How bad are Century FAL's, Any easy things to look for?

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bofe954

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Found one for $650. Didn't look at it much at all because I wanted to get some feedback from here first.

I have read a little about rifles imported by Century vs. assembled by Century- How do I know the difference?

Any simple things to look at to know if it will be good or bad, or are they all bad?
 
Who made the receiver? If its an Imbel, it should be o.k. I would ask to test fire it before making any commitment to buy.
 
I don't think I'll be able to test fire. It is a pawn shop. Possibly I could get them to give me some sort of 7 day warranty but I doubt even that...

I have read a description of a feedramp issue, anyone have pics? I think I understand it anyway. Sounds like the feedramp should look similar to an M1A's.

Are the Imbel receivers clearly marked?
 
Whoa, don't get me started...

1st gun: Firing pin FROZEN in bolt, not very visible but made a bang in the back yard.
2nd gun (replacement of said "1st gun"): Charging handle BROKE off
3rd gun: Gun shop traded in Belgian Lower and necessary Belgian upper parts.

Lessons learned: The owner of the local shop is a very good guy and builds much better guns the Century.
My advice: spend 300 dollars more and buy a DSArms gun.
 
If they're as bad as my Yugo AK, I'd pass. I had to send my Yugo AK back to Century twice (both times replaced with "new" rifles) before they got me one that had the front sight on straight enough to get the point of aim on the paper.

I don't know who Century hires for their manufacturing staff, but they obviously are not craftsmen and there is absolutely no quality control.
 
"...their manufacturing staff..." Unqualified monkeys. My apologies to monkeys everywhere.
"...are they all bad?..." As mentioned Century has no concept of QC. Their stuff is hit or miss. They assemble rifles out of parts bins and don't bother the ensure they're safe to shoot. A Century FAL can have 'inch' or 'metric' parts or both. I wouldn't touch any firearm that Century has had their hands on.
 
You will probably get the same answers from users of other boards like falfiles...

Save you money and buy a DSA, or keep looking for an Imbel.

Be safe, BSR
 
Don't be afraid to assemble one from a parts kit, as far as difficulty (1-10) goes an FAL build is about a 4. There still are a few Imbel kits floating around if you look hard enough.
 
As the others have said, it's impossible to say without shooting it - you're testing for both accuracy and feeding/ejection reliability. If it's accurate and reliable, it's good to go IMO, Century or not - but if I'm throwing over 600 clams at a rifle, I damn well want to make sure it works, especially with a rifle made or imported by a maker with a hit & miss reputation.

When I say accuracy, I'm not talking sub-MOA (because the FAL is a battle-rifle, not a sniper-grade rifle), I'm referring to the quality of the barrel (many are just sewer-pipes) as well as how much left or right of the target it shoots, which would indicate an under- or over-timed barrel (screwed too loose or too tight onto the upper receiver, throwing the shot left or right). This is curable with the right tools and know-how.

Reliability - the gas-system on an FAL is adjustable, so you can tune it for the ammunition you shoot (more gas diverted to the piston for cycling weaker ammunition). Feed-reliability depends on the magazines, the feed-ramps, etc - also curable with know-how and the right tools.
 
Since nobody seems to have anything good to say about them... I feel the need to say this. It's my understanding that the century builds are very hit or miss. I happen to have one that works just fine.
 
*Remembers buying a century cetme, and having to have the barrel repressed to get the proper bolt gap*



Friends DONT let friends buy a century made monkey gun!!


IMHO :D
 
Since nobody seems to have anything good to say about them... I feel the need to say this. It's my understanding that the century builds are very hit or miss. I happen to have one that works just fine.
Click to expand...

Without saying I endorse Century or anything, I will say that my Century FAL (bought back when I did not know any better) has been trouble free and acceptably reliable (once I got the gas system dialed in well, it has had one stoppage in the last 500 rounds or so).

Is it as nice as my DSA FAL? Definitely not. But my experience with my specific rifle from Century has been positive.
 
Got my Century FAL for $500, its been good. Many are not. IF you don't know what to look for, I agree save your money for a metric Imbel or DSA.

The "inch" L1A1 mags are harder to find and about twice the price of the metric mags. While many people will say the metric mags work in the English receivers, my Century does not feed reliably with the metric mags, maybe that's part of the reason so may folks have problems, mine came with one metric and one English mag -- Century probably didn't know which was right and sent one of each :)

--wally.
 
I actually got mine for about $450 when a gunshop was closing down and everything was on super sale. That was.. oh.. maybe somewhere between 9 and 13 years ago though. $650 seems to be a pretty standard rate for them nowadays for the ones you see on gunbroker and such.
 
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My advice: spend 300 dollars more and buy a DSArms gun.
Click to expand...
question: where are you seeing dsa fals for only $300 more ?

and also
Personally, for that kind of money, I'd spend not that much more on a DSA or a FAL built by a reputable gunsmith. My DSA STC58C is sweet.
Click to expand...

All the DSA FALs I see are no less than $1200 for the barest model and they go well up from there. How is that "not much more" ? More than twice the price seems like an awful lot more to me.
 
Hexidismal, earlier this year I ordered my STG direct form DSA. I have a friend who has an FFL and recieved the rifle and transfered it for free. This usually costs around twenty five bucks in my area. The price on the rifle may have gone up since I ordered mine, but it was 970.00, shipped, at that time.

If the CAI rifle you're looking at has an Imbel receiver, that alone would be worth about four hundred bucks in todays market. However, if you have problems with it, you've got to fix it on your own dime. Have you ever checked out the marketplace on the Falfiles? There are usually some nice rifles on there. A pretty good group of guys over there as well.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do, and I hope you have some 7.62 milsurp already put away, 'cause that stuff is like gold!

-jagd
 
Imbel receivers are key to the builds. Though they don't insure a good build, but give you good base to "work with" if you need to.

There are a bunch of quality builds out there, and they are less expensive than trying to build your own.

DSA Stg 58s are one of the best bargains out there, if you can find them. They are well built, with quality parts kits, on a fine DSA receiver. You can find these for @$850-1000 from time to time.

Imbel builds can be had for $750 or so, quite often. These have the risk of not being built with quality and care, but offer a good way to get into the FAL platform.

Century's bulids, if they don't mess up the Imbel receiver, are not a bad price, if under $600, even if you have to put 150 into it, you are at 750. Barrel timing would be the worst case, if again, they don't mess up the receiver or grind on any other parts.

Good luck
 
My Century/Imbel FAL has been 100% flawless,it works just as well as any other FAL I have shot or seen.Others have had bad experiences but I consider mine a bargain.I also managed to get a Century CETME that has likewise been a great gun.Maybe I won the lottery twice or maybe their reputation is worse than it should be.
 
I also have had good luck with Century guns. I have a Fal and a G-3 from them and both are working fine. But I did buy these as shooters and wanted something that wouldn't upset me if it got scratched or started showing signs of wear.
 
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