M-14... w/a 25 round mag no less.
As in Post 129 BTW...
Actually, that's a 30 round mag in the M14. I got the rifle from my father. It came with a gorgeous, custom made, tiger flame walnut stock. I still have the stock but I've got it put away to keep it from getting banged up. It's now in a GI fiberglass stock. Dad had used this rifle to shoot Service Rifle. One day, he took it to the Big Gun Show to sell- he was always buying, selling and trading something. When I'd call Dad on the phone, I always started the conversation by asking "Ok, what did you get this week, and what did you get rid of to get it?" I told Dad he couldn't sell his M14, I wanted it.
He said "You got the money?" Being young, newly married and not long out of the Air Force, I did not. I badgered him to let me make payments. He said he'd let me buy it on payments if it didn't sell at the gunshow. Normally, he'd hand me what he wanted sold, give me a bottom dollar he'd take and how much commision I'd get. I always got the price he wanted and made a good buck or two. I figured he'd hand the rifle to me and all I had to do was carry it around all day and simply not sell it. It was mine!
Instead, Dad told me he was going to have a friend who had a table sell it. When we got there, Dad told his friend how much he wanted for it and his friend assured him, at that price and with it's gorgeous wood, it'd sell fast. With that, Dad wandered off into the crowd. I spent the entire day watching that table. There were soft gun cases on that table and I'd shift them to cover up the M14. Sometimes Dad's friend would see the cases out of place, frown and put them back, but when he'd turn away, I covered the rifle again. If someone wandered over to the table and showed a bit too much interest in the rifle, I'd push my way in, pick it up and pretend to give it close scrutiny and mutter about how this looks odd or that isn't right until they went away.
At the end of the day, Dad came back to see if it had sold. His friend scratched his head bewildered and said no. "It's the darndest thing," he added. Me, I just tried to look as innocent as the cat who just ate the canary can, cased the rifle and personally carried it out to the car- and haven't let go of it since. It's a fine rifle and a damn good shooter, one of my favorites. Come to think of it, almost all my favorites I got from my father.
The FALs I built. The Imbel is an Imbel kit built on an Imbel receiver. The finish is worn from being carried a lot but the barrel is in excellent shape. Doesn't look like it was shot much.
The Argy was a new rifle that was part of a shipment sent to the US right before the ban went into place but arrived too late. Customs held them up until it was agreed the importer could break the rifles into it's main parts. The parts, including barrel, were sold as kits and the receivers sold seperately. The kit is like new and the numbers of the lower, bolt & carrier all match (the Argentines didn't number the barrels) but I'm fairly certain it's the original. I built this kit on an Argy receiver.
The StG started off as a DSA built rifle on a Type II receiver. The kit is Austrian and all the numbers matched except the barrel. I bough the rifle complete and used and due to some rather unusual circumstances, didn't shoot the rifle for awhile. Found out later the chamber of the barrel was damaged so I took a deep breath, and ove into the world of FAL building by breaking down my beautiful FAL into a kit and reciever. I used the Type II receiver to do my first build- the Para FAL. It uses a DSA aluminum lower and a SA barrel that was cut back to 18". It's very accurate for a FAL and that's using milsurp ammo. I adapted a forearm from a PTR-91 to help protect my hands from the barrel heat. An HK rear drum sight was used to get the right elevation with the mish-mash of parts. A Battlecomp BABC keeps the muzzle flat and helps with recoil. The Para is a controlled, soft shooting 308 powerhouse and has proven to be very reliable
I found a barrel and a Type I receiver to rebuild the StG. The difference between the Type I, II and III is in the lightening cuts. The Type I is the lightest, the Type II is more durable for full auto fire and the Type III is heavier and easier to manufacture. (There is also what FAL Filers call the "Type 1.5" which the South Africans used on their R1 but that's a story for another time). The Austrian StG is by far my favorite FAL. With the bipod and carry handle removed and a folding charging handle installed, it's the cleanest looking, lightest and best balanced of the fullsized rifles and the sweetest shooting. With just the flash supressor, it's muzzle rise isn't much more than a FAL equipped with the Belgian muzzle brake and it's very controllable. Recoil is comfortable but not as soft as the Para with the BABC. It too, has proven to be ver reliable. The StG and the Para are the FALs I like shooting the best