#FnFal

The FN FAL is one of the most prolific firearms of the 20th Century. This Belgian big-shot fires the powerful 7.62×51 NATO round at 650 rounds per minute, and came to be known as “the right arm of the free world” during its tenure as the backbone of many nation’s militaries. Over 70 countries made use of this fantastic rifle, and it is certainly easy to see why.

A video was released by Patrulha Policial (Police Patrol) on YouTube. The video appears to be from the body camera of a Brazilian officer, in a helicopter, observing a runaway suspect involved in a high speed pursuit with other Brazilian officers. The sniper next to him appears to be using a FAL.

As the problems in Libya spread throughout the country because of the sectarian violence, this mystery light machine gun has made headway in a recent Reuters article. Judging from the stock, pistol grip, trigger guard, gas tube, and compensator, it appears to be a Bren gun, however it also appears to be belt fed, which is unlike a Bren gun. In addition the furniture looks like unfinished wood made locally and thus either this a contraption from Bren parts using the design or something entirely different. Write in the comments section if you know what this is.

Chuck at GunLab recently posted on a cutaway L1A1 British FAL; since I have been studying the FAL recently, I was naturally drawn to the post. Unfortunately, Chuck’s coverage is somewhat spartan, and the images fairly low resolution, so I went hunting for more. I found quite a few great images of cutaway FALs, which I have shared below:

In preparation for an upcoming article about “light rifle” development (i.e., full power automatic infantry rifles), I have been reading the excellent Collector Grade Publication three-part volume on the FN FAL rifle. In it is contained the transcript of the 1950 Light Rifle trials, which pitted the American T25 design (a rifle that was at once a hybrid of the M1 Garand and BAR, but at the same time much more than that) by Earle Harvey, the Anglo-Polish EM-2 design by Stefan Janson, and the Anglo-Belgian FN FAL design – by none other than Dieudonné Saive, John M. Browning’s Belgian protégé – against the Second World War veteran the M1 Garand. The tests were comprehensive, but not all included the “control” rifle – the M1. Why this was so is not clear to me. In the rain tests, the M1 beat the EM-2 and was not so far behind the FAL and T25, and in the cold tests the M1 was a clear winner, functioning flawlessly (this would be echoed later when the T44E2 would beat the FAL in trials in Alaska, preventing its cancellation and eventually leading to the adoption of its descendant, the T44E4 as the M14, in 1957).

Gregor emailed us this photo saying “This is how the Austrian Army uses the FN FAL (STG58): to hold helmets!”. The photo was taken during the Austrian National Day, which falls on October 26.