Poof It Was Gone

 

I was out at the rumored $2,600 price point.

I don't think it's really an unreasonable price for a gun with so many unique and bespoke parts.

$3,300 is more than I want to spend on one.

BUT!

The entire production run sold out in less than an hour.

That speaks to an unsatisfied demand.

All of those expensive, bespoke parts get cheaper if you make a lot more of them and get the price down.

I am not sure what the number of people who want such a rifle are, but I was tempted at $2,600 and out at $3,300.  It'd have been a done deal at $2,200!

I am, also, not sure of what kind of margins are built into the production of this rifle.

Economies of scale can make a lower margin pay more than a higher margin in increased sales. 

This May Be Your Only Chance!

Palmetto State Armory, doing business as Harrington & Richardson, has teamed up with DSA to produce a limited run of T48 FALs.

So, at 4:30 PM EDT, Friday, May 29, 2026 you can begin stabbing "add to cart" and attempting to enter your card information and check out before supplies are exhausted.

No price has been announced, but $2,600 is the rumor.

I have already made my case with Harvey about buying one:

1. It's really cool. 
2. It's really expensive.
3. We REALLY don't need it. 
4. It's objectively not as good as the FAL we already have. 

Did not dissuade her in the slightest.

She even consulted the Magic 8-Ball® which replied, "No." 

Language Barrier

It's like clip vs magazine all over again.

When you open the gas port on an FAL have you increased or decreased the amount of gas getting to the piston?

Turns out it's a trick question!

The FAL has two places where you can affect the amount of gas getting to the piston.

The first is the gas plug on the front of the piston tube.  It has two settings, on and off.

It is often accompanied with a flip up sight for aiming rifle grenades.

The second is the gas regulator and that's what most people are talking about when they say opening or closing the gas port.

If the gas plug is in the ON position, it's on.  The gas port is open.

What the gas regulator does is control the amount of gas that's vented from the gas tube before it hits the head of the piston.

More open means more venting which means less pressure on the piston which means less energy is converted to motion.  Depending on the ammo and gun, you can set it so it won't even eject the empty case.

More closed means less venting which means more pressure on the piston which means more energy is converted to motion.  You really can't hurt the gun closing the regulator all the way; there are also vents you cannot adjust.

The service manual from FN says to check the springs periodically and replace as needed.  Helpful, no?

Logic would say that if you're running at max pressure, then you'd need to change your springs more often.

There are rare cases when max gas and weakening springs have caused damage to the lower receiver, especially with aluminum lowers.  Most especially with folding stocks, it seems that the springs for the folding stock are weaker than the fixed stock to begin with. 

FAL Or Not

Should you get an FAL?

Of course!

They are a fine example of what a battle rifle could be in the early to late 1950's.

They are not a fully modern, modular gun.

Don't go into owning one thinking this is something that it isn't.

It's interesting that few people get into owning a Garand thinking they're getting a modern, modular battle rifle; but expect an FAL to be.

Not being modern or modular should not dissuade you.

They're great guns.

Magazines are not cheap and plentiful anymore, though.  Hmmmm, just like 7.62x51mm surplus ammo isn't cheap and plentiful anymore either.

I'm quite content with mine.

Will Your FAL Make It To The End Of A Match

The common opinion is that an American made FAL will not make it to the end of many 2-gun matches.

I wonder why.

Willard suspects that following FN's directions on setting the gas regulator is the problem.

FN says you should start with the regulator wide open and fire single rounds until the bolt locks open on an empty magazine then close it two more clicks.

I go three.

This works great for a range toy.

Willard closes his all the way and, like a man, takes the increase in recoil.

There's something to his theory.  Using all the gas all the time means it's going to keep running until it just can't anymore.  That's a lot farther than if you use half the gas and it keeps getting dirty.

I also wonder if it's the proliferation of the short gas tube on American made guns.  As sloppy as the threads in the gas block are, I can see that thing being soldered in crooked.  Just enough that it balks when it gets dirty, but not so much that a casual range session sees it.

But I'm too darn old to enter a match to prove mine will make it.  Timing out on every phase because I can't run doesn't really test the rifle much.

But Does He Have Mutti

 

Can A Photo Hurt You

Jasmine and a Rhodesian brush camo inspired Hawaiian shirt.

Apparently, there's people who act like this photo can cause physical harm to them.

Nope.

Just a picture of a rifle on a shirt.

Kicking And Screaming

Willard stopped by today to have me mount a DSA p-rail top cover and SIG Romeo-MSR sight to his FAL Voyager.

Damn OEM eyeballs being as old as the rest of us sucks, and optics are a way around the problem.

We tried it in several locations on the rail and Willard settled on putting it to the rear rather than the front as shown in the pics.

The DSA railed cover is a solid optics mount for an FAL, but it's kind a pain to get on.  Simple but fiddly.  Once it's on, it stays put though.

Still Life

 

Just having some fun with the camera and making arrangements.  Trying stuff out.

There's things that don't show, but I know they're there.  Like removing the M7 bayonet and putting an FAL one in its place.  Like putting an FN magazine pouch to replace the 1911's.

Heck, you can't hardly tell there's a Browning in that holster.

Plus that's a real grenade launching blank there.

Better Markings

Got my paint stencils for the Energa today!

Much better and easier than the other way I did it!

Masked

 

My buddy has cut a mask!  That will look so much better on the "good" print.

I might even do some filling and redo the markings on the "bad" print.

R1M1 Markings Method 1 Test

This was done by painting the marking area yellow, applying some 1/4" Helvetica self-adhesive vinyl letters, spraying green over all that then peeling the letters back off.

It looks surprisingly authentic.

Method 2 is to have my buddy, Adam, make me a stencil mask to apply and then just spray the letters yellow.

On the real thing, they simply held a cardboard stencil with the correct markings up the grenade and sprayed.  Lots of runs and overspray on the real deal.  The South Africans were sloppy about this.

Update:

Did a bit of touching up.  It's better.

Still Life With The Light Automatic Rifle

You did know that FAL stands for Fusil Automatique Léger right?  That's French for light automatic rifle, and something of a pun.

Léger and la guerre sound a bit alike, especially with a Belgian accent.

The Energas are looking durn good all painted up.  I need to find my stencils!

Paint

I have decided that imperfections and voids are a good thing when you're making a rifle grenade marked like a live round.

I've yet to find my stencil set, so markings are still coming.

 

Ready For Bondo

Got the Energa printed all out!

 

There's a couple of voids and imperfections (that's PerVECT!) that need filled and sanded, but it's looking damn good.

Then sickly gray green paint, then markings, then more pictures!

By the way, the grenade sights suddenly make intuitive sense when you've got a grenade (though it's hard to get everything aligned for the camera).  The curve of the grenade body is supposed to match the curve of the sight with body filling in the u-notch.

100m:

75m:

50m (and the best alignment with the sights):

PS: It came to 562g assembled.  Missed the target mass by 160g.  I can add weight, I have a hollow spot.

Success

Got a successful tail print!

It even fits over the muzzle like it should!

There's a mysterious void on one side, need to fill that, but it's definitely within the range of tolerance for a cosmetic toy.

Printing of the nose has begin:

Bracing Tail

It's going well.  But the previous attempt was going good at this point as well.  The big difference is we're braced for the wobble this time!

Here We Go Again!

We almost made it too!

The version with the butresses made it all the way to the fins, but had wobbled enough to put a dog-leg in the tail tube.

It would have been salvageable, but the inside diameter of the tube is an interference fit with the FAL flash-hider.

So we redesigned the butresses to allow a weight to be placed directly on them to stop the wobble and added a 1/4 mm to the ID.

Krusty IS coming!

Full Size Tail Section Take Two

 

We're hoping that the increase facet resolution and the support buttresses will let us get to the end this time!  This is four hours of printing, much quicker than the first attempt too.

Not Complete

The fins are giving us agita!

The print got up to them and it started getting all wobbly on JT!

Revised srt with support buttresses and FACETRES set from 0.5 to 10.

We're getting there and learning as we go!  Many of the comments have been helpful, I am not sure this is still the internet.

I also revised the fuse to make the angles look better.