[TheLastBoyScout]

Well the title sort of explains it. On the face of it I'm thinkin DSA FAL for quality and availability of parts/mags, but what's your advice?

I'm not particularly enamored with the M14 platform, mainly because I don't want to deal with $50 magazines. I have no great love for the M1 Garand either, purely as a weapon (from a historical standpoint thats another matter).

Did anything ever come of all the PTR 91 hype? IIRC that was supposed to be a HK91 clone with near HK quality for around 800, but I've never seen one at an FFL or funshow.

[atek3]

if you are at ALL handy, build an IMBEL on IMBEL type 3 FAL.
shoots great, affordable. Then take the money you save and train w/ it.

atek3

[G.I.Jew]

Eagle Arms AR-10.

[duckfoot]

DSA STG58 for around $900 to a $1000

[Preacherman]

I'll second the DSA STG58A. In your price range, I don't think anything else comes close as far as quality of manufacture goes. Of course, for that budget, you could also buy three Saiga .308's... which would be my choice, as the Saiga is based on the AK-47, with all its legendary reliability, and is pretty well made too.

[G1FAL]

if you are at ALL handy, build an IMBEL on IMBEL type 3 FAL.
shoots great, affordable. Then take the money you save and train w/ it.

Even if you're not particularly handy, go this route. Go the the FALFiles, find someone in your area who's built a couple and knows what they're doing, and work something out, compensation-wise. You can probably get the thing built up for about a case of beer, and a couple hours of sitting around shooting the breeze.

[Logan5]

I've been thinking over the same thing, and I'm leaning towards an Imbel FAL for about $500. My local gunshop also has a DSA for $1300, a Century CETME, and some other really sorry looking G3 variant... I like the CETME a lot, but I don't have a set of feeler gauges, and there's the ground bolt fiasco, and the whole fluted cylinder maybe ruling out commercial .308 issue. That'd really be a bummer if John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars ever surrounded my house and I needed to do some zombie splattering.

[artherd]

Most are way too heavy for me, AR-10 is my choice.

If I'm slow to get a shot off, and someone else shoots first, the rifle just became useless.

[jefmad]

How about a FAL from Ohio Rapid Fire? I have not heard bad things about them and you can get a FAL starting at around $550-$600. Seems that it has better quality than the units from Century and has a reasonable price.

[lotus]

Fusil Automatique Légere

[gunmonkey]

I've heard nothing but good things about the ORF FAL and the ORF G3.
Currently I tihnk they are out of the G3. I'm considering getting one of each in the near future. I currently own a CETME and really like it, but might sell it to pay for the other rifles. I had been considering the PTR-91 but a friend offered me a deal on his CETME I couldn't pass up. As far as the PTR-91 goes, all the reviews I've read about it were also good, only bad point was the trigger wasn't all that great.

[sigman4rt]

DSA- STG58 hands down! I've had the M-1A(ok I guess but who has used them besides U.S.), HK-CETME( they shoot ok but are big heavy pigs), AR-10( good shooter, accurate, but mags are now about $100 each), DSA ( best of the bunch, get the DSA top cover with picatinny rail and you can't get a better firearm ANYWHERE!!!).