7.62x51 Battle Rifle Poll on NWFA

What's not to love about the Galil?

 

Less capacity and slower than a semi auto - it's a bonus in that it forces you to aim instead of spray and pray, and you know a BLR is accurate as hell. Thanks - now I need a couple to round things out!

 

Getting parts for them would be the only thing I can think of. That can be a real challenge sometimes.

 

And cost!

 

The original Western Assault Rifle aka Model 94, good pick and used in my first armed confrontation.
Local SO started the "Rifleman" deal, they were all on my side. Three baddies to the cross bar hotel, one had a stay in the White Walls of Health before he was transferred to the Local PD's Hotel.
I have been a very lucky man!

 

If were going old school, i gotta go Winchester 1895! That rifle in the "new" .30/06 makes for an awesome fighting rifle. Another would be the Remington Automatic mod 1908, but rebarreld in .308! I'm my mind, almost as good as modern rifles, and every bit as accurate!

 

@Ura-Ki "I have paid the IRS close to $11000 since this all kicked off!"
I agree with @HK_User I know of no other folks who get VA benefits and still have to go under the Obummer Care. I got a buddy whose shoulder gets him 25% and he gets a pass. You might want to look into it. Look, I can ask our regional VA rep about it. He's great! Former Air Force (Now, you Zoomies don't get big headed on me) 26-year vet, and really knows the system.

@3M-TA3 "I reasoned that inexperienced shooters would be helped if the battery of arms was the same for all rifles."
Yes! My thoughts exactly! I have done so with handguns and now intend to do the same with 5.56 (I'll get a pair, maybe Springfield's SAINT) but I think I will be the only one with the 7.62/.308...so it could be different but I would like it the same also, we'll see... BTW really nice weapons and that's me you hear whining, drooling and panting not the dog...

 

I'd go BLR due to the box magazine I can use pointy NATO ammo

 

Affordable Care Act -- VA, Affordable Care Act and You

The good news is that Veterans enrolled in VA health care programs have health coverage that meets the health care law’s standard and do not have to take any additional steps for health coverage under the law. Read more if enrolled…

You, VA and the Internal Revenue Service
The Affordable Care Act requires most U.S. taxpayers to declare they have minimum essential health coverage on their annual federal income tax return. In December, VA will begin sending out letters notifying all enrollees and beneficiaries of their VA health care coverage for the 2016 year. Enclosed with this letter will be IRS Form 1095-B “Health Coverage,” which includes details about your VA health care coverage for the 2016 calendar year. You will need this form to complete and report your coverage on your 2016 income tax return. Please keep IRS Form 1095-B for your records. The VA will also provide IRS Form 1095-B to the Internal Revenue Service for every Veteran who received health care coverage through VA in calendar year 2016, as required by law. If you or your dependents had a gap in coverage that lasted 3 consecutive months or more, then you may have to pay what is called the “individual shared responsibility payment” or penalty. Your 1095-B will reflect which months you did not have health insurance, if applicable. Please visit https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/individuals-and-families/questions-and-answers-on-the-individual-shared-responsibility-provision for more information on the IRS website for Questions and Answers on the Individual Shared Responsibility Provision. Expect to receive your 1095-B form by mail on or before March 02, 2017.

 

I own a couple of M14/M1A rifles and love them, an AR10, a custom Bolt gun, and an FAL that I have had for maybe 30 years. I do not know how many thousand rounds I have fired from the FAL but I have never cleaned it beyond washing it off with a garden hose, giving it a squirt of oil and will not until it finally fails. I have left it outside in a barn for two years, lost it in a creek once for six weeks, it has fallen off my motorcycle and been lost in the woods for several rainy days in the mud. It is not a pretty rifle. Somewhere about 20 years ago, I decided to see just how much abuse it could take before it fails. A few months ago, I shot 2400 rds of mixed foreign ammo out of it in two days, sometimes dipping it in a barrel of rain water to cool it down. I am pretty sure the rifle is going to out-last me. I have another that get taken care of but that old STG58 is a work-horse.

 

Yeah they and their parts fall in the not cheap column. I swear though I tie a rope on a galil toss it in the river, drag it through the mud and sand toss it in the locker for a year and it would still fire dependably LOL ok that might be a bit of a exaggeration ........ But I have abused my 5.56 model pretty badly over the years, including slipping on a ridge and sliding a couple hundred feet to the base into a creek with the galil strapped on my back and between my back and the ground on the way down. Then landing that sandy muck back first. Then getting it off my back and shooting a curious Buck that stepped out of the under brush on the opposite bank. Got me, the deer and rifle home and started to break the rifle down to clean it and it had sand and mud packed in place that I didn't know it had places. Just out of curiosity I grabbed a couple of mags out of the ammo locker, put the few parts I had stripped back on and went out back and ran 3 thirty round mags through it without a hint of a problem other than mud and sand ejecting with each shot Stripped it gave it a good cleaning lol had to use the air compressor to blow a lot of the muck out of the hard to reach places, gave a liberal oil bath and all was good. A rifle like that....... Yep I will count on it when my life depends on it.

 

Ok, I'm going to do a full 180 on ya! M1A!!!
Before I knew better, I bought my self a beautiful National Match with all the cool upgrades the good folks at Springfield offered. Took it Home and fondled the heck out of it, and rubbed that sexy walnut stock with several more coats of tongue oil. Took it to my favorite shooting spot and broke it in good. After 200 or so rounds I started running for accuracy and was suitably impressed with it. It shot every bit as good as I was expecting and I couldn' wait to stretch it' legs and see what she could really do. Back in those days, you had to roll your own to get any thing even close to that rifles potential, and months on the bench culminated in a 1400 meter rifle, one I was very proud of and I wouldn' trade it for any thing. All that changed the first time I tried to run and gun that rifle like I was in a actual fight, I broke my op rod! Not a very happy guy, then I cracked the bolt and and had to wait for Springfield to repair my rifle to the tune of almost $500!!! That didn' sit well with me, but I kept at it as I really do love that rifle, still do. Over the years I have added every decent upgrade, mounted an optic, and changed the sights, but I will not trust that rifle in a fight.
It' super picky on ammo, it is picky with mags, and the sights are too delicat, worse is the scope mount will not hold zero, no matter how tight you mount it! Not to say it' a bad rifle, not by a long shot, but I wouldn' trust it. Now I also have a "Standard" M1A that is the exact opposite of that N.M. and with the needed up grades and N.M. sights, THAT rifle I would trust. It feeds every thing I can shove in it, and its more then battle rifle accurate! I would trust it with my life!!!

Then there is my CETME! Here is a very intresting fighting rifle, and while not my favorite, it is so good that I cannot see any reason to not have it. Mine is a post ban Franken gun with a mix of parts from all over, but, I was able to address some of the issues of the original series and make what was once an OK rifle into a very fine Rifle. Of the modern Battle rifles, these are about the most efficint at doing the job your going to find. And once you get used to the unique cleaning and maintenance requirements, they are as reliable as any. Accuracy is on par with a standard M1A and with the later HK G3 sights, can really stretch things if needed.
The big down sides are RECOIL! These things hit you pretty hard for a .308/7.62x51mm! Most of that is bolt weight and inertia, this is a great rifle to add a buffer bumper to! The other down side is that wonderful roller cam locking bolt is super sensitive to foweling, especially when running dirty ammo, tracer, or crosive. And the fluted chamber requires a good soaking and scrubbing to get it clean. Finally, they really mangle spent brass, what the chamber flutes don' do, the ejection cycle does, it takes some effort to clean and resize your brass. There are also issues with the cheep aliluminum mags, and you really have to want this rifle to justify spending the money for the really good German G3 mags! I would trust my life to this CETME, but only because I have gone through it and fixed most of the issues, and I fully understand what it takes to keep one running in a fight! Is it a good rifle as is? No, but it can be!

 

@Ura-Ki Approximately when did you purchase your M1A as I have heard they improved greatly over the years? But, I have neither the time nor patience to spend on a rifle after paying a premium price and I certainly do not have the knowledge. I have been looking at the M1A Scout Squad for years as think with its 18 inch barrel it would serve as a great hunting rifle as well as Battle Rifle although probably the 16 inch SOCOM would do just as well out to 300 yards which is where one bags most game (elk and deer). I currently don't hunt but would do so if hungry Hell, I had 2 bucks and 12 doe in the yard last evening...

Also, what I am hearing from everyone here to include you and specifically @Seacowboys (since he is performing an on-going reliability test which btw I find interesting as hell) is the FAL truly is the equivalent of the old reliable AK-47 except it is much more accurate and lighter in weight. Is that a fair statement? If so, I am even more interested...and will probably get one just to have it around the house.

Don't know about others but do think I am interested in CETME...

@Seacowboys There is a guy around here who owns a gun store, indoor range and training facility and also is fairly famous nationwide for giving expert opinion in court on gun related offenses. He is doing the exact same testing you are doing with a PWS MK216 which was given to him by the company and told to put it through hell. He has. The last I heard, he had 40,000 rounds through it and all he had done was run a bore snake through it once at the 20,000 round point. He's leaves it outside in the rain, refuses to clean it, throws in around in the trunk of his car knocking the hell out of I, simply mistreats it. I am a great admirer of this type of testing as think it is the closest you can get to real combat and 'soldier proof' testing. BTW it he has never had a failure that could be attributed to the rifle which makes me extremely interested in it.

 

The M1A I got on 1990! Still have it, way to much into it, and it' still cool as he'll!
The FAL is a big boys rifle compared to tbe AK series, and even better for servicing in the field then the AK! The FAL is a much more robust design with a lot of thought put into every detail that really makes it better. They are a little heavier, but that' due to steel receiver and bolt assembly as well as a longer barrel and has system. Over all, just as reliable as the AK, and far, far more accurate!

 

German G3 mags!

Lots of HK steel mags around now, $5 up.

NTL I never had a problem with Aluminum and at 2.50 they are my daily drivers.

HK G3 HK91 20RD STEEL MAGAZINE, F-G

 

Love those G3 steel mags. Had a few troubles with the aluminum ones, usually wouldn't feed properly, about one in 5, but at the cost, worth stocking up with a bunch, while stripping the non worky for the springs and followers!

 

L1A1....

 

Dang, Andy! You have a breeding program for them?

 

Hah, see all those green cards?
Family connected immigration!

Mom-ma, Poppy, Uncle, and the kids of all.

 

Parker Hale 1400 in .308 or an Fr8 modified to a scout ... bolts R better...