Question on FAL accuracy from you gurus.

[g.willikers]

A long time friend, who lives up in north Georgia, has been vainly trying to get his FAL to be accurate with his handloads.
He's been at it literally for the past three years, without great success.
He's trying to achieve the popular minute of angle accuracy but so far has only gotten about a three to four moa.
Sometimes better, but not a regular thing.
He's about convinced it's the rifle, but is still trying, mostly out of sheer cussedness.
While there's no real need to do this, it's become more or less a goal.
Any suggestions for loads would be appreciated and I will pass them on.
It's not him, because he can consistently get that result with his AR.
And he's an experienced handloader for everything he has.
Thanks in advance.

[cbr954fz1]

well, i think the first thing he should do is to gauge both ends of the barrel to make sure everything is good to go(crown/muzzle errosion ..then take the measurement in the chamber to see how far of a jump the bullet has to go before it reaches the lands/grooves and adjust..use 1 type of powder for 10 shot groups to find the sweet spots 2500- 2600fps or maybe 2700fps+. he should also handfeed the rds to make sure the rd does not incur any damage via the mag..also try putting the gasplug to grenade side for full gas pressure.. also have him do a test w/and without the brake but on a side note some accuracy is given up for semi autos..just afew ideas my.02...

[Villafuego]

FAL's are capable of 1.5MOA with good surplus ammo......Port and Hirtenberger come to mind.

Bipods (either factory or aftermarket) are bad juju for FAL accuracy

Is the rifle scoped? If so, how? If not, how snug is the upper/lower fit?

I'd start there before getting lost in handloading data.....

[g.willikers]

Thanks for the replies.
All info gratefully received and forwarded.

[hurricanecharlie]

hardest thing to get on a fal is a decent trigger
makes tack driving a lot harder
any good solutions for that?

[cbr954fz1]

i hate the u.s.HTS..so many out of spec issues..i try to only use the factory hts and use u.s.furniture..i think if you use the spring reduction kit for the hts, that might reduce the pull..cbr

[Swamp Water]

The Fals were not designed for moa accuracy. If you get 2-3 moa from them your doing good. Stg barrels have the rep as being the most accurate. I have a Fal that will shoot the first round in a mag 2-3" lower than the rest of the mag. So it gets nice 2 1/2" groups with one 3-4" low every time. I have tried different bolt carriers and loads and just face the fact that it does this. I have had two others that were real bad vertical stringers and sold them. One was a very historical BGS build I spent alot of time on. In the end the stringing problem combined with being disgusted with a enterprise receiver group buy that went crappy made me loose interest and sell the rifle. It is luck of the draw with Fal's I guess is what I am saying. My best shooting Fal's are the ones I kept. A Imbel on Imbel and brit L1A1 kit built on inch cut Imbel. They wil shoot 2-2 1/2" groups with my handloads. Good luck.

[cbr954fz1]

Swampwater, i agree w/you fals are not tac rifles but 1-2 is possible. if you built your guns i'm sure you know how to headspace your fal so the 2 things that come to mind is first did you check to see if there is any scaring to the brass caused by the mag lips, rec rails and finally the feed ramp...next is the muzzle crown..i had a friend w/a professionally built g1 and it shot like crap..w/the brake on the spread was 6inches, w/out it was 4 inches but high/low..we then discovered that the muzzle crown was bad and when it was fixed it came down to 2moa w/sa ammo..you also said that you reload..did you chrono your loads? how fast is your std range loads. i also thought that was the problem w/ some my fals but it turns out that i bought resized 7.62x54 to 308, but when they resized the bullet is no longer concentric and wont fly straight..just a few things that come to mind ..cbr

[Swamp Water]

Cbr I don't have a chrono. I have been reloading a while and just work up my loads until I find the best ones. I did check the crown's on them and swapped bolts and carriers. Some just seem to be 4-5 moa gun's instead of 2". I had a beautiful Aussie slr with an origional chrome barrel that patterned like a shotgun ha ha. I see there's a few of us from the files on here. You and Dynomike. Mmy files name's CTW. Anyway sorry to the op for hijacking the thread. I hope your friend figures out his problems.

[cbr954fz1]

Dynomike was the friend w/G1 issues..if you get a chance to come to palm bay over the holidays let me know and bring your fal i would look it over for you, we can also go to pmrpc to shoot.i have seen your id on the files...cbr

[g.willikers]

He mentioned the stringing problem, too.
I'll tell him it's not just his gun doing it.
Meanwhile the quest keeps him out of the local taverns.