FN FAL

 

Back to guns.  I got a book on these for Christmas [The FN FAL Battle Rifle, by Ron Cashner], and briefly entertained the idea of purchasing one, but then realized that their scarcity and cost ($1500-2000) put them out of my budget for the immediate future.  I have yet to fire one in person.  Most are semiautomatic, but I saw a select-fire (full auto capable) model for sale at the recent Dulles Gun Show for $12,000.  As Class III weapons go, that’s a bargain.  DS Arms is still making new ones, based off the Austrian variant, the STG58, generally considered the best version of the FAL. 

Oddly, I have fired the gun, but in a slightly different form.  When we were living in Paris, the nearest US PX was in Belgium, right over the border from France, a three hour drive.  The closest bases in Germany, Kaiserslautern & Ramstein, were 5 hours away.  Initially we would make day trips, until my parents discovered a hotel in Mons, Belgium, the Raymond, which catered to US personnel, mainly people transferring to Brussels and waiting for their sea shipments to come or go.  It had AFN TV and a unique mozzarella pizza I’d never tasted anywhere else.

We’d go out looking around local Mons, and found a toy store which sold plastic guns which fired little plastic bullets.  The muzzle velocity was well short of allowing these bullets to pierce skin, so they were OK.  One was a Thompson SMG – semi auto, of course – and the other was an FAL.  I have no idea where they went, but we enjoyed them for awhile.  I still have my replica MP40, which actually looks exactly like a real one, but you can see the gun is nowhere close to being capable of converted to actually fire bullets, much less full auto.  Anyhow.

While the US upgraded to a semiautomatic rifle, the M1 Garand, slightly before WWII, the UK went through WWII with the Mark 4 Lee Enfield, a bolt-action rifle, as its main weapon.  By the time WWII ended, it was obvious that an upgrade to a better weapon was a good idea.  After some flirting with the idea of a smaller round (in .276 caliber) was done, eventually the US bludgeoned everyone into accepting .308/7.62x51 as the “main round” for NATO.  Fabrique National, the famous Belgian gun company, had been working on a weapon which morphed into the FAL, chambered in 7.62x51.  Oddly, despite insisting that its allies adopt 7.62x51, the US then went ahead and adopted its own intermediate round, the 5.56mm cartridge.  D’oh!

While the US adopted the M14 (in 7.62x51), then the M16 (in 5.56mm), the UK and its Buddies – Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. – adopted the FAL.  In its main form, the gun has a 21” barrel and is fairly long.  Later, shorter versions came out, including a folding stock “paratrooper” model.  There is an inch pattern which only the British use, and a metric pattern which everyone else uses.  The inch version is semi-auto only, whereas the metric version is select fire (capable of both semi-auto and full-auto fire).  The Israelis and Australians made small changes to their models.  The Indians actually combined elements of the inch and metric pattern versions to make their own. 

Brazil has also been a big fan of the FAL and used it for a long time.  West Germany wanted to use it for the Bundeswehr (West German Army) and asked to produce it in Germany under license.  But the Belgians, who didn’t forget German misconduct during WWII – which included looting and destroying the FN factory at Herstal (northeast of Liege, east of Brussels) on their way out as the Allies pushed them back into Germany – gave them a hard NO.  So the Germans developed the H&K G3. 

Major Conflicts with the FAL. Despite the absence of a World War III, the world has not been completely at peace since August 1945.  Various low-level wars and guerilla conflicts have absorbed the resources of numerous countries which adopted the FAL as their main weapon, pretty much everyone except the Soviet Bloc (who use the AK47 and its variants) and the US, which loves its M16. 

Jadotville, Zaire.  A recent film which features the weapon prominently, even in the promotional photos.  A battle broke out on southeast Zaire in 1961, and a unit of Irish soldiers – with no combat experience – was sent down there, ending up in a siege.  In addition to the FAL, they also used Lee Enfield rifles, Bren guns, and a Vickers heavy machine gun.  Remarkably, none of the soldiers were killed. 

Malayan Emergency, Oman, Aden, Northern Ireland.  During these brief conflicts involving British forces, the weapon of choice was the FAL.   Of these Malaya was a jungle scene, Oman and Aden were desert, and Northern Ireland was urban – Belfast, mainly.  “The Troubles” had the distinction wherein the IRA would lurk among the heavily populated civilian areas, effectively using the locals as shields.  All well and fine when guerillas wear civilian clothes in the jungle or rural areas, but in the middle of the city the challenge is for troops not to shoot civilians who can’t help being caught in the crossfire.    

Suez Canal (1956), Six Day War (1967), and Yom Kippur War (1973).  Leaving aside the original war of liberation in 1948, in which the Israelis were mainly armed with surplus guns from Nazi Germany – now there’s an irony – these three major Middle Eastern conflicts between Israel and its Muslim neighbors saw the IDF using the FAL.  Although there was some discussion of the gun’s reliability in desert conditions, overall the Israelis were pleased with it.

Vietnam War.  Although Harold Wilson’s Labour Government in the UK was against the war in Vietnam – as was John Lennon – the Australians sent troops to fight.  They were issued FALs, which performed well in the jungles of Vietnam.  Generally the troops found the weapon worked best on semiautomatic fire. 

Falkland Islands War (1982).  What’s amusing about this brief war is that not only were the Brits using the FAL, but so were the Argentinians.  Both sides enjoyed the weapon.  The Argentinians were also well equipped with Dassault Mirages and anti-ship missiles.  Merci, mes amis Français.  

It’s on my list of guns to get, but not sure when I’ll have an opportunity to acquire one: ideally a 21” full size model from DS Arms. 

M16 and AR15

After reviewing my blog records, I realized that I’d never actually reviewed this particular weapon, though I’d mentioned it in prior blog entries.  As such, some of this might seem repetitive, so if you’re bored, move along, nothing to see here.

M16.   In the late 1950s, a guy named Eugene Stoner invented a new weapon for the US Army, the AR15, to replace the M14, the weapon which replaced the M1 Garand as its standard weapon in the 50s.  Unlike the Garand and M14, the AR15 had no wood, but a triangular plastic foregrip and stock – some thought this made it cheap, like a toy (“the Mattel gun”) – though the German WWII submachine gun, the MP40, came out several decades before and was 100% metal and plastic, a departure from the Bergmann and ERMA submachineguns the Germans were using immediately before.  Also, unlike the M14 calibered in 7.62x51mm, aka .308, the AR15 had a new cartridge and caliber, the .223/5.56mm. 

After some modification (the Air Force adopted the AR15 without nonsense or cluelessness) the Army adopted the AR15 as the M16.  In doing so it modified Stoner’s design slightly and also changed the formula for the .223 ammunition charge.  This caused immense problems when the weapon was used in combat in Vietnam, prompting a change to the M16A1.  Both the M16 and M16A1 are select-fire: they fire semi-auto OR full automatic, thanks to an auto sear inside the weapon.

 

They both have the triangular handguard; these used to be so common but unwanted as to be thrown away, whereas nowadays they’re difficult to find and in high demand, though they will only fit guns with 20” barrels, and many AR15s these days have 16” barrels.

Later on, the military ascertained that full automatic was wasting ammunition, and changed the design to fire three round bursts.   This became the M16A2.  In addition to that change, cosmetically the weapon went from the triangular handguard to a cylindrical handguard.  All of these are with 20” barrels.

Currently the US military is using the M4 Carbine, which has a 14.5” barrel and a vertical foregrip under the handguard.  The M203 grenade launcher has been a popular attachment under the handguard, obviously replacing the foregrip.  The M4A1 brings back the full auto provision instead of the 3 round burst. 

AR15.  In 1963, the civilian, semi-auto only AR15 was introduced.   The internals of the weapon forgo swapping in the auto sear from the M16 and easily converting it to select fire or full auto.  The caliber is the same: .223/5.56.  

In 1993 I purchased a brand new AR15, this was a Colt weapon with a 20” barrel and cylindrical handguard, meaning outwardly it looked identical to an M16A2.  I fired it once at Clark Brothers range in Warrenton, Virginia and sold it, partially in exchange for the Mauser Kar98K (WWII German, built in 1942) which I still have. 

More recently I purchased a Springfield Armory Saint, a more recent AR15 variant with a 16” barrel, new, proprietary handguard, collapsible stock, and other goodies, still in semi-auto format.  A major cosmetic difference is the absence of a carrying handle, which over the years came off once owners decided to fit all sorts of night sights on the top of the receiver, which the carrying handle interferes with.  I’ve fired it more than once, which puts me ahead of my prior ownership.

According to Springfield Armory, it took its time when coming up with the Saint, and when it did so, it took an eclectic mix of all the fancy features which AR15s had developed over the years, in particular (as identified in Springfield’s marketing materials): mid-length gas system w/pinned gas block; flip-up sights; M-LOK handguard (plastic, of course – have yet to see a wood handguard for an AR15); accu-tite tension system (whatever that is); forged upper and lower receivers (the two major sections of the gun itself); and M16 bolt carrier group.  Also, by now the standard magazine capacity is 30 rounds, and the current standard mags are made of plastic instead of steel (Magpul P-Mags). 

As noted, the AR15 is semi-auto only, meaning it fires as quickly as you can pull the trigger.  The M16, M16A1 (full auto) and M16A2 (3 round burst) are legal for civilians but only as Class III weapons, meaning you have to be willing to pay in the neighborhood of $25,000 and wait 6-9 months for the BATF to do a full background check on you.  Most civilians are probably satisfied to pay $500-$1000 for a semi-auto AR15 and leave it at that.  I know I am.

.223/5.56.  The two are not exactly the same: a gun chambered for 5.56 can fire .223 without a problem, but a gun chambered for .223 cannot fire 5.56.  I noticed my Saint specifically says “5.56mm” on the barrel.  FYI, most modern weapons have the caliber explicitly labelled on the gun itself (e.g. my Beretta says “9mm Parabellum” on the slide).   

There are two major types of 5.56mm: in M193 format, this has a 55 grain bullet, and in M855 format, it has a 62 grain bullet.   Supposedly M193 (55 grain) does a nice job on flesh but a poor job shooting through doors, windows, clothing, foliage, etc, whereas M855 (62 grain) does a better job of the latter but then simply zips straight through the person you’re trying to kill, without doing much in the way of damage.  Take your pick. 

https://www.ammunitiontogo.com/lodge/m855-vs-m193/  

vs. AK47.  I also have a civilian, semi-auto AK47, a Romanian variant with black stock and foregrip.  Of course it’s in 7.62x39mm caliber.  The Saint has a fairly roundabout way of loading, whereas the AK is simple:  load up the magazine and rack the charging handle.  The conventional wisdom is that AR15s are more accurate than AKs, but below 300 yards the differences are far less substantial.

The strange thing is, I keep hearing that the #1 reason for the .223/5.56 caliber’s adoption was because the rounds are smaller than .308/7.62x51 or .30-06, and so soldiers can carry more of them.  Certainly 5.56 cartridges are clearly smaller than 7.62x39 cartridges.  But when I look at the 30 round AR magazines and compare them with 30 round AK magazines, they aren’t a whole lot smaller.  In absolute terms, a 30 round AK magazine really isn’t all that big, at least as far as I perceive.

Militias.  With the COVID19 virus in the news lately, we’re also seeing an abundance of armed men walking around with rifles, protesting their governors’ demand that they stay at home and behave themselves.  Really, guns are not necessary to effectively protest, but apparently they believe an armed protest to be more persuasive and effective.  And the #1 gun you’ll see them carry is the AR15, in all sorts of different variations.  I haven’t seen one I could specifically identify as a Springfield Armory Saint, but I wasn’t looking too hard.  I’ve yet to hear of an armed protest in Virginia, I’d be more inclined to stay home and go out only for necessities, wearing the mask when I do - and leaving the Saint at home.  That’s as much as I’d care to comment about this at this time.