Love my DSA Medium Contour Tactical!

[J-Man]

Sweet little rifle! Decked it out with their "rail interface handguard" (Knight/Swan style foregrip), Ergo Grip pistol grip, and an Aimpoint Comp M2 mounted on the forward rail scout style. Even with the foregip and heavier barrel it balances right at the magazine, is less than 37" long, and weighs only 10.25 lbs complete (with the sight and a fully LOADED mag even)! I've never owned a FAL before and have found it to be the most stupidly easy rifle to maintain and fire. Cleaning is a snap since I retained the original dust cover (sight in scout position) allowing the gun to be stripped in literally a few seconds. The only difficult thing to remove is the extractor but is MUCH easier with the FN extractor tool. However, the extractor is a real beefy unit and is kinda like an SKS on steroids. Also the butstock comes off easier with a special purpose tool but rarely ever needs to be done. I also love the gas setup- it's the most versatile and adjustable system I've ever seen. Being able to adjust the headspace in the field without removing the barrel is pretty cool too. One interesting thing I discovered is that the Buffer Technologies recoil buffer doesn't fit worth a damn. DSA recievers are blueprint speced so maybee it's a buffer thing or simply a Steyr thing? Don't know as the (admitedly simpler) SKS buffer works great.
Anyway, I've come to realize after a few range sessions that I'm going to have to start reloading!

 

[BusMaster007]

Congratulations on your getting a superb firearm.

 

[JShirley]

FALs rule. I've been wondering if one can interchange upper FAL receivers, as one can AR15's? It would be tres cool to have a .243 hunter, .308 battle, and .300 WSM accuraccy gun, all on one receiver...

John

 

[Nightcrawler]

I have a DSA STG58A "Austrian" FAL. It has a military steel lower instead of DSA's lightweight alloy one, but my buffer fits fine.

You could swap out uppers on a FAL. More accurately, you can swap LOWERS. The magazine well is attached to the upper receiver and (perhaps that's why) the upper receiver is the part you need a FFL to buy. So while you could install mulitple uppers on one lower, it wouldn't be worth it, as the gas system, barrel, bolt, and mag well are all attached to the upper receiver. The only things the lower contains are the trigger group, the buttstock, the rear sight, the selector, and the recoil spring.

 

[BerettaNut92]

Ahhh post a picture!!!

 

[nemesis]

I've been wondering if one can interchange upper FAL receivers, as one can AR15's?

I don't think so. An AR locks up at the front of the bolt, to the barrel extension on the upper receiver. Changing lowers doesn't affect the headspace. An FAL breech-block locks the rear of the BB down into the locking shoulder of the lower and this determines the distance of the bolt face from the chamber. Changing uppers will, almost certainly, change this dimension. Of course, you could always have them all headspaced to one particular lower.

 

[atek3]

as FAL uppers are the registered part. And FAL lowers are like ~150 dollars, seems kinda pointless, unfortunately. AR-10's should be able to do the whole switch upper thing, but they are expensive and unreliable.

atek3

 

[BerettaNut92]

Holy handguard that camo is tacticalicious!!!

 

[J-Man]

I would post pics but I need to take some first!
As for the upper vs. lower the upper receiver does contain the bolt locking shoulder. The lower only has the trigger group, recoil spring in the buttstock and the locking lug assembly (to lock the two receiver halves together). I can see why DSA went to a 7075T6 alloy lower as it is a non-stressed part. The bolt carrier does impact it on it's rearward stroke but I don't see it being a real problem as the gas system is adjustable- and a new alloy receiver costs only $125. Would like the folding stock however (maybe nect year)....

 

[rebbryan]

for anyone interested in some nice gun cover porn there's two dsa's on the cover of G&WLE. from what i've seen and heard of em it'll probably be the first evil rifle i buy, i just need a job. do they have a urban camo pattern for the dsa's?

also how's the recoil managibility of the .308?

 

[Nightcrawler]

I don't think you can install a folding stock on a non-para FAL. Standard FALs have the recoil spring in the stock; the Paras have some other kind of arrangement allowing a folding stock, and (AFAIK) have a different receiver. (I'm not positive, though.)

The recoil on a FAL is noticable, but hardly uncontrollable. Rapid fire is easy and gets easier with practice.

 

[LeadPumper]

Fal for me...

Had my DSA STG 58A type 2 out this past Sunday, still breaking it in. Recoil and blast effect is less than my Savage 10FP 24 inch .308.

That Browning design muzzle brake may be heavy, but it works!

This is my first FAL, and I love it. Had a couple of mag problems with ammo not feeding right. But that was a cheap mag problem, the rifle ran fine. I did have to drop the gas port setting down a couple of notches from factory setting, but otherwise I was getting good feeds.

Accuracy is about what you'd expect from a milspec rifle, but I'll be 'improving' that later.

Overall, I'm real happy with it; it runs great, shoots to point of aim, look very cool(got lots of attention at the range), and is easy to clean.

-LeadPumper

 

[Nightcrawler]

Remember, FAL mags do need to be broken in. New ones have very sharp feed lips that can drag on the brass, causing failures to feed. This is a magazine problem, and not a problem with the rifle itself. I found that the Austrian mags that DSA sells had this problem, but the Israeli ones that CDNN sells do not (and they have a nicer finish).

 

[J-Man]

For PARA use it definately takes a new lower to go with the stock. That and a different top cover and bolt carrier for the return spring. Original PARA's used a slightly different upper receiver to mate up to the PARA top cover but DSA makes covers to fit a standard receiver. If all goes well next year I might get to post some pics of THAT too! The firepower of .308 in a 27" long folded package!