[Revolver]

Does anyone here know any thing about Galils. I've seen them advertised but never held one are they any good. Do they come in different calibers. Who are they used by military wise? And most importantly are they fun?

Also in the new CDNN from Volume 2003-3 on page 20 there is this pump action shotgun (12ga)/assualt rifle(.223). Has anyone ever seen one, they look weird and heavy.

Revolver

[BigG]

They are an Israeli-built AK47 type weapon, with the pros and cons of those type guns. They come in 308 or 223, IIRC. Quite expensive, also, compared to the garden variety Communist bloc guns.

[brownie0486]

The Galil was designed by the IDF. It is a mixture of technologies from the AK platform and the FN's I believe.

They took the best features of both and came up with their own design.

It came in 308 and 223 that I'm aware of. 308 being the most popular and better caliber to my own thinking/tastes.

Very rugged, dependable shoulder fired battle weapon.

IDF still uses them to my knowledge. They have been around for 15+ years or thereabouts.

Hope that helps.

Brownie

[marvl]

Galils are quite expensive, running typically in the $3000 range. They're excellent rifles, but Israel phased them out in favor of the M-16 platform (probably an economic decision-- why pay for your own when Uncle Sam will give you his for free?).

IMI made a sporterized version of the Galil known as the Hadar, back when thumbstocks could be used to get around pistol grip hysteria. The result was a rifle that looked like it was from the set of "Planet of the Apes":

http://remtek.com/arms/imi/galil/762/hadar/hadar.gif

[Destructo6]

Columbia uses .308 Galils. There may be another South American country that uses them as well, but I can't recall of hand.

Here's a .308 Galil for $2300:

http://www.dalphon.com/messages/4097.html

Here's a .223 Galil with box for $2700:

http://www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976368072.htm

Here's a ton of Galil pics from Buddy Hinton's collection:

http://www.moneypit.net/~bhinton/Galil/

This really should have gone in the rifle forum.

[marvl]

Here's a $3,500 Galil: http://www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976323106.htm

Here's a $4,000 Galil with scope: http://www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976208043.htm

And here's an example of the Galil sniper setup for $13K: http://www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976330648.htm

I guess it just depends on the seller's level of desperation.

[TODD3465]

They were and are over-priced for what they are.
While better made than most other AK types they are still just an AK with better finish and QC.

The 5.56 Nato version was dropped(read scrapped) by the IDF because the rear reciever blocks were getting stress cracks in them.

I never understood why they didn't just inspect, maybe modify and issue actual AK's to their military as they have captured enough of them to do that over the years. Sort of like what the Finns did with Nagants:D

[MicroBalrog]

I never understood why they didn't just inspect, maybe modify and issue actual AK's to their military as they have captured enough of them to do that over the years

We did.:neener:

[Gabe]

The Galil is a gorgeous looking rifle, but to my POV the whole design concept was flawed. The Israelis decided to make an assault rifle and LMG in one weapon, they ended up with something not quite good at being either IMO.

The bolt locks not into the barrel extension (ala original AK), but into the receiver to help cooling (a consideration for the LMG role). This made Galil less accurate than it could've been. The receiver locking also made it necessary to use a heavy receiver, again good for LMG but made it a real heavy rifle. All rifles had bipods - more extra weight.

As a LMG it wasn't very good either. It had no gas regulator, no belt-fed capability. The 50 round box mag is way too long and awkward. Finally the receiver locking feature for which so much compromise was made was a second-best alternative to firing from an open bolt.

It would've been better if they used different receivers for the rifle and LMG like the Soviets did with the AK and RPK. Give the rifle a gas regulator and light stamped receiver, lock bolt to barrel, dump the bipod. For the LMG use a heavier receiver with beefed up trunion and provide a big drum mag. There that'll about do it.

[Badger Arms]

The bolt locks not into the barrel extension (ala original AK), but into the receiver to help cooling (a consideration for the LMG role). This made Galil less accurate than it could've been.Actually, the AK locks into the front trunion of a three piece receiver that is riveted together in a jig. The Galil replaces these three pieces with a single milled block. Attachment of the barrel to the receiver makes the Galil a more solid and inherintly more accurate package. They didn't want accuracy so much as reliability. The Galil was never and could never be as reliable as the AK because of the design of the minimum taper cartridge (the 5.56x45 and 7.62x51). In reality, none of these is the worse feature of the Galil. The Galil weighs 8 1/2 pounds EMPTY. Carry that monster around with sling, loaded magazine (in Israel, they keep their guns loaded, right?), and a few spare bricks...uh, I mean magazines. Compare this to the battle load of the M-16 that you can get for half the price.

[Tamara]

...and the .308 ones have a nasty reputation for beating themselves to death in relatively short order. :uhoh:

[Kamicosmos]

But you're all overlooking the Galil's two best features:

The Bottle Opener in the handguard.
The bipod can be used as a wire cutter.


Now, what other gun can do that!


I also think the folding stock Micro-Galil's are just dang cool too.


I take it Galils haven't been (or are banned) imported?

[El Tejon]

Galil's BEST feature: unobtainium.:rolleyes:

[444]

I don't know much about the rifle itself, but I have fired both the 5.56 and the 7.62 Galils. They were heavy, they rattled, and had a lot of sharp edges. Of course the 7.62 on full auto was a waste of ammo. I fired the 5.56 on full auto from the bipod and kept the whole mag on a 8" steel plate with no problem at a little over 50 yards.
After firing them, I easily see why they were abandoned for the M16. The M16 is vastly superior.

[winstonsmith]

... They were heavy, they rattled, and had a lot of sharp edges. Of course the 7.62 on full auto was a waste of ammo. After firing them, I easily see why they were abandoned for the M16. The M16 is vastly superior.

I once knew a guy who had handled a galil for the IDF. He basically stated the exact same thing. Of course he didn't like the M16s that much either.

Here's a website full of Galil info.

http://remtek.com/arms/imi/galil/index.htm

[Fed168]

You will find them floating around South America, the Middle East, and in South Africa- their version is the R4, and I think in Europe.

[Jedi_7.62]

I was under the impression Israel only abandoned them because the U.S. started sending M 16's over dirt cheap.

Economics and Politics the M 16's best friends.

[JShirley]

The Israelis receive funding from the US every year...to buy US weapons. Even with a slightly "better" Israeli weapon, it's more economically feasible for them to buy US.

[444]

Maybe this guy knows what he is talking about, maybe not.

http://www.isayeret.com/weapons/assault/m16vsak47.htm


"The truth is that the M16 is by far the more superior weapon. It's lighter, more accurate, more versatile, and with proper maintenance it is very reliable. Indeed, it might be less sand proof then the Galil/AK47 series. However, all you need is to clean it once a day and it will work properly. Since modern armies clean their smallarms on a daily even during combat deployment this is a non-issue. "

"Thus, the reason for the IDF usage of the M16 over the Galil isn't the cost. It's the pure quality of the M16 over the Galil. Most of IDF troops dislike the Galil and will prefer a CAR15/M4 over it."

"Note that this was years and years before the IDF officially adopted the M16 in the early 1990's. The IDF SF units that adopted the CAR15 didn't had any cost issue at mind. They could have used either the M16 or the Galil. It made no matter budget wise, since both weapons were already available in masses. The decision was purely quality based and no one told the units which weapon to use. More clearly - in some IDF elite units the Galil was simply never used and they always preferred the CAR15 over it."

"Lets again review the situation in the early 1990's. The IDF had large sums of Galil variants it procured over the years, and it also had large sums of M16 it received in the 1973 war as well as in U.S. Army surpluses shipments over the years. Both weapons were available in masses and there wasn't any current or near future need to procure either weapon. The IDF also had thousands of AK47 that were captured over the years. So the IDF could use the AK47 free of charge over M16 or Galil."

"Eventually, the IDF chose the M16, so again cost wasn't really an issue. Further more, even if there was such a cost factor, then the IDF could have simply supply all rear line troops with the cheaper M16 and issue the more expensive Galil to the front line troops. The fact that the exact opposite was done speaks for itself. "