>>69508
I watched "The Wild Geese" as a lad and fur many years lusted fur an FAL, preferably one in Rhodesian baby poop green camo paint.
Then I got to handle one at a gun show, and learned:
they weigh about twelve pounds empty
they're about four feet long unless it's one of the "carbine" versions
the front sight and rear sight are on two separate assemblies that have only a hinge pin holding them together [ rattling intensifies ]
the rear sight aperture's relationship with the base to which it is theoretically affixed is best described as "casual," by which I mean you can typically push it over an eighth of an inch side to side with your finger tip, or shake the weapon and watch the rear sight rattle and jiggle and flop about, which is why the UK military armorers' manuals fur the L1A1 eventually said that after replacing and headspacing a barrel, five to six minutes of arc dispersion fur groups of three shots was absolutely fine and within spec, and did I mention that the front and rear sights are on two different assemblies with just a loosely fitting hinge pin holding them together?
they have a trigger that makes strong men weep, and no, I'm not talking about tears of joy
people pooch about the ergonomics of the G3, and they aren't entirely wrong, but they've never tried to push an FAL's safety back and furth in a hurry
Nothing about the magazines inspires confidence either. There are additional very significant problems with FALs fur the USAian firearms hobbyist in Current Year but they have less to do with the fundamental design than with the pitted, corroded, shot-out barrels, worn-out bolts, and low-quality reproduction and replacement parts used by a legion of nameless basement gun-plumbers to cobble together (non) working rifle-shaped objects they then sold to the public.
At least these days you can get a G3/HK91 copy that'll actually run as it comes from the box, with iron sights that can be zeroed and will hold zero, though delayed blowback action and the slots in the sides of the chamber mean it gets filthy very quickly. G3 magazines are vastly better designed than FAL magazines and usually better made, in my opinion, too.
What were we talking about, again?