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#12100998 06/20/17
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JamesJr Offline OP
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About 15 or so years ago, I traded for an FAL that a local gunsmith had built for a customer who backed out on the deal. It is built on an Imbel receiver, using metric parts. He cut the barrel down to 16 inches, rethreaded for the flash hider, making the total barrel length 18 1/2 inches. The metal was then cleaned up and parkerized, He did a really good job on the rifle, and I've shot it some. The problem is that I got hooked on AR's about the same time I got it, and an AR is a lot easier to carry than a 10 pound FAL. Of course, on the flip side, a 308 does hit with a little more authority than a 223. I've thought about selling it, but have no idea what it's worth. Just wondering if any of you might have an idea what it's worth.

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From your description it is a parts kit. I will say ballpark $1000 if you are lucky and only because of the Trump slump.




Besides DSA is selling new SA58 Voyagers for $1100.

Last edited by krupp; 06/20/17.

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Originally Posted by krupp
Besides DSA is selling new SA58 Voyagers for $1100.
$949 at Atlantic...and the Voyagers are nice rifles.

So James...It will depend on what parts are on your FAL, how well it's built, and how well it looks. I cant imagine spending more than the $949 that you can get a Voyager for unless there's something special about your FAL. If you post pics and tell use what you know about it, that will help with the valuation some.

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JamesJr Offline OP
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Originally Posted by GunGeek
Originally Posted by krupp
Besides DSA is selling new SA58 Voyagers for $1100.
$949 at Atlantic...and the Voyagers are nice rifles.

So James...It will depend on what parts are on your FAL, how well it's built, and how well it looks. I cant imagine spending more than the $949 that you can get a Voyager for unless there's something special about your FAL. If you post pics and tell use what you know about it, that will help with the valuation some.



I've tried posting pics on here, and it just doesn't work for whatever the reason. Doubt there's anything special about my rifle, but it does shoot pretty good, and looks good as well. The gunsmith that built it specialized in building military style rifles, back before it became popular to build your own.

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If your gunsmith has a well known name in the FAL followers community it may be worth more. AZEX and GunPlumber come to mind.


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Originally Posted by JamesJr
Originally Posted by GunGeek
Originally Posted by krupp
Besides DSA is selling new SA58 Voyagers for $1100.
$949 at Atlantic...and the Voyagers are nice rifles.

So James...It will depend on what parts are on your FAL, how well it's built, and how well it looks. I cant imagine spending more than the $949 that you can get a Voyager for unless there's something special about your FAL. If you post pics and tell use what you know about it, that will help with the valuation some.



I've tried posting pics on here, and it just doesn't work for whatever the reason. Doubt there's anything special about my rifle, but it does shoot pretty good, and looks good as well. The gunsmith that built it specialized in building military style rifles, back before it became popular to build your own.
I would recommend putting it in our classifieds (figure out the picture thing), then sign up on Falfiles.com and put it up on their classifieds, and perhaps on AR15.com’s classifieds. The FAL is one of those rifles that is bought by those who really know what they’re buying. If you want to move it fast, start at $900 and take whatever offer suits you. Otherwise, I’d start at about $1,000 and probably take $900 and be happy. Best of luck to you sir.

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JamesJr Offline OP
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Originally Posted by GunGeek
Originally Posted by JamesJr
Originally Posted by GunGeek
Originally Posted by krupp
Besides DSA is selling new SA58 Voyagers for $1100.
$949 at Atlantic...and the Voyagers are nice rifles.

So James...It will depend on what parts are on your FAL, how well it's built, and how well it looks. I cant imagine spending more than the $949 that you can get a Voyager for unless there's something special about your FAL. If you post pics and tell use what you know about it, that will help with the valuation some.



I've tried posting pics on here, and it just doesn't work for whatever the reason. Doubt there's anything special about my rifle, but it does shoot pretty good, and looks good as well. The gunsmith that built it specialized in building military style rifles, back before it became popular to build your own.
I would recommend putting it in our classifieds (figure out the picture thing), then sign up on Falfiles.com and put it up on their classifieds, and perhaps on AR15.com’s classifieds. The FAL is one of those rifles that is bought by those who really know what they’re buying. If you want to move it fast, start at $900 and take whatever offer suits you. Otherwise, I’d start at about $1,000 and probably take $900 and be happy. Best of luck to you sir.


Thanks. I'm still a little up in the air as to what I want to do with it. If I sell it, I'd replace it with another 7.62 NATO, or 308, ever how you choose to label it. The FAL has always had a pretty good reputation as a battle rifle, and it's nice knowing I've got something like that. Although I really like the AR-15 type, and feel much more comfortable shooting them, the fact is that the 7.62 is the better cartridge for a fighting weapon.....at least in my opinion. So, I'm dragging my feet, and mulling over things as I try to decide what to do.

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In .308 the AR's are the better target rifles, and the FAL's the better combat rifles.

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JamesJr, are you up to keeping the FAL and just adding an AR that you want? The FAL is a pretty useful rifle. And, if you decide to go a little bit nuts you can convert it to a paratrooper type with folding stock and all, assuming those are still available. I haven't looked into that in years.


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Originally Posted by GunGeek
In .308 the AR's are the better target rifles, and the FAL's the better combat rifles.



I guess the Brits didn't know that when they bought all those LMTs in 308. Or maybe they forgot about those FALs they had laying around?


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JamesJr Offline OP
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Originally Posted by g5m
JamesJr, are you up to keeping the FAL and just adding an AR that you want? The FAL is a pretty useful rifle. And, if you decide to go a little bit nuts you can convert it to a paratrooper type with folding stock and all, assuming those are still available. I haven't looked into that in years.


I may not have made myself clear as to my intentions here. I have a "few" AR's in 223/5.56, and really like the AR rifles. The FAL is my only semi auto in the 308/7.62 NATO chambering. I'm thinking that if I had an AR in 308, I'd use it more than I currently do the FAL. The FAL is heavy, and it doesn't lend itself to customizing very easily. My only thought about selling it is to replace it with an AR in 308.

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I have both. Like someone said, the AR-10 is more accurate and easier to carry and accessorize. The FAL is a battle rifle. More ergonomic than the M-14 and just as rugged. The AR-10 has more finesse. Don't know how it would hold up under battle conditions, but probably just as good as an AR-15 just much longer range knock down power and heavier.

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Originally Posted by lvmiker
Originally Posted by GunGeek
In .308 the AR's are the better target rifles, and the FAL's the better combat rifles.



I guess the Brits didn't know that when they bought all those LMTs in 308. Or maybe they forgot about those FALs they had laying around?


mike r
I should have used "battle rifle" rather than "combat rifle"

They bought the LMT's for designated marksman rifles, not as a general issue infantry rifle...so my statement holds up perfectly.

It should be noted that most NATO nations tested the AR10 against the FAL (as did the US) and almost universally NATO rejected the AR-10 in favor of the FAL. The only NATO nation who bought the AR-10 in any real numbers was Portugal. They purchased them from The Netherlands where the AR-10 was actually manufactured. Incidentally, even though The Netherlands manufactured the AR-10, even they didn't adopt it. They bought a few thousand for evaluation and use by special troops, but ended up with the FAL. Portugal ended up with the G3 and produced them locally. PTR bought the blueprints and some of the machinery from Portugal for the PTR rifles they sell today.

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Originally Posted by Dixie_Dude
Don't know how it would hold up under battle conditions, but probably just as good as an AR-15 just much longer range knock down power and heavier.
It definitely didn't hold up nearly as well as the 5.56 AR did, but that has nothing to do with design. The M16/M4 has had 50 years of development, while the AR10 design has had far less development.

In regards to the original AR10, there is nothing wrong with the AR10 design per-se. The only issues encountered had to do with development of the rifle from a standpoint of manufacturing process, and materials. Unfortunately, full development never really happened with the AR10 for a few reasons.

1 – They were a little late getting into the game (this probably hurt Armalite more than anything)
2 – Before any real development could happen, attention shifted to the AR15

And when you say AR10 it casts a HUGE net encompassing some fairly low quality range toys, on up to the SR25 and the previously mentioned LMT modular .308. The SR25/M110 was the first AR10 that was a serious battle rifle. And quite predictably when it was adopted by the US it had its fair share of problems. Almost all of which were related to materials and manufacturing, not to design because as we know, there’s nothing wrong with the design per-se. Still, the US Army found the M110 adequate as a DM rifle, but they have never been really happy with it, which is why they are getting rid of it for the most part. They have contracted with H&K to either upgrade M110’s or just replace them with the DM version of the H&K 417 rifle (CSASS).

Be it FAL or AR, with civilian legal rifles, the real factor is the build quality of the rifle; not which design.


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