[rick]

Can someone give me a brief rundown on the variations of the FAL rifle?

I look on a site like GunBroker, and I see "FN/FAL", "Imbel", "L1A1", "SA-58", "STG58", "M444"....

What should I be looking for in a non-collectible, reliable, working weapon (in .308)?

PS. I did a search here for "FAL" and "FN/FAL", but the poorly designed search function says there are no matches for these patterns...

 

[BudgetSurvivalist]

Maybe this will help
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as24f-e.htm

 

[FredLee]

The FN FAL was originally designed and built in Belgium.They built them for a long time,and they are considered to to the best.Many other countries bought licenses to build the FAL to equip their own forces.These include the German( G1 varient) the Austians(STG-58 varient) the British(L1A1) and the Brazilians(Imbel) There are many more.About the only FAL varient I am aware of as being a "loser" is the Indian built variation,mainly because they didn't practice quality control,and so lots of parts won't interchange amoung them.
The biggest factor in getting a good FAL in my opinion,is getting a good quality receiver.DSA is good.Imbel is good.Century had some dicey ones,and some good ones.

 

[bulldog]

best deal on a quality fal is entreprise arms standard rifle. retail is $899 dsa is a little better but alot more $$$ century arms fal i would avoid because you will either get a ok fal or a very heavy, expensive and possibly dangerous (check headspace before firing) paper weight. just my 2 cents

 

[Brother Buck]

I have a DSA receiver that I took to Entreprise to build with an IMBEL kit.
I have yet to fire it but overall I was happy about the deal.
I need to have them do my second upper for me.
Entreprise had a sh*t reputation for a while until recently when they made a strong effort to get it together.
Look up Marks assessment of their new receiver at Arizona Response Systems.
If Gunplumber endorses them you know they are on track.
They do have some nice rifles.

 

[LuniticFringeInc]

I have an excellent arsenal refinished L1A1 that has been quiet a work horse for me. Its a gun that will be in my safe till the day I die.

 

[Uncas]

I would look for a Metric pattern gun, parts are cheaper and more readily available then inch varients (L1A1).

I bought a DSA STG-58 which is an Austrian Fal which DSA added a new barrel and receiver to. The main differance between the STG and a Fal is that the STG has a steel handguard and a folding bipod attached to the rifle.

I paid $1100 for the rifle and have been very happy with it. With the STG models DSA imports the parts kits and completes the rifle. The SA-58 rifles are essentially DSA's FAL rifles with no previously used parts inide or outside the rifle.

If you want way more info then you can handle then checkout Falfiles.com