Golani Galil

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backwoodzboy

backwoodzboy

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Jan 5, 2008
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I recently sacraficed one of my favorite rifles. I sold my Remington 700 sps Varmint that I had tricked out. I used the money to buy my wife some new kitchen flooring. I did end up with a Golani Galil though. I bought 2 extra mags for it, and the were junk. They look like the Israeli mag that came with, except the sheet metal they are stamped out is soft and the cartridges get hung up on the inside. Now the mag that came with, it is an Israeli if I have ever seen one. It runs great, and shoots good too. I want to get some wood furniture for it eventually. I got some Tapco mags on the way, and am anxious to try them out. I am still reading up to see if I can get spare parts for it if something should happen. Over all I am pleased.
 
Do the sites hold a zero? I thought about buying one but the rear being on the dust cover really worries me.
 
BENBRU said:
Do the sites hold a zero? I thought about buying one but the rear being on the dust cover really worries me.
Click to expand...
You are worrying about the wrong thing.

Iron sights do not weigh very much, and do not perceptibly move under recoil.

Put some optics on a dust cover mounted rail? Yes, you'll lose zero with each shot.

If iron sights on dust covers were crap, why do Tromix, Red Jacket, Krebs and other "cadillac vendors" offer them?
 
MAGS

That's the only issue that keep me from buying one. It's a good design but there is nothing but crap for mags on the market. I haven't been on the Tapco site for awhile and didn't realize they were selling mags. I'll have to check that out. It would be nice if the took AR mags.
 
Ar mags

Have any of you tried the adaptors out? I'm retired so I'm not worried about doing ultra fast reloads or zombies attacking so, it would be pretty much a range queen for recreation shooting.
 
The Tapco Galil mags work great. Very well-built and feed well. They're also reasonably priced. Use those to replace your faulty mags. The Galil magazines are frequently rebuilt with AK-47 springs, which have the wrong bend angle to properly support the lesser curvature of a 5.56 magazine. This can lead to the bolt simply running over the cartridge without stripping it from the magazine; the rear is not properly supported and so depresses, allowing the bolt to simply run over it. The Tapcos run well.

The current-production Golani is a top-quality rifle. The build quality is impeccable. The one I have has a Tapco G2 trigger group, which is a standard AK-compatible trigger group. Finding trigger group parts won't present you any trouble. I only wish the rifle was scoped easier and had a shorter barrel. Other than that, I can't fault it.

The Galil receiver cover fits much more tightly than a standard AK receiver cover. It will hold zero just fine with iron sights. It may not be appropriate for precision magnified optics, but 1x sights will make NO difference.
 
I really was excited to see the Golani when it came out, as I have wanted a Galil since the late '80s. Despite having an AR in 5.56 already, and a folding stock AK variant in 7.62 x 39, I wouldn't mind a little "overlap" in this case. I'm wondering if there's any supply out there of magazines for the old Norinco MAK-90 in 5.56? Those should work in it right? My dad has one of those, and never seemed to have feed problems with its clips.
 
Barry, I don't believe .223/5.56 AK/MAk90 mags would work in a Galil. To the best of my knowledge, its magazine is unique to the rifle, unless of course an AR adapter is used.
 
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Mine has been nothing but reliable. Had it a couple of years now and i've enjoyed it a lot, extremely accurate with a tight fitting dust cover - just as it should be. I've upgraded to some wood furniture.
 

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My barrel is chrome-lined. As for magazines, a standard AK-47 7.62x39 magazine WILL lock solidly into the gun. It also locks identically into my Saiga .223, which, if a bullet guide is installed, can take both Galil magazines and Bulgarian waffle mags. There IS a strong possibility the Bulgarian waffles will work in the Golani. I cannot confirm it, though. A Surefire / SGM Tactical Saiga magazine may also work IF you file off the Saiga-specific feed ramp. I'll confirm that if I can find mine (it's been MIA for quite some time, though).

As for reliability, it's an AK with a heavy milled receiver and quality parts. It'll probably outlast you.

By the way, if you DO want to scope this rifle, UTG makes a pretty nice rail system for it. It replaces the front handguard and extends backwards over the receiver for proper scope placement, and goes for $65 to $90, depending on where you find it. The major downside: you have to remove the scope rail to remove the receiver cover. However, it's an AK action. It can go a LONG time before you need to clean the gas system. Just boresnake the barrel and you're good to go.

There's another, slightly nicer system by another company, that doesn't require you to remove the rails to open the receiver cover. They want $480-$500! :barf: I really, REALLY don't want to know what crack they're smoking. The mount is almost as expensive as the rifle itself, and at least 2 or 3 times as expensive as any scope anyone would ever put on it. Even if it was made out of solid titanium, it wouldn't be worth that.
 
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Nice wood jobu07, were did you get it?

I have had my Golani for a few years now and it has been an great rifle, accurate and reliable.
From what I understand they do not have chrome lined barrels though.

IMG_6234.jpg
 
It's a Century. Just ordered the UTG rail mount for mine. I decided I really want to scope my rifle and see how it will really perform, and also attach my Harris bipod to it. This will allow me to do both.
 
I'm pretty sure mine's chrome-lined. Either way, it's a rock-solid design and well worth the money. The manual actually describes the Golani as a 5.56 rifle, so you're good to go with shooting military ammunition. It also has a 1 in 7" twist rate, allowing the use of steel core penetrators and heavier bullets. Bottom line: it's a hell of a rifle. It's big, it's heavy, it's rock-solid. I can't wait to see what it will do once I get a scope and bipod on it.
 
I've had no problem with Israeli Orlite magazines. Most of the steel Galil mags are in rough shape. The M16 adapters work if you get one that fits. My Golani required milling the receiver to get the adapter to fit.

golani_fastfire-1.jpg
 
I got my Tapco mags in the other day, and they fit awsome!!! I had bought 2 of the steel mags I have been seeing around, I didn't see any Israeli markings or IMI marked on them, I wished I knew that before, they are junk. I too wanna get some wooden stocks for my Golani.
 
Some of the earlier AR-15 mag adapters did not fit the Golani properly without milling. This was due, in part, to the earlier ones that had out-of-spec receivers in the magwell area, and also due to poorly built adapters. Newer ones are rated to work with the Golani out of the box, and any fitting is done to the adapter, NOT your gun.
 
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