The Most Reliable .308 Semiauto Rifle

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If you're looking for a rifle that has never skipped a beat, there ain't no such animal. Every post about someones rifle that has never mal'fd is purely anecdotal. From my experience with AKs they are less reliable that Colt ARs and my M1A has been back to the factory twice.

I personally like the FAL and there is a thread on falfiles.com about one that has been horibly abused and continues to function. .. of course YMMV.
 
The .223 Galil won the overall Alaska State Patrol test I mentioned earlier.
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Your informed except there is no Alaska State Patrol its the Alaska State Troopers and they went with AR15's and M16 anyway. Galil's do do well in the cold however.
Pat
 
Yes, but the AR-15 is NOT a .308 caliber rifle, and is therefore immaterial to this discussion.

The AR10 has many advantages if you get a good one over the FAL and M1A. I sold my M1A when I got my AR10T. The AR10 is more accurate and easier to mount optics to. The FAL is a good gun but shares some of the same problems of the M14 when it comes to optics mounting. Also lighten up I was not the one who mentioned the AR15 first. Take a deep breath and get over it.
Pat
 
It's no problem at all to mount optics on a FAL. In fact, you can install and remove them in seconds by just replacing the top cover.

Keith
 
It's no problem at all to mount optics on a FAL. In fact, you can install and remove them in seconds by just replacing the top cover.

Keith

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If you trust a set screw then its a great set up. Sorry but this system is not near as secure as a flat top AR10.
Pat
 
I've fired over 1,300 rounds through my H&R-built Garand without a malfunction, what is the source of your information?
 
"And few consider the AR-10 to be the most rugged when stacked up against the FAL, M14, G3, and Galil"

Galils come in .308?
 
Yep, Galils were also made in .308. As were some of their forebears, the Valmet.

Other rifles for consideration in .308 are the Beretta BM-59s and the SIG AMT and SIG 542.

In other battle calibers you have the MAS 49/56, FN 49, Tokarev and FG42.
 
Lighten up?

What?

Did I come across as upset or excited in the two sentences I posted?

And while I'm sure the AR-10 is a fine target rifle, the examples I've examined are simply too tight, in my opinion, for reliable field use when you're down in it crawling through the slop. That tightness, of course, gives the rifle it's accuracy, which is quite good for a semiauto, but as with all things, it's a tradeoff.

With a well made scope mount, few have had any troubles scoping the FAL.
 
" And while I'm sure the AR-10 is a fine target rifle, the examples I've examined are simply too tight, in my opinion, for reliable field use when you're down in it crawling through the slop. That tightness, of course, gives the rifle it's accuracy, which is quite good for a semiauto, but as with all things, it's a tradeoff."

my opinion as well based on the experience of one of my fellow carbine class students. He was shooting SA battlepacks and consistently getting FTEs after the gun got a little dirty. He looked at the spent cases and said he could see evidence of a tight chamber, i didn't as i was sucking water and trying not to puke.
 
Any one of the following I would be on my list of guns I would trust my life to.

1) Galil or Valmet
2)M1 Garand
3)FN FAL
4) M1A/M14 (Early Springfields or my FedOrd/TRW with proper hardening)
 
I've got the most experience with FALs so I'm biased in that direction as far as .308 rifles go. They are remarkably reliable. (unless you happen to have one break at the WC3gun while shooting for Team TFL).

Something to keep in mind, I've done a lot of testing with my rifles in sand. (Utah high desert, so not the same as that fine silty crap in the middle east) I've found that any type of semi auto rifle will malfunction when you get a significant amount of sand in the action. The AK works the best, the FAL works pretty good, and the AR works the least well.

However sand in the magazines is the real killer. I found that FAL .308 magazines were very vulnerable, as were AR .223 mags. If you got sand in there you were screwed. Once sand worked its way between the cartridges you would immediatly begin to get failures. I found that 7.62x39 AK mags worked the best in the sand. I'm not sure why, if it is the design of the follower, or the shape of the round, but they could take the most gunk and still function.

In the freezing cold all of the weapons types seemed to work well and I have never had either the FAL, AK, or AR malfunction due to snow.

Freezing rain and hail same thing.

Haven't used an HK much. Have used a Cetme a little bit, but it wasn't mind so I don't think my friend would want me to drag it through the sand, snow, or mud. :)
 
I have a bit of trigger time with a friend's preban HK-91, and it gave me some funky malfs. It would double-feed in such a way that I ended up with two cartridges out of the mag but inside the receiver and with their noses in the chamber. :uhoh: Also had a few failures to feed. On the other hand, he did keep this poor rifle full to the brim of over with grease...
 
Never had a problem with the HK91 right out of the box. My first CETME has started (after about a year or is it two) to, on rare occassions (4 total occassions), misfeed the last round of one particular mag. My second hasn't failed yet.

Never had a problem with the Galil out of the box. Don't shoot it much though. A Super Vepr did misfeed a couple of times very early on but has since fed fine.

An occassional misfeed (maybe a handful or two times) with a parts built FAL out of the box up to now (a few months older than the 1st CETME). Did have a few ejection/feed problems with a DSA SA-58 early on out of the box. Of course, just crank down on the gas adjust to fix, but the setting does seem to be a bit higher than that of the other FAL.
 
My choice in sand or snow would be the Galil, and the FAL with sand cuts in the carrier.

Earlier in this thread someone made mention to the "Crest Test" I believe it was SWAT or SOF that ran the test where toothpaste was applied to a mag full of ammo.

In extreme cold I run My G1 FAL dry, no lube except for some spray on graphite.

I use Break Free CLP Mil formula. during all times of the year except in sub-zero weather.

I strip all lube with the cheap carb choke cleaner from Walmart. I don't use gummout carb cleaner any longer because it contains lubricant.

I then use an alcohol based graphite arisol that I bought at Canadian Tire several years ago. This is the best extreme cold lubricant I've ever used!
 
Possibly a Saiga 308, its an AK based action, so top that for theoretical reliability.
 
I have to comment: I think rock solid, unquestioned reliablility is better than the ability to put doo-dads on a rifle. After all, this is about reliability. Not to bash the AR series, they are a lot better than they were, and that's saying a lot. I view it as a great rifle today, but it is still a little finicky as far as how much you can beat it up. If you take good care of it, it works.
 
My first M1A was a standard model and it never missed a beat. My current one is a M1A Super Match heavier than a standard model again it has never misfired and it hits where aimed very accurate.

I also have a L1A1 semi-auto by century when I got it I had a gas tube problem sent it back and it currently fires every time. When I orginally got it I didn't like the sights and left side charger but with more shooting I now perfer the L1A1 over the M1A (general use not super accuracy). The accuracy is acceptable for combat. Mag. change in both the M14-L1A1 stinks but lets not forget the AK in the same class.

My training with the M-14 includes basic training and AIT.

Only carried the 14 one time in RVN-68 in coming incoutry at CR Bay used it on guard duty.

I prefer the M-16A1 over the M-14 or any other 7.62 NATO rifle. M-193 ball makes a big enough hole and the rifle and ammo is a hole lot lighter to hump. I carried a M-60 for 4 months so I've used both calibers in firefights.

Of two 7.62 Nato rifles I have used I vote for the L1A1

Have a good day and remember to pray for our troops in harms way.

Turk
RVN 68-69
173rd Abn Bdge (sep)
 
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