New FAL Owner Questions

[Drakejake]

Today I bought a CAI (Century) FAL said to be metric. How can I tell if this is a metric FAL? How can I tell if Century made the receiver? Other than the words "Century Arms Inc, Georgia, VT, R1A1 Sporter 308 Cal, Made in USA," I find no other words anywhere on the rifle. The CAI serial number is on the mag well but there is a different number on the rear of the receiver. This number begins AD and ends with 1956. Is the latter a date? I got two mags with the rifle and they can be installed and locked in, although they are tight. How can I tell if these are metric or inch pattern? Should I care?

Thanks,

Drakejake

 

[Bwana John]

Metric mags have a "beak" on the top/front that is stamped out of the body of the mag to hold the mag into the reciever.
Inch mags have the beak on a reinforcing plate on the front of the mag.
Sometimes metric mags work in a inch receiver, but not very well.
Inch mags are more robust, metric mags are a lot cheaper.
The only number that matters is on the CAI upper reciever, that is the serial number.
For more info, go to the FAL files Facs, and search for inch vs metric differances.
First thing to worry about, are the feed ramp(s) "unibrow" or 2 seprate ramps.

 

[444]

Metric vs. Inch

I believe two ways to tell are whether or not the rear sight folds down or not. Folding is inch, rigid is metric. Another is how the pistol grip attaches: if it screws on from the bottom, it is metric. If it screws on from the top (through the lower receiver) it is inch. There are certainly other differences, but those are two.

The receiver will be marked as to who made it. If it is marked Century, then I think that is a safe bet to assume they made it.

 

[idakfan]

I'd assume the R1A1 designation is their version of the L1A1 which uses an inch-pattern receiver.

Somebody will answer soon who knows. I had to chime in though...

 

[boing]

My R1A1 is metric.

 

[nickthecanuck]

I think a lot of the Century FALs were inch kits on a metric receiver.

 

[Drakejake]

Nick, your comment seems to apply to my FAL. The folding charging handle, folding rear sight, "yds" on the rear sight, dust cover with tabs, lack of auto bolt hold open, etc., suggest that most of the rifle is inch pattern. But the notch in the front of the mag well seems to indicate that it was intended to take metric mags and these indeed do fit and lock in very well. I do not think that Century made the receiver because it has another, older-looking serial number in addition to the Century number. At any rate, I like the looks of this rifle, which does not show any abuse, heavy wear, or bad fitting. I hope to shoot it soon.

Thanks to all for the helpful information.

Drakejake

 

[m39fan]

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE WITH CENTURY R1A1's!!!! The combinations are endless. The FAL have two piece recievers like an AR-15. That's why you have TWO serial #'s. Your lower is definitely Inch as the serial number shows that it's Aussie like mine. The upper reciever was made by Century when they built the Aussie kit back into a working weapon. The guys on the FALFiles can give you an accurate date. As to mags, if yours is like mine, it may PREFER metric mags even if cut for inch mags. This is a GOOD THING as the prices are very different between the two with a buyer being able to get 2-3 metric for every good inch mag. A good source for new/as-new metric mags is CDNN. $8 gets you a new mag and loader.

BTW, the upper recievers on R1A1's can be either metric or inch depending on what kits they were trying to put together at the time or what they had on hand (picture an inch kit on a metric upper!). They even had some metric uppers that were inch cut (look in the mag well, if it has a groove going across it's inch). The easiest way to tell if the LOWER is inch or metric is to look at the back of the reciever where the buttstock attaches. If the lower is straight then it is metric. If it has two protrusions at the lower edge it's inch.

HTH,
Mike

 

[GunGoBoom]

I think a lot of the Century FALs were inch kits on a metric receiver.

Bingo - frankenfal, most likely.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

FWIW, I just picked up an R1A1 today. It's marked "METRIC" inside the magazine well.