Stumped by FN-FAL

[speedreed]

Hey all - I'm looking for advice/info on an Australian L1A1 I've been building. It needed a new barrel and I ordered a L1A1 original replacement but wasn't happy with it. So I ordered a new STG-58 barrel from DS Arms. It's a great looking piece but it came with the metric gas block installed and with a short 6" gas tube silver-soldered to it. I thought OK, I'll just swap gas blocks. But then I noticed that the original gas port was drilled at an angle through the gas relief opening, and the metric port was drilled straight down through the front sight. It appears that the old gas port is going to misalign with the port in the new barrel by a half a hole. So if I just use the metric gas block, what do I do with the stubby gas tube? Every diagram I found on the internet shows a full length gas tube. Is there a extra part I'm not finding, or does the piston just hang naked past the short tube? BTW, the original replacement was drilled straight also. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[gb6491]

...or does the piston just hang naked past the short tube?...

It just hangs out there with the short tube variant/version/modification/whatever
There is a photo of one installed on this page (towards the bottom): http://www.ninjalawyer.com/public/FAL/FAL.html
FWIW, this page is a good read in regards to the FAL gas system:
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&p=377026
Regards,
Greg

 

[speedreed]

Thanks!

Thanks Greg. That solves that mystery. I actually had another idea, and that was to drill up from the bottom of the old gas block at the position of the new barrel gas port until it intersected the old gas passage. It would probably be difficult to clean the port however. The better odds of success appear to be with the metric gas block as installed.