Imbel FN-FAL ...
Today, at a gunshow, I bought an Imbel receiver FAL. It is marked LIHI Sporter 308. No bayo/flash (postban type). It has a thumbhole type stock. The top of the recv. has a "built in" piccany type rail, set with allen screws to side of frame. It appears that if removed, the whole top of recvr. would be exposed. Bolt has "W" shaped slats/cutouts on it. Any advice on this setup?
How difficult is it to change furniture, like this set:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=38617536
Another vendor at the show was selling wood sets. The pistol grip had the trigger set built in. He claimed this is what you need to convert the thumbhole stock. Is this true? He wanted $80 for this set, however it was wood. I want to keep the military look.
I paid $425. Bore shines, barrel grooves/lands look like new.
I know very little about FALs. Was saving for a DSArms, this one was to good to pass up. Thanks.
How difficult is it to change furniture, like this set:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=38617536
Another vendor at the show was selling wood sets. The pistol grip had the trigger set built in. He claimed this is what you need to convert the thumbhole stock. Is this true? He wanted $80 for this set, however it was wood. I want to keep the military look.
I paid $425. Bore shines, barrel grooves/lands look like new.
I know very little about FALs. Was saving for a DSArms, this one was to good to pass up. Thanks.
0
-
Imbel is a current production milspec reciever from South America which several of my friends bought and built into excellent rifles. What I would want to find out is if this was a complete Imbel rifle, which were sold here for a while, or a kit built on the receiver. If it is a kit built then I would want to know what kit was used, STG58 or what? If you want the standard milspec look, do a online serach for it as they have been available for a long while now. $80 is ok I suppose for wood, the plastic sets should be much less. Many folks get the plastic and then upgrade to wood so it shouldn't be much of a problem to find the plastic sets. I upgraded my L1A1 to wood and was only able to get like $25 selling off the plastic set. 0 -
The bolt with the W shaped cutouts is not an Stg. i think the Brits and the India Ishapore FALs had these cut outs. I built an Stg 58 on an Imbel receiver. I think the Imbel receivers are every bit as good as the FN receivers. 0 -
The diagonal cuts on the bolt carrier are called sand cuts, and are intended to help work sand out of the action. The were standard on "inch pattern" guns.
You will need a new lower to install a stock set like that, as they cut off the pistol grip stud when istalling the bunghole stocks. also you will need to come up with 6 US made compliance parts to comply with the 89 bush ban against evil foreign rifles.
the scope mount you have is in place of the "dustcover". Mil guns dont have scope mounts, they have a cheap stamped part that slides in the receiver.
Does the cocking handle fold down? are the "beaks" of your magazines thin stampings, or are they a welded on part?
.0 -
Dolfan, sounds like the scope rail is one of the early Tapco setups, you can replace that part pretty cheap and easy. As Richbug mentioned, the zigzag cuts in the bolt are to help clear sand and debris to keep it from binding up the action. You can probably get a replacement lower assy from Tapco to fit the regular stock to it.
Love them Beavers
Keeping the "Hairy League" in check since 19480 -
Thanks to all for the info.
Richbug: The "beaks" are stamped, the charging/cocking handle folds in flush, it is not a fixed.
KJ: It came w/scope rings. The scope mount cover is blued, the receiver is black military finish.
I'm going to check out Tapco. This FAL is in very good to excellent condition. I hope I did not pay too much. Atlantic Firearms has been sold out of Imbel kit Fals for a while now.
Edit to add: The carry handle could not be extended. It would hit the scope rings, so I removed them. I was told that the thumbhole stock generates more felt recoil to the shooter than the regular
stock. Is this true? I plan on shooting it next weekend.0 -
You don't have an Imbel kit. Sounds like a Inch pattern British L1A1 kit on a reworked Imbel metric receiver(you have to machine away part of the metric receiver to use the inch folding charging handle). You have metric magazines, and a Inch charging handle.
Without a muzzle break, it is going to have pretty serious recoil, more of a push than a kick.
What you have is commonly refered to as a "Frankenfal"
As far as money, you did good, I would have bought one for that if I had seen it. The Imbels have been selling for $300 or so for the receiver alone on the open market.
.0 -
Go to gunthings.com. This site is an education in itself regarding the FAL type. Also, check out FAL files forum. LOTS and LOTS of information there. If they can't answer it, it probably doesn't need answering. Regarding the ground or cut off pistol grip stud; gunthings has a replacement stud listed under the L1A1 category for lower receiver and butt stock parts. Welcome to the wonderful world of the FAL. I would take my G-1 over virtually any other military type rifle available today. I'm sure that, for specific applications, some other types are perhaps more suitable. However, overall, give me an FAL (I'm talking a quality assembly, Imbel, Entreprise, DSA, etc.) every time!
"What you do ultimately means nothing, and you could be replaced tomorrow by the first passing cretin." Corinne Maier0 -
Thanks again to all who replied. I found complete lowers available at the site provided by roysha.
Found this FAL just like mine for sale here on GB:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=38530833
Note the fold down charging handle and no bayo/flash or comp.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
8 comments