Unrequited love of an old flame.
ATI mentioned they were getting into the Galil game at SHOT.
Brownell's is stocking them.
I've a long running lust for a Galil.
It runs back to 7th grade and getting my first copy of TSR's Top Secret where it's listed as ".22 Galil semi-automatic (Israel)" and only holds 10 shots.
That led me to grab the correct volume of my Weapons and Warfare books and look up this mystery gun. Damn it looked cool!
When I got out of the Army I started looking to buy one.
Prices were always just out of reach, and kept climbing ahead of my income where the price of a Mini-14 stayed steady. I learned that you cannot make a Galil from a Mini-14.
And this was just with the effects of Bush Sr's "assault weapon" import ban.
The Clinton AWB changed the price inflation to either logarithmic or exponential progression on the fixed supply and dramatically increased demand.
There prices have remained, so it's amazing to see a Galil for a "just" over a grand!
That's Century Golani Sporter territory!
With Mosin 91/30s running $300, maybe it's time to start selling some of the old guns?
And the ATI Galil is made from parts kits. How worn are the parts in the parts kit they used to build the one you might buy? How easy will it be to procure replacements for the worn parts when you add more wear to them and they become non-functional? It's supposed to be "based on" the AK, but how interchangeable are the parts?
ReplyDeleteI point this out because a buddy got a Hudson H9 late last year, and now he's hoping someone picks up the Hudson Intellectual Property and starts producing them (and repair parts for his should he ever need them). He also has a Gen 1 Para-Ordinance LDA that has been nonfunctional for the decade I've known him, because he can't get any information on how the parts are supposed to fit together properly.
I would personally be leery of buying the ATI Galil, unless a source of new replacement parts were available. Unless parts for the Galil ACE by IWI fit the ATI Galil...
There's ZERO parts interchange between a Galil and an AK.
DeleteThe host guns didn't see decades of hard shooting, they saw decades of hard being carried around, so functional wear should be low even if the finish is worn right off.
I'm not too afraid of parts kits, having successfully built an L1A1, wz.88 and three AR-15's from parts. Without warranty no less.
I'm way more concerned about getting proper magazines than the wear and tear on the internal parts, especially since it's a brand new barrel.
I have to ask: does it have the bottle opener?
ReplyDelete(I'm actually serious about that. Well, 75% serious. Okay, would you believe 50%? But I did think that was a cool feature when I first read about the Galil.)
==Dwight
It'd better! I think that's on the ARM's bipod and these appear to be the AR.
Deletei have always wanted Galils as well. I wanted Both this model and the one with the black plastic furniture as well. i would go well with My Tavor.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel, although I never went in for the Galil. Apparently there are companies producing replica semi-auto STG-44s, in several different calibers including 7.92x33. I'd love to try one of those out for size and see how it compared with my AK or other rifles I've shot.
ReplyDelete