? Century L1A1 Sporter

[Onmilo]

I'm not sure the cast receivers are "as good" as the forged receivers having never owned a cast receiver FAL.
Enterprise Arms made some cast receiver FAL rifles and I believe the receivers were cast by Caspian Arms who produce high quality stuff.
Spring Inc. M1A receivers are cast as are many 1911 frames now and not too many complain of them with any real merit so,,,,

 

[theinvisibleheart]

10-4, thanks for the insight.

 

[surfinUSA]

Most FALs including the later FNs were cast. I read on FAL files that some of the Century unibrows were made by Caspian. The one I had was excellent, never jammed and was accurate. I used L1A1 inch mags in it. Some were tight but they worked as they were supposed to.

For all the bad press Century gets, the two L1A1s I had worked fine. One was built with a Hesse FAL-H receiver and took metric mags. It always worked. It wasn't as accurate as the one with the Century unibrow receiver, but that may have been differences in barrels.

Both guns were worth what I paid for them and the people that bought them from me got a good deal and seem happy with them. The Australian parts kits century used to assemble them were pretty
nice.

 

[theinvisibleheart]

More pictures

I have question. I got this recently in this configuration (no thumbhole stock).

The guy I got it from claimed that it came this way.

Did CAI ever release L1A1 Sporter like this?

Also, what is the heritage of the kit? Inch or metric and how do you know? The receiver is marked "Imbel, Brazil" in small letters above the s/n.

Thanks.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

ALL CAI L1A1 rifles use metric dimension receivers and use Metric magazines as far as I know.

My Century Arms Imbel L1A1 used both metric and inch magazines. Wish I had never sold it but hard to turn down $1250.

 

[theinvisibleheart]

My Century Arms Imbel L1A1 used both metric and inch magazines. Wish I had never sold it but hard to turn down $1250.

CAI L1A1 Sporter cost that much now? Why? Isn't that as much as DSA FNFAL which are higher quality?

 

[jimmyraythomason]

CAI L1A1 Sporter cost that much now?

That's what I sold mine for with 3 new magazines. It actually brought $1300 but I knocked $50 off because the buyer came to me to pick it up.

 

[theinvisibleheart]

My Century Arms Imbel L1A1 used both metric and inch magazines. Wish I had never sold it but hard to turn down $1250.

how do you know if L1A1 Sporter works with only metric mags or both (inch and metric)?

Thanks for the 'FAL' education!

 

[theinvisibleheart]

1 more ? to FAL experts on THR: just did a quick and noticed that prices of both CAI L1A1 Sporters and DSA FALs really WENT UP.

Why? I thought CAI FAL used to be around $500 and DSA around $1K.

 

[Onmilo]

I bought my Century back when they were $500
New barrel was $150 & I think DSA charged me $150 for the install
Sold the gun with a top mount scope cover for $900 and that was years ago

 

[theinvisibleheart]

I bought my Century back when they were $500
New barrel was $150 & I think DSA charged me $150 for the install
Sold the gun with a top mount scope cover for $900 and that was years ago

it sounds like any time one can find cheap ($400-$500) L1A1, even CAI/cast, it's a steal NOW.

I guess cheap kits have dried up.

I wander why prices of AK have started to come down, though, except for Arsenal...