Fixed mag FAL with evil features?

[BattleRifleG3]

Ok, ignoring for a moment the fact that the ban may well go away next fall, I noticed the California legal versions of the FAL by DSA and Entreprise, and thought maybe some of us would prefer such a gun with folding stock, flash hider, and bayonet lug, over one with just a P-grip and a detachable mag. I figure a folding stocked FAL carbine could be a pretty handy patrol carbine. Suppose it would be legal to use a 20rd mag instead of a 10rd to secure in place?

Then perhaps if a virgin receiver was used, one could make a FAL pistol. That would be one honkin pistol. I saw a similarly made AR pistol that had to be opened to load the fixed mag. This would be even better. In a military capacity, suppose a 30 caliber gun of that size would be good for close range anti-equipment use?

[BattleRifleG3]

Imagine:



+



= post ban legal, right?

[MAX7.62]

One minor problem is that so far, the only folders or "para" stocks I've seen for FAL's are parts kit guns or lowers with trigger groups and lower receiver - for 500 bucks! Your right, a folder would be cool beans, especially considering that I just happen to have a pre-ban FAL in the locker, but for 500 bones I'll stick with the standard 'ol fixed plastic and spend the 5 on something else!
I have fired a (you'll love this G3!) short Hk with the retractable stock, it was sorta like an MP5 in .308 - and a registered class III complete with 3rd gear! That stinkin thing was a handful! It was almost not fun for spray and pray because the muzz was nearly impossible to keep down, you could only pull out 3 to 5 round bursts before it climed to the point where ya had to let go!

[BattleRifleG3]

Who could say no to this?

[NRAJOE]

Cool....I couldn't say no...

[BattleRifleG3]

Oh yeah, even the pistol could legally have a threaded barrel for a flash hider. I'm very tempted.

[PAPA G]

wait till after Sept, betcha your gonna start seeing the return of the good stuff, and at lower prices too. just check out the Armalite ad in the latest Gun List magazine

[MAX7.62]

You know what's gonna be screwy? When the bans go away, the post-ban compliance rifles will become the big$ collectables and the standard 'ol stuff will go back to normal prices. Collectable stuff is strange that way sometimes but after seeing trends, especially in the collectable car market I think it's a good call to say the collectability of the post bans will jump because they represent a defined time in our governmental history. Wait a couple of years and you may be able to trade that $350.00 Cetme or SAR for the tricked out AR of your choice! It could happen!

[BattleRifleG3]

$395 from DSA. Pricey, but top notch.



Adding up prices:

$395 DSA Front end
$95 DSA Complete used STG-58 lower
$40 Tapco Metric Bolt and carrier
$10 charging handle
$200 Imbel Upper receiver
+ I dunno what else

= $740 + I dunno

Hmm, suppose such a thing is worth $800 when all is said and done? I guess with such things you either love it enough to pay anything, or hate it so much you wouldn't even pay a hundred.

[BattleRifleG3]

The more I think about it, the more wrong it seems for the barrel to be shorter than the receiver

This from the guy who likes full length Mausers and Nagants and who was considering a 24" AR-15 just because.

[MAX7.62]

Barrel length is definantly an issue because it can get into class III territory. For example, in Ala, minimum legal length is 16" period. Even an LEO who has a personal class III firearm is limited to 16". Anything less than 16 has to be held by a PD or sheriff's armory. Pistol form would be different I'm sure.

[BattleRifleG3]

Pistol barrel must be under 15" or so and have never had a buttstock attached. Now it's legal to attach a buttstock and a long barrel to a pistol and make it a rifle, and then change it back, but not to take a rifle and make it a pistol. Then you'd just be making an SBR. So a pistol must have rifled barrel, grip angled to bore, barrel under 15", and never have a buttstock.

Then comes the stinky ban. It says if you have a detachable magazine, you may only have one of 5 features:
1. Mag outside grip
2. forend (not foregrip, that would make it an AOW)
3. threaded muzzle
4. weight over 50oz
5. Semi version of full auto gun (I think this may have been struck down in court)

So since a 308 caliber FAL definitely has a mag outside the grip, will be a heavy sonovagun, really needs a forend to be held properly, may be considered a semi version of an auto gun, and heck, if you have all those features, might as well have a threaded barrel muzzle too, the only way to legally have a pistol in this configuration is to make the magazine fixed. Such AR pistols must be opened to load, AK pistols often have a back loading drum welded in place while some drill a hole in the back of a normal mag and pull down the follower to load each shot, but FALs have the advantage of being able to load from stripper clips. No 223 that I know of can feed from strippers, and the only 7.62x39mm that I know of is the SKS, for which I have never heard of a virgin (never had a buttstock) receiver being available.

So really the FAL is the only easily buildable rifle with plentiful virgin receivers that can be loaded from strippers.