Galil and century arms in general

[caliberclark 9]

is the century Galil the most failed rifle production ever? they are still everywhere while everything is getting bought up there price has remained the same everywhere whats the deal i want one bad but century has scarred me do all century firearms pretty much suck or are hit or miss?

[nalioth 405]

It depends on the level of workmanship required to assemble them.

 

They've contracted with some pretty competent folks to build their AKs for them. AKs are simple beasts and you have to go out of your way to screw up a build *COUGH*Hesse*COUGH*

 

Their Cetme/G3 rifles, I'd not recommend to anyone, unless you know what you're looking at and are allowed to check it out thoroughly before purchase. Cetmes and G3s use a whole different kind of action than a lot of people are used to. Century is known to take dangerous shortcuts to "make them work" instead of "doing the job right".

 

The Galil rifles are not all their fault. They got the short end of the cattle prod on these, because their receiver vendor f****d them (I've commented on this before in various places).

 

There have been some newer Galils from Century with cast receivers (not milled like the original vendor provided) showing up in the channels, but nobody knows who is making those receivers.

 

As far as anything else, Century is the largest firearm importer in the USA. So a "Century" surplus Mauser or milsurp pistol won't have been touched by the drunken monkeys, only imported by them.

Edited December 16, 2008 by nalioth

[Twinsen 86]

I'd say the CETME was a bigger failure by them. But either way, the biggest failure was Century.

[Hangfire13 0]

*COUGH*Hesse*COUGH* is now *COUGH*VULCAN*COUGH* right?

[nalioth 405]

*COUGH*Hesse*COUGH* is now *COUGH*VULCAN*COUGH* right?

and *COUGH*Blackthorne*COUGH*, too

[evildog 20]

awww shit! am i to believe that if i have a Hesse receivered fn fal and a blackthorne AR pistol that i did myself i'm going to have problems. I've heard before that people have had problems with these people but my fal and the AR i built works like a champ. I know some guys that have Vulcan AR's and had no problems. Is this a hit and miss case??

[nalioth 405]

awww shit! am i to believe that if i have a Hesse receivered fn fal and a blackthorne AR pistol that i did myself i'm going to have problems. I've heard before that people have had problems with these people but my fal and the AR i built works like a champ. I know some guys that have Vulcan AR's and had no problems. Is this a hit and miss case??

Yeah, it's hit or miss. When they miss, though, they REALLY miss. You should probably play the lottery.

[Azrial 1,091]

I have wanted a Elite Firearms ARM Galil in 7.62x39 mm for a while. I have shot the .308 version a good bit, and liked it! Till the bolt cracked anyway, a common problem with the big Galil. The Elite Firearms Galil in 7.62x39 will take standard AK mags, a big plus for me!

 

The only drawback is the price! $1800 - $1900 is a little dear to me right now. Oh well, it doesn't hurt me to want! I may trade/sell off my H&K P7M10 to get one!

[evildog 20]

awww shit! am i to believe that if i have a Hesse receivered fn fal and a blackthorne AR pistol that i did myself i'm going to have problems. I've heard before that people have had problems with these people but my fal and the AR i built works like a champ. I know some guys that have Vulcan AR's and had no problems. Is this a hit and miss case??

Yeah, it's hit or miss. When they miss, though, they REALLY miss. You should probably play the lottery.

 

What is it that's bad the head spacing or the quality of the metal? Like i said i haven't had any problems but then i have only put a couple hundred rounds through the AR pistol and 300 hundred throught the fal. But i purchased the fal used. Maybe i need to buy a lottery ticket. Because i have a cetme from century and put about 400 rounds through it and put some HK parts on it and same thing no issues yet. But i got to say the parts on the cetme did look alittle rough.

[nalioth 405]

What is it that's bad the head spacing or the quality of the metal? Like i said i haven't had any problems but then i have only put a couple hundred rounds through the AR pistol and 300 hundred throught the fal. But i purchased the fal used. Maybe i need to buy a lottery ticket. Because i have a cetme from century and put about 400 rounds through it and put some HK parts on it and same thing no issues yet. But i got to say the parts on the cetme did look alittle rough.

There's a picture and a story floating around the AR forums of a Hesse AR15 receiver that cracked in two after a few shots.

 

Good cast receiver, eh?

[Agias 0]

Cast reciever? I have a very limited technical understanding when it comes to metalurgy but that sounds like a baaad idea. Aren't casts usually very rigid?

[evildog 20]

What is it that's bad the head spacing or the quality of the metal? Like i said i haven't had any problems but then i have only put a couple hundred rounds through the AR pistol and 300 hundred throught the fal. But i purchased the fal used. Maybe i need to buy a lottery ticket. Because i have a cetme from century and put about 400 rounds through it and put some HK parts on it and same thing no issues yet. But i got to say the parts on the cetme did look alittle rough.

There's a picture and a story floating around the AR forums of a Hesse AR15 receiver that cracked in two after a few shots.

 

Good cast receiver, eh?

 

Hopefully i avoided the magic bullet with using a superior arms lower receiver in the build. Thanks anyway for the heads up.

[tju1973 0]

I would say hit or miss-- I have a CIA WASR10 HC thatis suprisingly good-- no mag wobble, no shavings in the works, and no sight problems-- I did get lucky though as I bought this off a guy off of GB that lives not too far from me-- he let me inspect it with the condition of a refund if it was cruddy-

 

That being said, you get what you pay for sometimes-- CIAs can be good, but definately can be shoddy...

[KySoldier 2]

awww shit! am i to believe that if i have a Hesse receivered fn fal and a blackthorne AR pistol that i did myself i'm going to have problems. I've heard before that people have had problems with these people but my fal and the AR i built works like a champ. I know some guys that have Vulcan AR's and had no problems. Is this a hit and miss case??

Yeah, it's hit or miss. When they miss, though, they REALLY miss. You should probably play the lottery.

 

What is it that's bad the head spacing or the quality of the metal? Like i said i haven't had any problems but then i have only put a couple hundred rounds through the AR pistol and 300 hundred throught the fal. But i purchased the fal used. Maybe i need to buy a lottery ticket. Because i have a cetme from century and put about 400 rounds through it and put some HK parts on it and same thing no issues yet. But i got to say the parts on the cetme did look alittle rough.

 

Well, I've never heard of the Century guns coming apart while firing, Hesse on the other hand... AKs were not meant to be welded, welds break and people can get hurt. Nothing eliminates a bad track record like changing your name to Vulcan and running a shiny new website boasting your products are "The Machine Guns of Special Forces" and "The Best-Built Firearms in the World!" But don't think I'm endorsing Century either, they are hit and miss with everybody I know who have bought their products, myself (CETME ) included. Sold the CETME with a sigh of relief and bought a PTR-91. I'll never buy a product from them unless its just an import like the Romak 3 I got from them....and even that was recalled and confiscated by the ATF (something about a receiver and a hole/rivet, as if Romaks were ever select fire ); I was given another import from Century as a replacement soon after.

[KySoldier 2]

I would say hit or miss-- I have a CIA WASR10 HC thatis suprisingly good-- no mag wobble, no shavings in the works, and no sight problems--

 

Glad you mentioned the WASR, my friend and I each got one, both had raw wood furniiture that needed to be stained (weird but ok) and the magwells both had to be cleaned up with a dremel. They hadn't widened the Romanian's single stack magwell far enough. But yeah, the rifles work well to this day.

[mollysman420 19]

some wassara sock otheers are ok

Edited January 11, 2009 by dragonwolf

[Saigaczech 9]

So far I have owned a Century STG-58 type FAL Sporter, a SAR-1, a WASR-10 and a (still being upgraded) L1A1 FAL Sporter built on a "Made in Canada" Argentine receiver. I have had zero problems with them, all functioned well. I am not saying all of their guns work as well, but these are good. Maybe I dodged the bullet too.

 

BTW, the cheap WASR-10 furniture looks great if you sand it a little, hit is with cherry stain and then finish it with Tung oil. Has nice deep color, shows the grain well and looks really good in the light.

[nalioth 405]

BTW, the cheap WASR-10 furniture looks great if you sand it a little, hit is with cherry stain and then finish it with Tung oil. Has nice deep color, shows the grain well and looks really good in the light.

I do wish folk's would get off the "cheap furniture" train. The only thing "cheap" about the WASR furniture is that it's not been finished whatsoever.

 

It is a lamimated beech wood military stock set, just waiting for you to get creative.

 

"Cheap furniture" would be made of pine or that sh*t that they make out of glue and sawdust.

[Saigaczech 9]

BTW, the cheap WASR-10 furniture looks great if you sand it a little, hit is with cherry stain and then finish it with Tung oil. Has nice deep color, shows the grain well and looks really good in the light.

I do wish folk's would get off the "cheap furniture" train. The only thing "cheap" about the WASR furniture is that it's not been finished whatsoever.

 

It is a lamimated beech wood military stock set, just waiting for you to get creative.

 

"Cheap furniture" would be made of pine or that sh*t that they make out of glue and sawdust.

 

In my case it WAS cheaply finished. Not saying it was wrong wood and such but obviously cast off ex-military stuff with the finish flaking off in 1" square sections. I cut off the idiotic front pistol grip with a band saw, stripped the finish off and sanded it smooth. Then I did refinish job. The buttstock was OK and not screwed up but the hand guards, both upper and lower, needed complete refinish job to get rid of the garbage that was there. Looks good now, but it was garbage when I got it. Only reason I got it is I wanted another AK and knew I could fix it up with a little love.

[whitetrashrn 74]

+1 on creative. on my "G" kit the wood was basicly the same as my WASR 10. Rough sanded, wet sanded, and toung oil. Painted the black. I think it came out good. Very smooth.

Edited January 29, 2009 by whitetrashrn

[jama555us 1]

What is it that's bad the head spacing or the quality of the metal? Like i said i haven't had any problems but then i have only put a couple hundred rounds through the AR pistol and 300 hundred throught the fal. But i purchased the fal used. Maybe i need to buy a lottery ticket. Because i have a cetme from century and put about 400 rounds through it and put some HK parts on it and same thing no issues yet. But i got to say the parts on the cetme did look alittle rough.

There's a picture and a story floating around the AR forums of a Hesse AR15 receiver that cracked in two after a few shots.

 

Good cast receiver, eh?

Cast receivers can crack, break, etc, due to lack of ability to bend, with stress, use, or weather changes. Century Arms International is notorious for making their FALs with Cast receivers that only tolerate a few hundred rounds through it.

[Saiga_rom 91]

Cast reciever? I have a very limited technical understanding when it comes to metalurgy but that sounds like a baaad idea. Aren't casts usually very rigid?

 

i think it depends on the material the casting is composed of, as well as any heat treatment it may undergo after the cast has been made.

 

i believe what you're thinking of is cast iron compared to steel (another form of iron)

 

in this case, cast iron is much more brittle than steel, and therefore much more likely to crack

[Gunfanatic 221]

[Saiga_rom 91]

Why can't you guys just let these old threads rest in peace?

 

i didnt even realize the thread was old

[TRguy 0]

I love old threads....

 

my Century has been just fine. WASR 10