I have owned several and also used them as a military man years ago working as an adviser.
I used a Belgium Paratrooper model, 1 Brazilian, 1 Argentine, 2 Israeli, 1 Canadian C1 and a British L1A1. So I have a lot of experience with them and in addition to those I have used in my service days I have owned a DSA, 2 Centuries (one good and one I had to re-build to make it work) and an Arizona Response Systems FAL. If you get one with a perfect barrel it's not uncommon for them to shoot under 2 MOA. My very best one shot to about 1.3 MOA for all shots with good ammo. It was the Century arms gun I rebuilt (oddly enough)
Overall, those that are built correctly are excellent combat rifles and do perfectly well for hunting too. I have killed antelope, deer and elk with FALs in the past. They are a bit long and heavy, and the triggers can also be heavy, but they are accurate enough for any iron sigh application and in the best examples do ok as scope rifles. Mags are plentiful and cheap. And when put together right they are quite reliable.
Their adjustable gas system makes for an auto that can be adjusted to fire about any load you want. I have used loads in my old guns from 55 grain Remington accelerators up to 200 grain Speer bullets, and all worked 100%.
Unless your salesman will allow you to run a good number of round through the rifles as a test, stay away from those not made by a builder who is well known for making good ones (Century's come to mind)
But if made right, and with good bores, they can be excellent rifles
A test for reliability and accuracy will tell you if the ones You are looking at are good ones.
Last edited by szihn; 02/21/20.
