DSA FAL question

[Flyboy73]

I just got a DSA STG58 FAL from AIM surplus. The gun did not come with a carry handle. I see ads for FAL parts and many have the handle for sale.

Does the Handle mount to the receiver? Can i mount a handle on my gun or was it not built to take one?

Thanks for any info.

Brion

http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/DSA__Inc._.38_7.62x51_STG58_FAL_Rifle.html

 

[Lone_Gunman]

The receiver has to have a cut for the carry handle... Some DSA rifles have the cut, and some don't.

Other than adding to the FAL look, the handle is otherwise pretty useless. You really don't want to be seen carrying your FAL around like a pocket book.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Lone Gunman is correct. If you will notice in the ads for DSA FALs you will see the receiver type mentioned as Type 1 or Type 2. Type 1 can be ordered with or without the cut, Type 2 is always cut for the handle. Type 1 was used from the introduction of the FAL up until the early 60's and from then on everything was Type 2.

Here's a picture from DSA's website showing the cutout. You can look and see if your receiver is cut. Hard to see in this small picture but this shows the cutout.

 

[ny32182]

That is a great deal from AIM, btw. Anyone who wants a basic high quality FAL would do well to take them up on that price.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Yes, that is a very good deal... you ought to get on that if you want one.

 

[Bwana John]

Can i mount a handle on my gun?

ITS NOT A BLOODY PURSE:banghead:

 

[Flyboy73]

Wow, some people don't like carry handle. Guess you guys are AR flat top only too.

Anyways i picked up the FAL a couple of days ago, but havn't had a chance to take it out and go over it real good due to my work schedule.

I like my guns to look as close to the Military gun, hence adding the carry handle.

Brion

 

[Flyboy73]

After studying the AIM pics and DSA pics, looks like the AIM one does not have the carry handle cut.

No purse handle for me.

Brion

 

[ny32182]

The one in the AIM stock picture does not have the carry handle cut. You can't add one if that is the receiver you have.

Personally I like having it on there just because it looks a little more "correct" (both mine have it) but it would not be a deal breaker for me either way on a good rifle.

It bears repeating; that is an outstanding price on that rifle these days, especially considering AIM apparently has them in stock. I ordered my SA58 and STG58C straight from DSA; seems like I paid only very slightly less than that for my STG58C, and the wait was something like 12 weeks+ both times. And that was well before Obamapanic.

 

[JHansenAK47]

Wow, some people don't like carry handle. Guess you guys are AR flat top only too.

When I was in the Marines if you carried your rifle by the carrying handle and anybody saw you they would make you wish you hadn't. Anything ranging from a turtle F#%^ (hitting your kevlar while you are wearing it with another helmet) to just plain old playing games. (Making you do stupid things you don't want to do often for their own amusement) It is just how they like to teach you not to do something. The only carry handle you could use was on the 240 machine guns. The carry handles on the SAW are actually more for changing a hot barrel and will bend if you carry it by them. Most the time they don't change out the SAW barrel because you probably need to shoot something and that is why it is hot.

 

[Flyboy73]

It bears repeating; that is an outstanding price on that rifle these days, especially considering AIM apparently has them in stock. I ordered my SA58 and STG58C straight from DSA; seems like I paid only very slightly less than that for my STG58C, and the wait was something like 12 weeks+ both times. And that was well before Obamapanic.

I agree I orded from AIM and had it in 5 days. Would have been quicker if my FFL had his current FFL on file.

Brion

 

[BruceB]

No, "it's not a bloody purse!"

It's a RIFLE....with a CARRYING HANDLE.

Back in the '50s, I was trained in the Canadian Army with both the #4 Mk1/2 and the C1/C1A1 (FAL) rifles. We had a carry position, used on longer marches with BOTH rifle types, called "trail arms"; that is, the rifle was "trailed" horizontally at one's side.

In the case of the #4, the carrying hand was simply wrapped around the fore-end just ahead of the magazine.... the natural balance point of the rifle.

With the C1/C1A1, the carrying handle was used, and we liked it a great deal. It was also at the balance point of the rifle, and because of its dimensions, a man could carry two or even three rifles in one hand (in the event of an incapacitated comrade, for example).

I seriously doubt that anyone would want to tell one of our mostly-war-veteran NCOs of that time that the "trail" position was a girly technique, or that the carrying handle was not to be used because the rifle is "not a purse".

Because other organizations may have done things differently (with a different weapon, mind you) neither makes them wrong, nor us right....just different from each other.

The handle makes a ten-pounds-plus rifle much easier to maneuver in many situations. For a civilian user, a more-valid criticism is that a receiver without the cut for the carry handle may be somewhat stiffer, and thus allow better accuracy. Having been without an FAL for a few years now, I'm thinking about a DSA myself. It will have the carrying handle....it's just part-and-parcel of my long experience with the rifle, and I'm WAAAY too old to change my spots now.