Severnside yesterday

[huntervixen]

Morning all,

A very last minute day off decision saw me heading down to Severnside with a boot full of rifles and ammo, I met up with a friend of mine who was on a mission to zero in his O.I.P scoped Fal (superb optics and a lovely rifle to shoot) and me zeroing in a new SUIT on my Lithgow, zeroing my freshly bedding adjusted Maltby No4 and zeroing in my restocked and re-bedded 1903A4..

Spotting for each other made the tasks much easier and by lunch we had all the rifles grouping very well indeed....after some ammo was expended that is!

Great day out (as last minute range trips tend to be) with some superb weather in the afternoon.

Can anyone explain to me why the lighter Fal has significantly less felt recoil than the Lithgow L1A1 (using NATO GGG in both)???

My Maltby was printing groups shot from a bench rest, within No4T acceptance accuracy standards, 5 ish inch groups at 200yds RESULT! Must have got the bedding right then! ... apart from the odd flier due to my crap shooting that is

[snayperskaya]

Sounds like a good day was had by all

Don't know about Imperialistic rifles, but my Dragunov SVD has noticeably less felt recoil than my heavier SVD-S paratrooper version despite using the same ammunition in both.

[Charlotte the flyer]

Is the flash suppressor acting as a pseudo-muzzle brake?

[huntervixen]

I think you are onto something there Charlotte, looking at the flash eliminator on the Fal, it looks like it may well have some muzzle break qualities, certainly gives a very annoying " break like blast" when you shoot alongside it on the firing point and I can't say I have noticed that when I have L1A1's ether side of me shooting.

On that subject, when I was trying to dial my Lithgow SUIT in, I had a very annoying modern wizzy target rifle next to me with a muzzle break like a 25pdr field gun........BOOM.....BOOM.....

A bloody great shock wave going right through you when you are trying to zero a rifle really doesn't help, it accounted for more than the odd flier...

Its called recoil, if you don't like it take up air rifle shooting

[huntervixen]

Sounds like a good day was had by all

Don't know about Imperialistic rifles, but my Dragunov SVD has noticeably less felt recoil than my heavier SVD-S paratrooper version despite using the same ammunition in both.

On the same subject comrade.....different flash eliminators by any chance?

[desperatedan]

Can anyone explain to me why the lighter Fal has significantly less felt recoil than the Lithgow L1A1 (using NATO GGG in both)???

Hi John

I've got an Imbel Fal like your friend. I've played around with different furniture - original plastic/vinyl and FAL "type B" wood - when trying it out with an OIP scope but mine's ex-Luxembourg rather than a Belgian scope. I have found a noticeable difference in felt recoil between the original vinyl stock with a rubber buttpad and the older wooden stock with a steel buttplate. Also using GGG surplus.

I would hazard an educated guess that it could well be that the vinyl stock and relatively softer buttpad on the Imbel absorbs more recoil than an L1A1 with wood furniture and alloy/steel buttplate.

p.s. My original plan was for an L1A1 rather than a FAL but despite a "standing order as soon as next available " with a well known dealer supplying L1A1s he never followed through. With due respect to forum rules its a story for another day perhaps! I'm still wanting to get an L1A1 though!

Kevin

[snayperskaya]

Sounds like a good day was had by all

Don't know about Imperialistic rifles, but my Dragunov SVD has noticeably less felt recoil than my heavier SVD-S paratrooper version despite using the same ammunition in both.

On the same subject comrade.....different flash eliminators by any chance?

They are different, the SVD-S has a shorter flash hider and on thinking about it a bit more the SVD-S also has a shorter barrel which is why it is a bit punchier.

[huntervixen]

Can anyone explain to me why the lighter Fal has significantly less felt recoil than the Lithgow L1A1 (using NATO GGG in both)???

Hi John

I've got an Imbel Fal like your friend. I've played around with different furniture - original plastic/vinyl and FAL "type B" wood - when trying it out with an OIP scope but mine's ex-Luxembourg rather than a Belgian scope. I have found a noticeable difference in felt recoil between the original vinyl stock with a rubber buttpad and the older wooden stock with a steel buttplate. Also using GGG surplus.

I would hazard an educated guess that it could well be that the vinyl stock and relatively softer buttpad on the Imbel absorbs more recoil than an L1A1 with wood furniture and alloy/steel buttplate.


p.s. My original plan was for an L1A1 rather than a FAL but despite a "standing order as soon as next available " with a well known dealer supplying L1A1s he never followed through. With due respect to forum rules its a story for another day perhaps! I'm still wanting to get an L1A1 though!

Kevin

Hi Kevin,
Welcome to the forum mate and thanks for the input regarding Fal recoil ... As I know L1A1's inside out, it was a very informative process to contrast and compare the L1A1 with its parent rifle.

I have to say, I was very impressed indeed with the Imbel, excellent quality of build and finish ... in fact better than the Fn manufactured military Fal's that I have handled in the past!

In operating the Fal, you notice straight away the ergonomic improvements that the ABC committee implemented into the design, when it shifted from metric to inch, among them, the fire selector and magazine release are a bit of a fiddle on the Fal for a start, but the last round hold open is a nice touch on the Fal.

I would very happily give cabinet room to an Imbel, I think my Commonwealth L1A1's would get along just fine with their South American/continental cousin!