $100.00ea in fact you can buy a complete Century Arms L1A1 for less than a stripped receiver from Enterprise arms. I like this receiver but the price would preclude me from buying another.
The HB kit was the easiest of all the kits to assemble and as a bounus it was also the most accurate at the range. with factory open sights and using the Bi-pod groups under 2 MOA using junk surplus ammo was easy.
If you are looking for a HB Fal type rifle for range work this is it, but man oh man does it weigh a ton, actually about 14 pounds on my scale.
I would suggest getting one of the Israeli kits while they are available from Century even if you are not buying a receiver right away, they are that nice!!!
The last Rifle is actually proven to be my favorite after the bugs were worked out, The Century Arms receiver was assembled using the STG58 parts kit from D.S. Arms this kit was one of the best looking, it resembles the West German G1 with the light bipod that folds into metal handguards, a wire cutting muzzle brake and a chrome lined hammer forged barrel. These also have wood stocks that appear to never have been issued.
This rifle looks like a million but it also was a pain in the but to get the headspace done correctly, I will not go into specifics but the problem was directly caused by the Century receiver. But after getting the bugs worked out it made a serviceable platform to build a good FAL type rifle.
The following is my unofficial and take it for what it is worth ratings of the receivers used.
I know some people will say my test is not fair because I am not building each rifle using the same kits and since the kits are used parts there are to many variables that come into play. Well to these folks all I can say is , you are 100% correct. I know this isn't a truly fair comparison but then again it was not supposed to be, It is solely my interpretation of the building of four FAL type rifles using receivers from three different companies.
Well, Good shooting all and keep em in the black.