FAL sight rail

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Nov 16, 2008
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Allentown, PA
Since Uncle Sugar and I parted ways I can now pick and choose my gear rather than having it issued to me. I prefer DSA's fixed stock, 18" barrel FAL. Every rifle has its good and bad points. This rifle is no different.

I have to admit to a relatively new love affair with Aimpoints. I was always an iron sight guy until the first time I played with an Aimpoint. I'm now a true believer. The question then is how to marry the FAL with an Aimpoint.

DSA's heavy duty scope mount is HEAVY and has a reputation in some quarters for causing poor accuracy because of the torque it puts on the upper receiver (the fix for this is purported to be removing the front left locking plate). There is the A.R.M.S. #3 mount which is not as heavy as the DSA but still is no lightweight. It doesn't impart the same torque because it uses the standard dust cover mounting method.

Since all I wanted to do was mount a 7oz Aimpoint, I thought these two options were maximum overkill. So I bided my time not really happy with the choices.

Recently, a fellow down in Texas came up with a way to mount a length of Picatinney rail to a standard FAL dust cover. Voila! The perfect mounting solution for my Aimpoint. I've been putting it through its paces for the past several weeks and I'm impressed. It works as advertised. At this point I'd have to say this scope mount is good to go and am thinking about getting another one to hold a glass scope. That way when I want to switch between the red dot and glass all I have to do is swap the entire dust cover / rail / scope assembly rather than having to buy quick release rings and worrying about how repeatable the zero is.

If anyone is looking for a truly lightweight mounting solution for a FAL, contact Brian Brodhead at [email protected].

Here are a couple of pictures of the Aimpoint mounted on the rail:


FAL_Aimpoint_full_side.gif


FAL_Aimpoint_01.gif
 
Ok that is freaking cool right there. I would not take an A.R.M.S mount if you gave it to me. LaRue does not make one so DSA was the only other option... until now. May I ask what it cost, and did you have to send him your cover or does he sell it as a whole assembly?
 
Looks good, I want one!

I bought an ARMS mount about five years ago. Mounted the scope, sighted it in, maybe 5-10 rounds, seemed fine. Packed it all up into a hard case and brought it from my northern WI home to Texas for a hog hunt, checked zero with another 5 rounds, all good. After the first day of hunting I noticed the mount was wiggling in the receiver.
Not even a box of ammo through the stupid thing, and already useless.

I suppose it's possible my factory assembled Entreprise rifle's receiver is out of spec, but the original cover fits nice and tight.

Gus, I wouldn't take the ARMS mount if somebody gave it to me, either. Unfortunately I had to buy one to find that out.

I like Steve's mount. Let's you add a scope while not changing the classic looks of the FAL.
 
Since the stamped sheet metal receiver dust cover just slides into place I'd be very interested in how stable it stays. If zero stays solid over time it looks like you've found a nice setup.
 
May I ask what it cost, and did you have to send him your cover or does he sell it as a whole assembly?

I think the original price was $75 but he had a batch of rails made up that were accidentally cut to Weaver not Picatinny specs so he dropped the price to $50 for these. I figured I could get away with gambling $50 so I sent him a steel dust cover to which he mounted the rail. I believe he will either sell the whole assembly or attach his rail to your dust cover.

Because he mounted the rail so that it overhung the back of the dust cover by just a small amount I was able to file it to a perfect fit. The upper and lower receivers lock together easily with the back of the rail ever so lightly kissing the bottom receiver at the rear sight. There is absolutely no fore and aft movement of the dust cover.

During the past several weeks on the range I have dismounted then remounted the dust cover a couple of times and there has been no change in zero. I can easily hit paper plates at 100 yards with this rig all day long so I'm a happy camper.

I'm thinking of getting another one of these and mounting a 4x scope to it. I know the Weaver 4x weighs about 9oz so it should work fine. Brian said his son-in-law mounted a variable scope weighing around 18oz to a FAL that he hunts with and has had no problems.
 
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