What's the scoop with the Galil?

[feets]

I seldom hear about them.
All kinds of praise is heaped upon the other stamped steel shooters but I never hear much about this one.

A friend has one and likes it. Kinda strange considering his two M1As are far more accurate and he is known to be a long range precision shooter.

I've shot it and it was "meh".

What's da scoop? Good, bad, too much money for the gun, er what?

I'm not looking to buy one since I'm happy with my M1A.

 

[druber]

I would assume it's because their use isn't as widespread as other military firearms due to their cost and difficulty to manufacture compared to other firearms.

 

[jonnyc]

Great combat weapon, decently fun plinker. What more can you ask for? Never really meant to be a precison target weapon.

 

[feets]

The AK and other stamped steel rifles were never meant to be anything other than bullet hoses but some people fall to their knees in worship at the sight of one.

 

[sinistr]

real galils are prized because they were considered the best ak varient that could be puchased because of the ban (89) i had one it was the most solid ak i had ever owned.but now with sig arms and others ,unless you are a collecter,i would pass.

 

[MIL-DOT]

First, you didn't clarify whether you're talking about a genuine I.M.I. Galil, or the Century Golanis. Big difference.
Second,the Galil doesn't have a stamped steel receiver, they're solid steel, just like the other "good" AK variants : the Finnish Valmet, the Chinese Polytech, the Bulgarian arsenal. They also shoot NATO ammo,.5.56 and .308, the .308 being far superior to the balistically so-so x39 round. Years ago, I recall reading the legendary Peter Kokalis calling the Galil the finest battle/assault rifle on the planet. It's lost some favor in recent years, but reliability and quality are exactly what you'd expect from anything I.M.I.

 

[feets]

His is an IMI Galil if I recall correctly. It's chambered in 308.

Again, it shoots fine but I'll keep my M1A.


You just never see any mention of them and I was wondering why.

 

[carlrodd]

i was really interested in getting one of the century golanis, as they are the only affordable choice. the look nice, and apparently they shoot well, but there are some very serious issues that have been documented with them....everything from canted sites to poorly milled receivers. the most serious, and least fixable seems to be receivers that are not heat treated, or not treated properly, and potentially result in dangerous headspace problems. have the problems been resolved? maybe. there seems to be no solid conclusion, especially with the issue of the heat treating. i decided if i am going to spend 800+ dollars on a rifle, i want to be more confident in it's quality than it seems i would be able to be with this particular firearm.

just google golani and you'll get a wealth of info on the subject.

 

[Roadkill]

I got an Ohio Rapid Fire Galil last year and its a great gun after I fixed the canted front sight, figured out why it kept going full auto (firing pin was sticking in the bolt due to rough finish), had the entire gun refinished because it really looked like ****, got it to eject (rough chamber - had to polish it), and with the ONE magazine out of about twenty I've tried that works its a really fun gun considering I have about $1000 in it now that I'll never get back. It does look good in the rack though. (Want to buy it?)

 

[gunnie]

MIL-DOT,

the valmets were both sheet metal and milled recievers.

gunnie

 

[salvo]

I bought a Golani over a year ago and it has been perfect, no canted sights, no peening, just a good accurate shooter, I guess I got lucky

 

[Caeser2001]

besides a canted sight what would one look for? going to be picking up something in the near future, either one of these or a cetme.

 

[elmerfudd]

The original IMI guns were very well made AK's, but aside from the improved sights I don't see where they have anything over a a decent AK like an Arsenal, Vepr or Saiga, plus they're heavy. I personally don't like the charging handle as I think it's hard to use with optics. I find the left side portion of the safety awkward as well. It doesn't rotate in the right direction. I suppose it is an improvement, but it could have been much better. Seriously, how do you start with a safety as bad as the one on the AK and not manage to improve it?