FAL question.

[Nameless_Hobo]

I'm looking into a CAI sporter at a local store, and I've got a few questions that I can't find answers to on google.

First, commercial ammunition. I missed out on stocking up on cheap surplus. I know most rifles intended for 7.62x51 don't like commercial loads, but I've got a stock of 150 grain Federals. Would they be alright to put through this weapon? How about other commercial loads?

Secondly, reguarding 922r, since it's a sporter, the barrel isn't threaded, and if I'm reading the law correctly, I should be alright with 6 parts, then? Can I replace the furniture (3 points) and the FC group (3 points) and be legal, or do I need to swap more stuff? If, at a later time, I decide to go thread the barrel and stick a USA made flash suppressor on it, will I still be good?

Thanks, amigos.

 

[Deer Hunter]

FALs will handle .308 easily. The adjustable gas system on them means that a large range of loads can be shot through the rifle.

As far as parts goes, www.falfiles.com will give you a plethora of information.

 

[nalioth]

When you buy it from Century, it should have all the necessary compliance parts.

 

[W.E.G.]

I know most rifles intended for 7.62x51 don't like commercial loads

That is not a correct statement.

 

[nwilliams]

The easiest way to replace parts is to replace the gas piston and magazine follower and floorplate, that gives you three compliant parts right there. If you add a US made pistol grip, buttstock and handguard that gives you six total.

 

[Hoppy590]

id stay away from the Magazine route. while it seems like a simple solution, fact of law is, anytime you DONT have that US mag in the rifle, your illegal. also US mags dont have the best rep and are much more $$$ than surpluss

 

[Nightcrawler]

My FAL hasn't had any troble with commercial ammo. Caveat: be careful with reloads. FALs have violent extraction and reloaded brass might give. My FAL ripped the case head off of two rounds of reloaded ammunition during extraction.

Also, some say steel cased ammo is very bad. Some say Wolf is bad, but the nickel plated Silver Bear is better, and the brass-plated Golden Tiger is okay too. Never tried steel cased. It's a shame if it does cause problems, since it's about half the cost of Western commerical .308.

 

[goon]

I can't say for sure on the steel cased ammo but I do know that DSA has a list of "don't use this" ammo that includes steel cased russian stuff.
They build FAL's for a living so I'll take their word for it - and no, it isn't a conspiracy between DSA and Federal to keep you buying expensive ammo. IIRC, they used to use Portugese surplus for their testing.

For ammo, I have shot regular .308 and equivalent handloads through mine without any issues. Just open the gas up until you are venting the right amount out and you probably won't even know the difference.

Also never had any trouble with reloads but I check my cases pretty close and toss anything that even looks like it might maybe be suspicious. Better to just not have to worry about it.

 

[dstorm1911]

Nightcrawler, as "goon" already posted, FALs do NOT have a violent extraction if the gas system is adjusted correctly, in fact they are one of the few rifles that are truly versatile as far as Ammo because of the gas systems adjustability, I keep notes in each 100 rnd box of ammo that lists the load data and the Gas setting for that ammo when used in each of my FALs and L1A1s (I just make a column with last 4 of each guns serial followed by = 1 through 5) this way nomatter which load I'm using from my super light 105 grn loads to 180 grn heavy hot loads as well as each lot of Surplus ammo that way I simply twist the gas setting to the predetermined setting and its ready to go for that box of ammo with super soft cycling and hardly any recoil at all for very fast follow up shots with any ammo.

as far as the Original post, what stock is on this Century? to meet 922R they were sold with a plastic thumbhole stock and USA handguards, if it has a chopped barrel then it should also already have USA FCG set, does it have an Imbel G-Logo receiver? Is it a R1A1 (metric receiver but Inch pattern parts set) it was very common for Century to mate a metric lower to to a metric receiver which was cut for Inch folding charging handle etc... as well

 

[nwilliams]

id stay away from the Magazine route. while it seems like a simple solution, fact of law is, anytime you DONT have that US mag in the rifle, your illegal. also US mags dont have the best rep and are much more $$$ than surpluss

Not to argue with you but...you can buy as many foreign made FAL mags as you want and buy a bunch of mag floorplates and followers for all of them. It doesn't effect the mag integrity and it only costs a couple bucks per mag. The floorplates for my FAL mags cost $1.50 a piece, they are clearly maked US and it only took a few minutes to swap them all out. Its a quick, cheap and effective way to add at least a couple compliant parts to your gun.

Still your point about once the mag is out of the gun its not in compliance is well taken, it just never really bothered me. To be on the safe side it might be a route to avoid, I guess I like living dangerously

 

[aloharover]

Also remember its not the number of US parts that is important, but the number of foreign made ones.
Lots of good info at FalFiles.

 

[Hoppy590]

floor plates are a good option.

i just wanted to be be that "better safe than sorry" guy

 

[silverlance]

EAI is a 07 Manufacturer, so we have a little experience as well. I would suggest that you avoid 308 WOLF Steel case - not because it is necessarily unsafe to fire, but because the steel cases dont always contract fast enough and in the Century builds we've gotten in from customers to work on many suffered for case head separation within the chamber. The extractor yanks hard on the case before the steel has had a chance to shrink back and so rips off the head. the result is that you need a broken case extractor to remove the stuck case - this can be kinda hard if you are using the cheap short handled ones.

Personally I have never witnessed this, though. I own Imbel, DSA, Entreprise rifles, five FAL in all. That said, all my wolf 308 is polymer cased, not the old laquer kind.

 

[dstorm1911]

hoppy, if there is no mag in the gun its the same as not having 3 import parts, its when you insert that import mag that you add 3 import parts to the count......... but then shooting a FAL without a mag is a real PITA so.......

Thats why I'm so glad I did ALL of my L1A1s back before the ban....... and yes they are each documented no 922R parts needed

Only 3 of my FALs are post 89 but they are all wearing DSA wood...... knocks off 3 right there, DSA FCG and Muzzle device and I can use any mag I want......... its really hard to handload those singles when your fingers are cold BTW

Wanna get really trick? checkout the Fal files WTS forum, a user sells replacement barrels made from Rem 700 barrels real cheap in bout any caliber ya want, I did an L1A1 in .243 and just recently an STG58 in .243 no mag modifications needed just one flat shooting FAL..... and the barrel counts as a 922R part, he duplicates any barrel contour ya want and threads for muzzle device etc...

 

[bl4ckd0g]

Does he make .338 Fed and .358 Win barrels for the FAL?

 

[Nameless_Hobo]

Will the century parts have USA marked on them?

Also, I'd like to know about the flash hider and not using one. Will it be needed to get enough parts?

 

[Drakejake]

Commercial .308 is not recommended for Cetmes and the like because of their delayed blowback action. There is a chance of case head separations with this .308, so I have read. Doesn't apply to FALs, which have a totally different type of action.

Drakejake

 

[kentucky_smith]

Make sure your CAI sporter has widow's peak feed ramps and not the unibrow.

 

[AndyC]

Will the century parts have USA marked on them?

Also, I'd like to know about the flash hider and not using one. Will it be needed to get enough parts?

Century parts having USA marked on them - doubtful. Flash-hider - if it's US-made, no problem; if it's foreign-made, you need to add another US-made part to compensate for that.

 

[Nameless_Hobo]

In that case, is there any defining features on the USA parts, or just hope that if you're ever questioned about legality, that they believe it's US made?

 

[AndyC]

Ask Century for a written list as to which parts are US-made - just keep that paper safe to show to any authorities who might enquire. I've kept my receipt listing the US-made parts - more as a show of good faith on my part than any 100% definitive proof.