I took these two out to fine-tune the zeroes on them.
The lower rifle reflects my philosophy modernized--it's that custom FAL that I had done by the nice folks at DS Arms. It's shorter and more utilitarian than the M-1A and much handier for work in an urban setting, IMHO. It's got it's new Blue Force Gear Vickers sling on now.
Using the 25 yard range, I zeroed both for 200 yards, and then played around on the 100-yard steel plates at the range. I think that they're actually 8" discs, and impossible to miss with the M-1A. I could hit them regularly with the FAL too, but I needed to use just a bit of hold-over and really concentrate on trigger press since the sights aren't as adjustable as the M-1A's and the trigger is definitely not as smooth. But that's the difference between the two. The FAL is a fighting rifle, period. It's made to put rounds on man-sized targets out to a reasonable range and do so even when wet, muddy, frozen, etc., It's not quite "AK-47" rugged, but it's a lot closer than the M-1A, which is more of a precision weapon with it's crisp, "break like glass" tuned trigger and superior adjustable sights.
Both rifles functioned flawlessly and put the rounds pretty much where I wanted them to go. I wish that I could have gotten another turn on the FAL front sight tool to get it down to 100 yards, but it bottomed out at 200 and a touch high at that. So it goes...
They do handle totally differently. The FAL is more ergonomic and comes onto point quicker, but the M-1A has sights and a trigger to die for.
Now I'm thinking seriously about a Springfield Scout. or a SCAR Heavy, which I also have a bug for, thanks to Old NFO letting me shoot his. I want compact and reliable and fast-handling and precision all rolled into one. The search for the perfect rifle goes on.
Then it was home for at minute to lock up the rifles and change, and off to a free self-defense seminar put on by a guy who is setting up a new MMA and self-defense school here. Hey--free and a chance to pick up a trick or two--what's not to like? (Esp. the "free" part.) Did that, came home again, took a nap on the couch, then joined my neighbors down the street for a block party that they'd kicked off because--hey, it's New Orleans...it's how we roll.
Then as I was walking home, all full of good food and beer, I looked at the front of my house and saw this:
Nothing wrong with ANY of your choices... And one wonders if somebody 'tried' to peek in the window? Was there a brown trail leading away from it??? :-)
ReplyDeleteHeh. It's noteworthy that almost no one at the block party knew me but they ALL knew of Murphy and Belle. They'd either seen us walking--and were intimidated--or they'd walked by the house and been barked at, and were really intimidated. And I couldn't convince most of them that they are really nice, friendly dogs. Good thing I didn't take the dogs to the party.
DeleteHey ML, which one do you think broke the blinds?
ReplyDelete60/40 Murphy. This is one of those "can't prove it" crimes against the house.
DeleteI had a Soccom, sold it to get a SCAR 17. Much better. 1 MOA or better, light and compact. (I know, I'm not helping.)
ReplyDeleteHey Murphy;
ReplyDeleteNext time leave the blind open "dog high". Nobody will look in...trust me. Anyway...I do like your M1A, that is my dream rifle to own. I used to drill with an M14 in ROTC in college. All of your rifle choices are good, but I still lean toward the AR platform due to versatility....And I know I ain't helping either.
I don't worry about people looking in. If the dogs can see out, they bark. When I'm home, it's annoying. I usually open them a bit when I leave and close them when I'm home, and this time I left and forgot to open them. Usually the dogs will nudge them up gently by themselves, but here, someone apparently got excited and got caught in the blinds...again. This is why when I go to Home Depot, I buy spares.
Deletere the FAL. Doesn't it use the same sight as the G3? the fit in that goies into the circle?
ReplyDeleteyou could buy a couple extra and expiament, filing doen the post to give you more room to adj.
Before you jump on the M1A Scout, take a look at the SOCOM. You may still want the Scout, but the SOCOM has everything the SCout has in a 2" shorter package and the SOCOM compensator just flat out works. An 18" barrel is a good balance between minimum short (16") and optimum long (20") but for the "lesser distances" (<350 meters) there's not enough difference to lose sleep over. And did I mention how well the SOCOM comp works? Don't know if it'll fit the Scout barrel, but...
ReplyDeleteBoth the Scout and the SOCOM will accept a Scout scope (take a look at the 2-8 Nikon BDC), and using Leupold QD rings allows for a fast swap back to the irons.
RE: .30. There's nothing you can do with 5.56 that you can't do with 7.62X51 at least 200 meters farther out. Cooper was right.
The FAL sight-in might not be too high - what's the point blank range for the rifle/ammo combination? I tend to zero 5.56 at 200 meters (giving about a 330 yard "point blank range" radius), 7.62 at 310 meters for a 415 yard PBR. YMMV.
purchased new back in 1988 in response to George H.W. Bush's famous "Assault Weapon" ban.
ReplyDeleteI have a Colt AR-15A2 of similar vintage, which I bought for the same reason.
Don't want to sound pedantic, but GHWB wasn't President in 1988. He came in on 01-20-89, and the AWB that he put in at Bill Bennett's insistence was in March 1989. I did some rearranging about that time, too.
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