An updated FN (photos]

[TCBF]

I like Armalite-actioned 762s. My old Sudanese contract AR-10 would group under a dime easy at 25 meters.  The sight was in bizzare symbols, however.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

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"I just wish I could shoot mine right now...."

"Can it be fired with the butt folded or is the buffer spring still in the stock?"

- Okay, Colin P, You own one but you DON'T know how it works?

" On the FN FAL and most other piston operated rifles, this buffer spring is located in the receiver on the piston above the bolt carrier, "

- Nope.  Standard FALs including the 90,000 or so C1s/C2s built by C.A.L. in Long Branch ,Ontario, had the springs in the butt.  If you are in the Edmonton area, I can give you an FN C1A1, and the tools to take out the 'Return Spring".  Then, I will duck.


"Some of my specifics might be a bit off as my personal experience with the C1/C2 is limited (well, non-existant, really, I can take it apart but that's about it.). Grumpy old men feel free to correct me."

- Done.

I was quite aware of the spring in the buttstock of my FAL/C1 hybrid. I also knew that some of the paratrooper models could not be fired with the stock folded. But I had also heard that some FAL/FN’s were re-designed to be fired with the stock folded. (why I not to sure, perhaps for when you are in a vehicle) The last time I saw a folded stock on a FN was when it was being pointed at me by an Ecuadorian Paratrooper, I knew theirs could not be fired when folded which gave me a certain amount of comfort.

 

[1feral1]

The buffer spring is still in the stock, yes.

edit: that is, for the c8 style/c7a2 style telescoping buttstock. rifles with a folding stock have a different buffer assembly.

No, the recoil springs are held internally in the breech block carrier (an internal design that incorperates the carrier as the the recoil tube itself. Like the para folding FAL version. The recoil/return springs are fixed in a similiar fashion to the Swedish M-AG-42-B 6.5 x 55mm rifle.

Try googling a exploded view of a FAL Para.

Yes, the FAL Para can be fired with the stock folded.


Cold beers,

Wes

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I remember back in the 80's seeing a diagram of a early FN? with para stock with the breech block having the normal rat tail and the stock retaining the buffer spring, I suspect it was a early quick fix to suit paratrooper requirements, it would not surprise me that they came up with a version that the spring under the dustcover, but I also suspect that they might have had to change the weight of the breechblock carrier in order to maintain the required time of lock up, correct?

 

[1feral1]

In the old days, when FN was more than a name, the carrier would have been engineered correctly. I have toyed with a 7.62 x 51mm FAL Para captured in Somalia by ADF pers, it was in rough shape, but it worked.