My New DSA FAL, Austrian Steyr STG-58

[Twinsen 86]

This is my newest gun, and as my signature states, probably the nicest gun I'll ever own. It's also probably the nicest gun I've ever touched (I only like military rifles, so $15,000 engraved bird guns look the same to me as $200 Walmart bird guns). It has every feature you can imagine in a military rifle (other than any form of full automatic fire). I always loved the G3 and M14, but after owning a CETME and looking at the prices on M1A's, I went the way of the FAL. The FAL is a head above them both for my purposes. The G3's I now think are junk for a few reasons, the 17 hour long reload being one of them, another being the CLICK after the 21st pull of the trigger which is on an empty chamber without you knowing. The M-14's don't have a pistol grip, so they're 1% worse for combat shoots, and the price and bolt release of the FAL put it ahead for me. Also the take down of the FAL is far superior to them both.

 

It has a last round bolt hold open contained within the gun, so the bolt stays open even after removing the magazine.

It has a bolt release switch.

It has a paddle type magazine release.

Every control is operable by the left hand, so that the grip with the right hand never has to be broken or compromised.

The right side of the receiver is extended down to ease loading of magazines, they go in even sweeter than on an AK as they index much easier.

It breaks down with the flip of a switch, no tools required for a field strip assembly or reassembly.

Fully adjustable peep sights with range clickable rear.

It is a .308 that has affordable and ACTUAL FUNCTIONING 30 round magazines.

The finish is tough enough that spent cases slamming into the receiver during ejection hit hard enough to leave brass marks behind without scratching the finish.

A fully adjustable gas system that you custom set to your load without tools and takes as long as it takes to fire 10 or so shots.

A quick switch gas plug from A for automatic to G for grenade (gas system blocked off for lauching grenades). I'd launch grenades in a second if I could get my hands on a dummy or two.

It's got that bipod that makes a really nice triangle grip when up, as it locks very well.

Down that bipod locks, digs down as deep as the flat portions allow, and swivels and rocks as much as you'd want it to.

 

I know that I'm leaving stuff out, that gun is too nice. Enjoy some pics.

[Twinsen 86]

Mas pictures. One of my Auto Ord M-1 Carbine featuring an impossible 90lb trigger and non-adjustable sights. The shotgun is my Benelli Supernova pump, you can ignore that seeing as you probably already own a Saiga-12.

Edited April 14, 2008 by Twinsen

[Twinsen 86]

Also forgot to add, it's their type 1 receiver which is the one that they tested at http://dsarms.com/pressure_test.asp by totally maxing out what they could cram into a .308 case with a 220gr projectile loaded into it. So you will survive the nastiest possible ammo you could ever toss into it, that's always a plus.

 

It's the long barreled version, at 21 inches.

The rear sling swivel rotates 360 degrees horizontally, the front sling swivel rotates 360 degrees around the barrel.

I bet there's even more I'm leaving out still.

[shaneman153a 39]

Very nice Twinsen, jealos as hell!!

[THE_HUNTER 2]

I miss my Fal.I bought one that was a kit gun and put together by an ape I later found out.The gunshop refunded me the price ONLY for what I paid when HE TOLD ME to take it to my gunsmith to fix and he would pay it.$110 later,still problems,he talked to my gunsmith on my cellphone in front of me and told me "I will only refund you the money you paid me for this as i won't lose money on this deal!!!!!".That damn prick!I never went back there again.The place is called "BRASS TACTICS" in Eastlake Ohio.Owner Dan is a total prick and I got screwed on gas money back and forth AND the $110 gunsmithing cost. :killer: Friends told me I should have taken him to small claims court.

 

"PS" Sweet gun when it shoots!Mine was a single shot....

Edited April 14, 2008 by THE_HUNTER

[vjor 2]

WOW, nice fall and congratulations, if I will buy a FAL all ready made I will pick two places

DSA or ARS they work is good out of the box. But like I say before what U get for what U pay.

 

Man I like it a lot and yes I love FALS as much as I love AK rifles.

Edited April 14, 2008 by vjor

[Twinsen 86]

Thanks guys. I'm pretty proud of the thing.

 

And I agree with Vjor, now that I've actually looked into FAL's, handled and fired them, I like them as much as AK's. Well, for rifle bullets, I like them more. I don't like the lack of a bolt hold open. The Saigas are a head up on military AK's in that you can at least manually lock the bolt back. However, if you chambered the FAL in 12ga, I think it'd end up at around 15 pounds.

[ArcFault 4]

Nice Twinsen, gotta love those DSAs, I've got one just like it. The sad part being that with the price of .308 these days mine are quickly becoming safe queens.

 

However, if you chambered the FAL in 12ga, I think it'd end up at around 15 pounds.

 

To me thats the only real downside to these guns, they are heavy. I can see you've shot it a little, hows the accuracy? Mine is acceptable but not mind blowing.

[Twinsen 86]

I don't know. I'm pretty frustrated that I can't shoot for shit. I have to benchrest a gun to get any sort of accuracy out of it, and I don't have a spotting scope. So at this point my FAL is sighted in pretty terribly, because I can't see shit and have to walk 100 yards out every time I fire a shot.

 

I'm only good with a shotgun right now.

[ArcFault 4]

Hey, nothing wrong with benchrest shooting, I wouldn't sight in any other way. The spotting scope sure does help though, if you have a pair of binoculars or a spare rifle scope you can use them in a pinch. It's a pretty good idea to start at 25-30 yards to sight in if you haven't already. That way you can shoot for groups at 100 yds and only walk every 3-5 shots.

 

Do you have the front sight/gas adjustment tool? It definitely makes things easier.

 

I think you live pretty close by, where do you go to shoot?

[Paladin 37]

NICE! I've toyed with the idea of getting one myself, I'd love to hear the range report once you've had a chance to wring her out.

[Twinsen 86]

Hey, nothing wrong with benchrest shooting, I wouldn't sight in any other way. The spotting scope sure does help though, if you have a pair of binoculars or a spare rifle scope you can use them in a pinch. It's a pretty good idea to start at 25-30 yards to sight in if you haven't already. That way you can shoot for groups at 100 yds and only walk every 3-5 shots.

 

Do you have the front sight/gas adjustment tool? It definitely makes things easier.

 

I think you live pretty close by, where do you go to shoot?

 

Yeah, I got one from Tapco I think that does something for an SKS and doubles as a front sight tool for the FAL.

 

I shoot at Quaker Hill Rod and Gun club, which is right in town, Montville, south-east CT. I do all my plinking there, as well as pin shoots with pistols. I do all other competition at other places around the state. In good weather, I go to Rockville to compete. There's a shoot there every week of random types. I'll attach this years schedule there.

 

Uh oh, looks like this coming sunday is the Prodigous Ammo Shoot:

Prodigious Ammo Pistol Action Match

Firearms: Centerfire (+ extra mags / speed loaders)

Classes: Semi-Auto & Revolver, Iron & Optic/Electronic

Sights: Iron and Optic/Electronic

Targets: A LOT of Steel targets

Dates: 4/20

 

Last year there were 40 targets or 42 or 45 or something, great fun. You have to shoot one color across and then the other back.

Rockville_Fish_and_Game_2008_Schedule.doc

Edited April 16, 2008 by Twinsen

[ArcFault 4]

Cool, that place (Quaker Hill) is about 15 minutes from my house. How steep is the membership dues? I'm trying to find a range that doesn't cost me the price of two new Saigas for the once a month that I actually get a chance to shoot. My family has some property that I shoot on, but my father hunts it and I tend to drive the neighbors a little nuts when I'm out there. I did a bunch of work over at the Groton Rod and Gun last fall, all the guys there were trying to get me to join, but I just couldn't justify the cost.

 

I can't say I do any competition, but to stay on topic, the first FAL I bought was a Century that had been used for competition. The PO had had some trigger work done on it, it's not the lightest trigger out there but it is far and away better than my DSA and therefor more accurate for the casual shooter. I get both guns to group about the same, but all my friends seem to come away feeling that the Century is more accurate. I find that the difference is most evident when bumping, something I don't like to do with the price of ammo these days. I learned how to bump fire before I even knew what it was with that gun, it just wants to do it. So if anyone tells you that nothing can be done to help a FAL trigger, I say bullshit!

Edited April 18, 2008 by ArcFault

[bigcrabrob 0]

Great looking gun Twinson...... I am also a lil jealous as well

I am with you on the military thing...... most store boughts all look the same and their boreing..... maybe accurate as hell, but bland.

[Twinsen 86]

Cool, that place (Quaker Hill) is about 15 minutes from my house. How steep is the membership dues? I'm trying to find a range that doesn't cost me the price of two new Saigas for the once a month that I actually get a chance to shoot. My family has some property that I shoot on, but my father hunts it and I tend to drive the neighbors a little nuts when I'm out there. I did a bunch of work over at the Groton Rod and Gun last fall, all the guys there were trying to get me to join, but I just couldn't justify the cost.

 

I can't say I do any competition, but to stay on topic, the first FAL I bought was a Century that had been used for competition. The PO had had some trigger work done on it, it's not the lightest trigger out there but it is far and away better than my DSA and therefor more accurate for the casual shooter. I get both guns to group about the same, but all my friends seem to come away feeling that the Century is more accurate. I find that the difference is most evident when bumping, something I don't like to do with the price of ammo these days. I learned how to bump fire before I even knew what it was with that gun, it just wants to do it. So if anyone tells you that nothing can be done to help a FAL trigger, I say bullshit!

 

Oh then you're close as hell, sweet! If you find a build party for AK's, invite my ass.

 

I believe Quaker Hill is $99 for the first year and like $20 after that. However, your first year you have to put in 12 hours of work for the place, or pay $20 for each hour you don't work. You just show up to a shoot and help set up pins/plates/targets and you get 2 or 3 hours of the work done out of what's actually what you'd end up doing half the time anyway. I just showed up to the pin shoots I participate in, and set up pins, and I later painted a fence. It was what I'd have done anyway, they just get a lot more people to set up pins and paper this way.

[Saigaczech 9]

I had a DSA SA 58 Carbine once, note wording, had. I found it to shoot low even with rear sights cranked to 600 m and front sight screwed all the way down. Must have been a fluke but turned me off the brand. The military bipods are over rated for what they do also . Your mileage may differ. It is a nice looking gun though. Have fun with it, I will stick with the Saiga.

[Gunfixr 76]

Nice rifle, I love FALs, but can't afford DSA, so I build my own.

My first one, built on an Entreprise receiver, the barrel is shorter now, but otherwise the same:

 

My second one, acquired already whole as a full size gun and custom shortened by me. The barrel is now 16.5" at the end of the flash hider, the gas system and handguards also custom shortened 1.5", making this the only known midlength gas system FAL, as DSAs short gas system rifles are 3" shorter. The stock I custom made. It also has many other custom touches:

 

Both are Duracoated, one in a Custom mix gray, the other camo. I did both and did the camo by eye.

Edited April 23, 2008 by Gunfixr

[Twinsen 86]

I had a DSA SA 58 Carbine once, note wording, had. I found it to shoot low even with rear sights cranked to 600 m and front sight screwed all the way down. Must have been a fluke but turned me off the brand. The military bipods are over rated for what they do also . Your mileage may differ. It is a nice looking gun though. Have fun with it, I will stick with the Saiga.

Mine was shooting 3 or 4 inches high at 100 yards before I cranked it down. It's also the best bipod I've ever seen, so yeah we had different expiriences.

[Azrial 1,091]

Twinsen, nice FAL. I hope that you enjoy it. I have several Military originated .308 auto-loading rifles, but my FALs are my overall favorites. I own several, including a stainless steel DSA para-carbine I used to carry on duty.

 

Not be critical, but you do realize that either your gas tube nut is loose and/or the carry handle is bent. Either one is easy to repair.

 

Gunfixr, a pair of nice FALs you have there as well. I like the low mount that you used on the Enterprise receiver rifle. The folding stock custom rifle is interesting. I like custom guns that combine the features of several nation's variants. My homebuilt StG-58 is a combination of US, Austrian, Belgian, Israeli parts built on a Argentine IMBEL receiver. I could have built it as a straight StG-58 copy, but that would only be a poor copy of a rifle designed by a committee. Mine is built exactly the way I wanted it and I like it just fine. Besides I have an all factory Infield if I want to be a purist snob.

 

Saigaczech the most likely explanation for your problems is that the gun was most likely a parts rifle, as most US FALs and as such someone made a mistake and used the wrong height front sight. Also an easy and cheap problem to fix.

 

The Saiga is a nice rifle for what it is, but it will never be in the same class as the FAL. Nor should it be, the AK is a much cheaper rifle to produce. It is a robust rifle that achieves a great deal of its robustness through simplicity of design. It has a far simpler manual of arms and less training is required for proficient operation. But to compare it to an FAL is ridiculous! They have two very different design intents.

 

The FAL was used by over 23 countries. I know of no battlefield where the Saiga .308 has proven itself.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Azrial

[Twinsen 86]

Twinsen, nice FAL. I hope that you enjoy it. I have several Military originated .308 auto-loading rifles, but my FALs are my overall favorites. I own several, including a stainless steel DSA para-carbine I used to carry on duty.

 

Not be critical, but you do realize that either your gas tube nut is loose and/or the carry handle is bent. Either one is easy to repair.

 

Gunfixr, a pair of nice FALs you have there as well. I like the low mount that you used on the Enterprise receiver rifle. The folding stock custom rifle is interesting. I like custom guns that combine the features of several nation's variants. My homebuilt StG-58 is a combination of US, Austrian, Belgian, Israeli parts built on a Argentine IMBEL receiver. I could have built it as a straight StG-58 copy, but that would only be a poor copy of a rifle designed by a committee. Mine is built exactly the way I wanted it and I like it just fine. Besides I have an all factory Infield if I want to be a purist snob.

 

Saigaczech the most likely explanation for your problems is that the gun was most likely a parts rifle, as most US FALs and as such someone made a mistake and used the wrong height front sight. Also an easy and cheap problem to fix.

 

The Saiga is a nice rifle for what it is, but it will never be in the same class as the FAL. Nor should it be, the AK is a much cheaper rifle to produce. It is a robust design that achieves a great deal of its robustness through simplicity of design. It has a far simpler manual of arms and less training is required for proficient operation. But to compare it to an FAL is ridiculous! They have two very different design intents.

 

The FAL was used by over 23 countries. I know of no battlefield where the Saiga .308 has proven itself.

 

My carry handle fits flat against the side of the gun, and requires some sort of bend in order to do so. I put it at different angles in the different pictures for no reason. If however, the handle is bent in some way that is incorrect, I am totally oblivious to it. I think when I put it up, it is dead parallel to the bore... but now I'm not so sure seeing as you've said it's crooked somehow.

 

I don't think I even know what part the gas tube nut is. Tell me more, oh master user of FAL.

 

Oh and I've read a couple times that the FAL was used by "over 90 countries." Which is no small number, considering how common communism was in the era of this rifle, and how easy it was to be given AK's and M16's for free.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Twinsen

[Gunfixr 76]

Azrial, my stock doesn't fold. I decided I didn't need a folder on a .308, but wanted a short "entry length" stock, and made that one from scratch. The reason the rear sight is on the cover is that the stock is so short that the rear sight being in the normal position was too close to the eye and blurred out. The rear is a modified AR-15 A2 sight set in at the right height for the front.

 

Twinsen, you're right, the FAL was adopted as the military rifle by 93 countries, but it had the M14 and AK as its main competition, not the M-16. At that time, 7.62x51 was the NATO standard, not 5.56mm. The M-16 was just a dream in Stoners mind.

 

The carry is bent normally bent, so that it lays smoothly against the side of the rifle when folded down. When extended upwards, it appears crooked. It is supposed to be this way.

[Azrial 1,091]

Yes, the common figure quoted is that the FAL was used by over 90 countries, I could only think of 23 off the top of my head early this AM, so that is what I conservatively wrote. Either way, a pretty impressive resume!

 

The gas cylinder lies along the top barrel, from the front sight tower to the front of the receiver. I called it a gas tube out of habit. It really does not duct any gas, even in the one piece models. The gas piston mechanically conducts the energy necessary to work the action. In the two piece models, it is really more of a collet and support for the carry handle.

 

Maybe it is the photo but your carry handle looks bent to me. I have 4 of my own and one that belongs to my cousin here. None of them appear to be bent at the same angle as yours. Perhaps it is a trick of the photo. Either way it is a very small matter and if it works fine for you that is what is important.

 

I would not call myself a master of the FAL but I have more then average knowledge about them. I have built two and worked on several. I built all of my own tooling, including the needed receiver wrench. For what it is worth I have built a few AK's as well.

 

My DSA was one of the most expensive rifles I have ever bought and I specified it exactly as I wanted it built. I was impressed that DSA was able to duplicate the rifle from a computer generated drawing that I sent them. I have nothing but good things to say about the company.

 

Vjor also mentions that ARS built FAL. I have never owned one, but have shot several. They are the work of a master craftsman and I would wager that most would be happy with his product as well. I built my StG kits after watching the ARS/GunPlumber's guide to FN FAL Gunsmithing VHS tape.

[ArcFault 4]

If your carry handle is bent, then so is mine.

 

Used by over 90 countries and known as "Freedoms Right Arm", that just never gets old for me.

[Gunfixr 76]

To be honest, I haven't even looked that closely at the pic yet, it could be bent at the wrong angle.

I also made all of my own tooling for FAL building, even designing an extractor tool that you could drop while holding the plunger and it wouldn't come off.

I've built about 6 from parts and a receiver so far. Haven't built any AKs.

 

Got a couple of pretty cool t-shirts from a guy on FALFiles. One has a picture of a PARA on the back and below it says "MOLON LABE". The other has a picture of the full size rifle and says "The Right Arm of the Free World".

[Saigaczech 9]

Well, I bought the gun in a used condition when I had it. It inspected OK and looked like a good DSA build. How ever DSA does not warranty used weapons so I was stuck with a lemon (they do happen even at DSA). I loved my Century R1A1 with Hesse Receiver, that was a 1.5 MOA gun using Australian surplus and a scope, I sold that one to finance the DSA as they were supposed to be better. . Anyway, got rid of all my FAL stuff so I will stick with what I have now. FALs are good guns, I just had some bad luck. Enjoy your FALs in good health and times of peace.

[Twinsen 86]

I got an update on this thing.

 

3 MOA with irons, easily.

sub 2 MOA with a scope mounted with a DSA Extreme Duty dust cover replacement scope mount.

[evildog 20]

Sweet FAL's i to love shooting them and have had nothing but great things to say about DSA. I have a FAL on a Hesse receiver and a parts kit done by DSA that is great. The home made camo paint job is the DSA kit gun and the other is the Hesse. You can beat the 308 thump.

[Twinsen 86]

Oh man, I got a 30 round mag in the mail maybe a month back. What a monster it is! But hey, they're absolutely necessary, right? I mean, what would we do without 30 rounds of .308?!

[evildog 20]

Oh man, I got a 30 round mag in the mail maybe a month back. What a monster it is! But hey, they're absolutely necessary, right? I mean, what would we do without 30 rounds of .308?!

 

A drum? DSA was working on one but i don't believe it's available yet. I had heard they had something like a beta c-mag but were having trouble with the recoil damaging it. It would be sweet to have a 75-100rd drum like the old norinco drums for the ak's to fit in a FAL.

[Twinsen 86]

Haha, I've only loaded 5 rounds into my 30rd mag at the most because of the cost of ammo. I'd have no use for drums, the Dems win on raising ammo prices.