Decided on battle rifle
Earlier I was agonizing over which big-bore battle rifle to get. I considered the FAL, HK91/G3, Saiga 308, M1A, and AR-10. All of these are chambered for 7.26×54mm NATO, are semi-auto, and have devoted supporters.
I don’t like the high cost, recent quality problems, expensive parts, and gunsmithing required for the M1A, not to mention the lack of a pistol grip.
I don’t like the ergonomics of the HK91/G3 (no bold hold-open, charging handle on the left side, awkward safety lever), the horror stories I’ve heard about how fouled it gets, and the relative difficulty in finding parts.
I don’t like the parts scarcity and expensive high-cap mags of the Siaga 308, not to mention the fact that it’t not itself a military rifle.
There are no clear leading mfgs of AR-10s; Armalite and DPMS both make some, but they’re expensive and have proprietary mags.
The NIB US-made DSA FALs are absurdly expensive, and have a 3-4 month lead time.
I’ve ended up choosing the DSA FAL, specifically a Para folder with 21″ bbl. It’ll end up costing me over $1700, but the parts are plentiful, mags are everywhere, and it’s a proven military weapons system on par with the Kalashnikov. It’s been called the ‘right arm of the free world’. It has been used in some form or another by 90 countries, was the standard-issue British infantry rifle before the SA80, and saw action with Israeli forces in the Yom Kippur War, where a superior Arab force was given a vigorous thumpin’. The FAL has the additional advantage of having a user-adjustable gas system, which means it can eat just about any .308 ammo.
Though $1700 sounds like alot (and, in fact, is), I’m not getting a battle rifle for collecting or target shooting purposes; it’s a SHTF/home defense weapon, and it needs to be reliable and accurate. I’ll have my M4 for close-range work; I want something in .308 for long-range accuracy and reliable shooting under adverse conditions. Thus, the franken-FALs and lower-end Century builds, though hundreds cheaper, aren’t what I want.
To get a Saiga .308 up to that standard would take a $350 Saiga and $800 of custom work by Tromix, and I’d end up w/ a gun w/o plentiful parts availability and a sole-source provider of expensive high-cap mags. A PTR 91 would likely work for $500 less, but as mentioned I don’t like the ergonomics or the fouling problems. The M1A just doesn’t appeal to me at all, nor does the AR-10.
In four months when it finally arrives, we’ll see if I made the right decision.
Tags: ar10, fal, guns, m1a, Migrated from Drupal, ptr91, saiga