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Anyone read Fred's guide to becoming a rifleman? He lays out a scenario of having to take up arms. He recommends the M1A.
Personally I'd go with an AR or M1A. The AR would probably be better for an all around purpose, where the M1A will be perfect for long range (which would be the preferable one IMO). The few times I've shot one I have done better than with an AR for some reason.
Well that all depends…..
If the cause is just, the rhetoric persuasive, and the leaders charismatic, I’m sure all that will be required is a constructive dialog, charismatic leaders and a sharp wit.
If the revolution has a fighting chance, I’d go for the AR-15.
However, if the revolution is a total fart in the wind and destined to be yet another historic footnote of failure, I’ll go out in a blaze of glory with the Garand.
For those of you who are fans of the FAL, or want to know a bit more about it, this story appeared today at Military.com. Click on this link:
http://www.military.com/news/article/the-ultimate-battle-rifle.html?ESRC=dod.nl
Nice article, but he refers to the "folding" and "fixed" carrying handles I suspect he means the charging handle.....
I also think he's never reloaded a FAL as the mag release is perfectly located for the left thumb to release after inserting a mag. Very fast.
TimJ, I do believe there were some folding stock FALs. It's not the charging handle they are talking about. They do make a folding stock, 18" barrel paratroop version, and others as well.
How many guys did you serve with would take orders to kill civilians? Every Marine I knew and was friends with would take off their EGA and join the "right" side of the fight.
Every piece of machine needs fuel. Taking out logistics isn't a very difficult task. If push came to shove and we revolted against a tyrannical government I would put my money on guys like us, knowing damn well a good percentage of active duty soldiers would join us.
He wants it because all the French milsurps are in "Never been fired" condition.
Dench, I don't know what oath you swore to, but the one I swore to was to protect the Constitution against ALL enemies foreign and DOMESTIC.
hey thanks for putting words into my mouth. i really love it when people reply/question/criticize things ive never said.
Well, you are the one that figured some of the troops would willinly shoot US Citizens, not me.
Check your posts. Even Derek called you on it.
Yes they do ;-). But he mentions handles in the article....
I've been building FAL's since the early 1990's....
in my opinion there are many people in the military and the government that wouldnt think twice about shooting any person for any reason.
TimJ, that was the point he was making. There is a "folding handle". You don't show it on yours, but it's sort of the more memorable of FAL features. Black metal, swivels on a pin at the barrel/receiver, has finger grooves.
I thought that was standard on "Inch" FAL's.
"Most metric-pattern FALs came in full-auto with fixed carrying handles, while inch-pattern FALs were predominantly semi-auto with folding carrying handles. Once again, exceptions are the rule, so you can't simply glance at a FAL and decide from, say, the selector or the carrying handle whether it's inch or metric."
Metric and Inch FALs came with carrying handles that folded, except for a limited number of PARA's that came from the factory without the carrying handle cut. Some countries removed them, the British SAS was noted for removing them from L1A1's.
I think the author was edited badly or was typing late at night and got the carrying handle mixed up with the charging handle, as the L1A1 came standard with a folding handle that was usually seen only on Metric PARA rifles. Most Metric rifles have a fixed, or non folding, charging handle.
The Folding cocking handle was only seen on 1 Metric Paratrooper rifle that being the FN 50.63 as the FN 50.61 and FN 50.64 do not have the Folding cocking handle but are still a Paratrooper Model FN FAL
There also "May" be other Licensed FAL paratrooper rifles that use the folding cocking handle but none that were made by FN excepting the Belgian paratrooper rifle that the folding cocking handle is famous for use on the FN FAL Paratrooper Rifle issued to the Belgian army.
SO to recap the folding cocking handle Came on the civilian semi auto rifle made by FN known as the 50.63 and the Belgian army FN FAL Paratrooper rifle.
The Inch carrying handle is more robust than the Metric handle, having finger grooves and a larger diameter. It is also fixed, in that the handle itself does not rotate, just the assembly itself. Like Metric ones it folds against the right side of the receiver or can be rotated up to 180 degrees. In the upright position it can be used like the M-16 handle to carry the weapon, rotated all the way to the left it can be used to poke you in the stomach when you carry it. Most Metric handles are smaller in diameter, round, and rotate around the metal shaft they are mounted to. Of course there are innumerable variants in FALs, so they are variations in Metric handles.
Currently I don't use them on my rifle, although I can and do put them on occasionally.
I enjoyed the article. cameron Hopkins is usually a pretty good writer. I just thought the faux pas was funny.
One slight correction.
in RED
Example of the FN 50.63 Note the rear sight is the wrong model The historacly correct rear sight for the FN 50.63 is the fixed position "Holland" sight.
Holland sight shown below.
What's the source for the quote? Although I'm not sure if it's germaine. In the article, the author stated that the FAL came with fixed and folding carrying handles. I've never seen nor heard of a fixed carrying handle for the FAL. I was only addressing that one glaring error. Although I do think the FAL's bolt release is better than the AR's. And I think the AR's is great.
All British, Australian, Canadian (C1), and Indian L1A1's came (come?) standard with a folding cocking handle. Some very early trials models had fixed ones, but the production models had folding ones that are the same, functionally, as the Metric folding charging handle. Some models made by other countries used folding handles- Argentina, for example, and the non-"Holland" style rear para sight. Brazil is another, my para kit is Brazilian and has the other para rear sight.
Unless I'm missing your point, which is possible.