AHH! is this gun any good?

[SirSavage]

I've put 100 down on this riffle and am supposed to pick it up on Saturday for $550. But now I'm reading mixed reviews of Century International FALs.

On the FALfiles a guy posted a gun that looks just like the one I'm looking at and they said he got a steal. Others say it's risky and everyone says to check the head spacing.

what do you guys think?

Here's a pic:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/HucksCamp/CAIL1A13.jpg

 

[JimmAr]

My mosins from them shoot well.. ive heard mixed good and bad myself.. the most of the FAL threads have been good and bad.. id call it 50/50 hit or miss..

 

[ugaarguy]

Is it one of their IMBEL receiver guns? It will say something like:
"R1A1 Sporter
Receiver by IMBEL Ita juba, BRAZIL
Imported by CAI, St. Alb VT"
IMBEL makes some of the best metric FAL receivers available. With an IMBEL receiver you'll have a good foundation to build on. If you're comfortable with the possibility that you may need to upgrade parts here and there, and you want an FAL go for it. I had a Century FAL sporter and it was a good rifle for the money. If you're willing to buy and install US made parts for increased 922r compliance you can turn an IMBEL receiver Century into a really nice FAL over time. Parts aren't terribly expensive from DSA either. I'm sure the FAL experts here can give you more specifics and advice on what to upgrade, and how to do it.

 

[powermad]

Being it has the bunghole stock it will most likely be an Imbel or FMAP (Argentine) receiver. Both are good and easily worth $500 for just the receiver.

You don't need 922 parts if you keep that stock on it.
You will need 6 parts if you keep the muzzle naked, 7 if you go with a flash hider.

The lower will have to be repaired as they modified it to fit that stock. I believe gunthings has what is needed to put the pistol grip back on it.

On any surpluss kit gun I would check the headspace. If you know who put it togeteher then that's not an issue.

It is not a complicated rifle and if it has issues they are all easily taken care of.
That is a good price for that rig, Good find.

 

[akolleth]

Very good deal--

 

[Odnar]

I picked one of these up at my local gun store a couple years ago (with pistol grip instead of thumb hole). CAI. When I first took it out, it wouldn't cycle at all. Then I realized that the gas port was completely open. I closed the knob about half way and it has worked flawlessly through a half case of .308 surplus since then. Only problem is that someone mounted a scope rail on top that shoots so low that there's not enough adjustment on either of the two scopes I tried. Shoots better with the iron sights than my eyes do, though.

Got mine for $375 with six mags and a brand new assault rifle case.

 

[SirSavage]

AWESOME. Thanks guys, I'm happy to hear that! I was gettin nervous.

But tommarow there's a gun show I guess I should go to that before I go pay for this FAL. But I'll probably get the FAL.

Either way when I get it I'll post pics!!!

Thanks.

 

[Kind of Blued]

Looking forward to the pics. I'm craving a FAL, but am having trouble scraping up $800-900 for a DSA STG58.

 

[sadp40]

i love my fal

its an imbel receivered stg58. the only thing century did was assemble it. and 500 rounds later its obvious they did a fine job. don't sweat it.

 

[CrazyIrishman]

L1A1 Fal w/ Imbel/CAI receiver

How do the FAL's with the Imbel/CAI (non-gear logo) compare to the Imbel receivers that do have a gear logo?

Are they about the same or is one better than the other?

Also,were the non-gear Imbel L1A1's "sporters" imported as a complete rifle or did the monkeys at CAI build it?


Thx,
CI

 

[powermad]

All Imbel receivers are the same quality wise. Some just like the gear logo on it.

The only Imbel rifles that were imported complete were the Springfield armory ones. The SAR48(preban) and SAR4800 (postban)

 

[The King of Pants]

For $550 I'd grab it even if it might need tuning to run 100%.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

Not to brag but I put my FAL together for $400 a few years ago and it has eaten everything I have put through it. Now I just put a ceramic coating on it so it runs completely dry and is impervious to any weather condidtion