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Thread: Any one know how to build a FAL?

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    Senior Member abpt1's Avatar

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    Any one know how to build a FAL?

    So I want to build a kit and wanted to know if anyone here has any pointers ?



    Some cool vids ......for the hell of it ...









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    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    I've built over a dozen and still have 2 of my own. You need; a receiver wrench and a barrel vice, headspace gauges, gauge pins to find the locking shoulder size in order to set head space and a Dremel tool with cut off discs, the fiber reinforced types. I can probably build one to mechanical function in about 2 hours. Refinishing it and baking the finish more hours.


    First two I ever built. Ended up selling the G1 but the Imbel was later converted to folding stock after the assault weapon ban ended in 2004. I nearly forgot, to build a 922r compliant FAL you need to substitute 7 US made parts. The usual composition is a US receiver, (DSA or Coonan) a hammer, trigger and sear, gast piston, charging handle, and lastly either a pistol grip or handguards.
    Last edited by Schuetzenman; 12-20-2010 at 09:34 PM.

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    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

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    instead of any furniture, i went with mag floorplates for the 7th part. they were only $1ea when i was doing it. just recently finished off my first pack of 20.

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    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

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    oh, and most all of them do, but make sure your receiver comes with the ejector block installed.

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    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by deth502 View Post
    oh, and most all of them do, but make sure your receiver comes with the ejector block installed.
    Never seen one that didn't have it pinned in already. I've used Coonan, DSA, (my favorite but the most expensive) and Brazilian imported Imbels. I never went floor plate as I don't want to worry about does this mag have a floor plate or not. With 4 FAL rifles origianlly in my collection I have about 100 mags. A $15 buck pistol grip is cheap by contrast.

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    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

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    ive seen an off brand one pop up from time to time on gunbroker without the block. if your buying from a regular supplier, it shouldnt be a problem.

    afa the furniture, ive had some us stuff, and i was totally unimpressed with the quality of it. the only part that didnt look vastly inferior was the pistol grip, but the us one didnt have the cutouts to latch the cleaning kit in. im sure theres better stuff out there, but the stuff ive seen wasnt. coupled with that the fact that i had about 7 mags at hte time, and even now, years later, i only have just over 20, it wasnt that big of a deal to me. but i agree, for $100, id pass on them.

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    Senior Member abpt1's Avatar

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    Great I was hoping a few of you guys had a handle on this . This will be my first new caliber in like 5 years ! lol and its .308 Funny I never owned one before shot a lot of them but only ever had 30-06 or 300 win mag no .308...This looks a lot more complicated than a AK

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    Senior Member Penguin's Avatar

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    It is something I would be real tempted to do if I could find a good inch parts kit.
    Doobie Doobie Doo..

  9. #9
    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by abpt1 View Post
    Great I was hoping a few of you guys had a handle on this . This will be my first new caliber in like 5 years ! lol and its .308 Funny I never owned one before shot a lot of them but only ever had 30-06 or 300 win mag no .308...This looks a lot more complicated than a AK
    Actually, no it's not more complicated than an AK. AK builds are the hardest to do if you're going to build it riveted vs. screws and even then it's still simipler IMHO. I figured out how to build the FAL by doing just a bit of reading and going at it. You need good stout barrel vice to hold the barrel solid when torquing on the receiver. One also needs a good receiver wrench to prevent damage to the receiver. It will clamp around the receiver where the barrel threads into the receiver.

    If a barrel can be hand screwed in to about 10:00 to 11:00 it should torque down to top dead center. If it comes up at 9:00 hand tight one must remove about .004" off the shoulder of the barrel that rubs up against the front of the receiver face or take that much off the face of the receiver. Believe me if doing a WECSOG, (Wile-E-Coyote School of Gun Smithing) build meaning no lathe or mill to work with, you will find it far easier to remove the metal off the face of the barrel shoulder than try and tackle the receiver. This is where a Dremel tool, (required for WECSOGing a build) and the fiber cut off wheels come in. You would be well served to have a set of digital vernier calipers to measure the depth from the mounth of the barrel shank to the shoulder on the barrel. Remember you're going to need to take .004" off that to advance the timing of the barrel. Going slowly and measuring frequently work your way around the entire shoulder. Try the fit up and if it is now 10 to 11:00 the barrel can be torqued down to top dead center.

    Top dead center is best down with a pair of spirit levels, small torpedo levels. The barrel is leveled up in the barrel vice first and securly clamped. Then you torque the receiver on and use the two parallel sections of the receiver to sit the level on. If the bubble is centered you're there, if not keep pulling.

    Should you over time, say go to 12:00 or 1:00 you have the option of doing either a spacer washer or peaning the shoulder on the barrel to raise the metal and prevent the barrel from screwing on too far. English L1A1 rifles use a timing washer.

    Too bad you're way up in PA as I have all the tooling here to do a build. If you could stop by on a Saturday we could go through a build from A to Z and you'd fully understand how to do the build in the future. With my blast cabinent and stock of Gun Kote on hand we could get you out of here with what looks like a factory new FAL rifle in one long day.

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    Team GunsNet Bronze 07/2011 Crash's Avatar

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    I bought a parts kit and sat on it for years because I wasn't sure if I was capable of doing the build. One day I traded for a DSA FAL receiver and I felt like I was commited to doing the build so I read a lot on the DIY forums on several websites. In the end it wasn't that hard.
    I think finding quality compliance parts was the hardest part as some of them were low quality and I didn't want to put them on my rifle. If I can help let me know...

  11. #11
    I've been sitting on 4 FAL kits for a couple years.
    They don't look like they would be too difficult to build.
    I need to get off my butt and allocate funds for some receivers.

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    I have a kit I’ve been wanting to build.

    Quote Originally Posted by Schuetzenman View Post
    You need; a receiver wrench and a barrel vice, headspace gauges, gauge pins to find the locking shoulder size in order to set head space

    I understand the concept of using the headspace gauges to set the headspace. but I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “gauge pins to find the locking shoulder size”. Can a person just set the barrel in to where the headspace is to tight and then take a little of the back of the bolt until it’s right?
    where do the pins come in?
    Last edited by Blacksmith; 12-22-2010 at 01:02 PM.

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    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blacksmith View Post
    I understand the concept of using the headspace gauges to set the headspace. but I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “gauge pins to find the locking shoulder size”. Can a person just set the barrel in to where the headspace is to tight and then take a little of the back of the bolt until it’s right?
    where do the pins come in?
    the fal works off of a tilting bolt lock up like an sks, and the spot where the back of the bolt tips into, same as an sks, determines headspace. teh barrels only job is to time right to the receiver, lining up the gas ports and what not, the headspace is set by a piece of hardened metal pressed into the receiver in said spot where the bolt tips into to lock. teh depth of the chamber, length of the bolt, ect ect, determine what size teh locking shoulder needs to be. what you will do is put the go gauge in the chamber, then lock the bolt in, then you have a series of "pin gauges" (just round blocks of a known diam, a lot of ppl use drill bit shanks) that you slide in the hole where the locking shoulder goes to determine exactly what size you need to get the propper headspace. make sense?

    afa taking a little off the back of the bolt, not recomended. that said, ive dont it before when my locking shoulder was a little too tight. i just stoned a few thou off the bolt and it was perfect.

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    Quote Originally Posted by deth502 View Post
    the fal works off of a tilting bolt lock up like an sks, and the spot where the back of the bolt tips into, same as an sks, determines headspace. teh barrels only job is to time right to the receiver, lining up the gas ports and what not, the headspace is set by a piece of hardened metal pressed into the receiver in said spot where the bolt tips into to lock. teh depth of the chamber, length of the bolt, ect ect, determine what size teh locking shoulder needs to be. what you will do is put the go gauge in the chamber, then lock the bolt in, then you have a series of "pin gauges" (just round blocks of a known diam, a lot of ppl use drill bit shanks) that you slide in the hole where the locking shoulder goes to determine exactly what size you need to get the propper headspace. make sense?

    afa taking a little off the back of the bolt, not recomended. that said, ive dont it before when my locking shoulder was a little too tight. i just stoned a few thou off the bolt and it was perfect.
    Thanks.
    That cleared it up.

  15. #15
    Moderator & Team GunsNet SILVER 11/2010 Tx Dogblaster's Avatar

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    Great thread! I've thought about building an FAL for a while just because I like 'em and I'm too cheap to buy a factory rifle.

    It's good to see a thread being followed and added to without all the douchebaggery that goes on in GD...

  16. #16
    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by deth502 View Post
    the fal works off of a tilting bolt lock up like an sks, and the spot where the back of the bolt tips into, same as an sks, determines headspace. the barrels only job is to time right to the receiver, lining up the gas ports and what not, the headspace is set by a piece of hardened metal pressed into the receiver in said spot where the bolt tips into to lock. teh depth of the chamber, length of the bolt, ect ect, determine what size teh locking shoulder needs to be. what you will do is put the go gauge in the chamber, then lock the bolt in, then you have a series of "pin gauges" (just round blocks of a known diam, a lot of ppl use drill bit shanks) that you slide in the hole where the locking shoulder goes to determine exactly what size you need to get the propper headspace. make sense?

    afa taking a little off the back of the bolt, not recomended. that said, ive dont it before when my locking shoulder was a little too tight. i just stoned a few thou off the bolt and it was perfect.
    Pretty good reply. I'm going to try and take some photos of the gauge pin thing I use. It's about 10 or 12 inches long and is stepped in diameters by about .002". It's made by a guy from Falfiles named Moses for his on line nick. The way you use his device is with the Go gauge in the bolt face one shoves the pin in the locking shoulder hole and at the same time you slide the bolt carrier forward until it locks in. Pull bolt group back to unlock it then shove the stepped pin in further to the next larger diameter, repeat process until the bolt won't lock in and then back up one step if you want a really tight chamber or 2 steps if you want a looser NATO spec. In as much as I shoot surplus I always went for the looser chambering. Not reloading the brass so I don't need to worry about stretching.


    First image is a typical pile of FAL kit on the counter top. Notice the screw drivers and the pin punches. Next image is of 4 Locking shoulders and the receiver pivot bolt. The LS is a hard cylinder of metal with two flats ground on it. It has an "L" shape and the foot of the L has a peanut or figure 8 shape to it. That part fits in a recess on the right side of the receiver, a.k.a. the ejector port side of the receiver.

    Here's a photo of a receiver hand timed on a barrel in a barrel vice. Last image is of the leveling set-up and shows how the torpedo levels are used to line up the receiver with the front sight / barrel. A platform tool screws into the frong sight post threads of the front sight gas block assembly. You get the barrel dead center up with the level and clamp the vice down on it to hold it then with the wrench on the receiver one pulls the receiver into top dead center having the level sit on the rails of the receiver. If you look at the image of the receiver with the two levels on it, the wrench is clamped aroudn the receiver and the breaker bar handle is installed on it. I don't have any individual photos of the wrench or stepped gauge pin thing at the moment. http://www.gunthings.com/ this link was where I would often get a Locking Shoulder if I didn't have the right size with the kit as well as some compliance parts. DSA would also be a good source of compliance parts. I like their pistol grips best for what's on the market but they don't take an Imbel type cleaning kit. Not a biggie for me.
    Last edited by Schuetzenman; 12-23-2010 at 11:44 AM.

  17. #17
    Senior Member abpt1's Avatar

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    WOW great info !

    I would take you up on that in a heart beat Schuetzenman, if you were not 800 +/- miles away but the offer is greatly appreciated!

    Sorry I have not had a chance to replied just busy and one of our dogs died last night . I dont know where to start I guess wait for the kit and asses what condition its in..
    here is a link
    http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=204971771
    what are the easiest 922 parts to find beside the receiver ?
    Last edited by abpt1; 12-23-2010 at 07:26 PM.

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    Team Gunsnet SILVER 05/2012 deth502's Avatar

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    i use the welding rod method instead of the level method.

    its very easy, very cheap, and very acurate.

    just slide a welding rod through the hole in the fsb so its half sticking out over each side. then lay the 2nd one across the rails on the receiver. then just simply eye down them and tighten till theyre parallel.


    looks like one hell of a receiver wrench , schuetz, did you make that yourself? ive never seen a manufactured one look that solid.

  19. #19
    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by abpt1 View Post
    WOW great info !

    I would take you up on that in a heart beat Schuetzenman if you were not 800+/- miles away but the offer it greatly appreciated!

    Sorry I have not had a chance to replied just busy and one of our dogs died last night . I dont know where to start I guess wait for the kit and asses what condition its in..
    here is a link
    http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=204971771
    what are the easiest 922 parts to find beside the receiver ?
    The ones I listed are the easiest to source. Having not built an FAL for 5 years now I'm not sure on cheap sources of parts. Tapco used to be a cheap charging handle and gas piston source, I've used and am using both parts. DSA proably makes the best US parts though they will be higher. Since Tapco went wholesale only I've lost touch with them and their product lines.

    The welding rod or just steel rod method didn't work for me to my level of satisfaction. That's why I invested in the front sight level platform. I did the rods, took the weapon out and it shot way right, went home did it again then it shot way the hell left. Never had one that required tweaking after I went to the levels. BTW, one level is sufficient, you just move it from the front platform to the receiver. When bubbles are settling in the same spot, you're there.

    On did I make the receiver wrench, half yes, half no. The fundimental wrench is aluminum, so it's soft as aluminu is. I didn't make that part. The part I did was the dark gray section to the right that is bolted to it with the 2 big Allen bolts. I used a socket adapter and welded that to the steel plate. That's what the breaker bar, (1/2") fits into. If I need to I slip a 4' piece of pipe over the handle and that gives me all the torque I need to center up even a stubborn tight receiver. BTW, if the receiver is tight and you're close you can rock it, that is tighten then loosen the receiver multiple times and it should come on in to TDC, (top dead center).

    A tip on use of a receiver wrench. Cut notebook paper and wrap the receiver with it, tape in place. I go 2 layers deep with the paper. This is to pad the receiver from the receiver wrench marring the surface. In my wrenchs case it doesn't really dmage the steel but it will leave white / silvery aluminum marks on the finish like paint. It's a PITA to clean off so the paper prevents the need for that.
    Last edited by Schuetzenman; 01-23-2011 at 11:54 AM.

  20. #20
    Moderator & Team GunsNet SILVER 11/2010 Tx Dogblaster's Avatar

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    How much do FAL receivers sell for? Who sells them? I've never really looked into them but this thread has piqued my interest in trying a different type of build. I know NOTHING about FAL's other than the fact that they're .308 and I like the battle rifle look. Would I have to buy as many tools and jigs as I have for my AK builds?

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