FN FAL

The Argentine Armed Forces officially adopted the FN FAL in 1955, but the first FN made examples did not arrive in Argentina until the autumn of 1958. Subsequently, in 1960, licensed production of FALs began and continued until the mid to late 1990s, when production ceased.

Argentine FALs were produced by the government owned arsenal FM (Fabricaciones Militares) at the Fabrica Militar de Armas Portatiles "Domingo Matheu" (FMAP "DM")in Rosario. The acronym "FAL" was kept, its translation being "Fusil Automatico Liviano", (Light Automatic Rifle). Production weapons included "Standard" and "Para" (folding buttstock) versions. Military rifles were produced with the full auto fire option. The rifles were usually known as the FM FAL, for the "Fabricaciones Militares" brand name. (FN and FM have a long standing licensing and manufacturing agreement.) A heavy barrel version, known as the FAP (Fusil Automatico Pesado, or heavy automatic rifle) was also produced for the armed forces, to be used as a squad automatic weapon. The Argentine 'heavy barrel' FAL, also used by several other nations, was found to frequently experience a failure to feed after firing two rounds from a full magazine when in automatic mode.

A FAL offspring chambering the 5.56 x 45 mm NATO cartridge was developed in the early 1980s; it was dubbed the FARA (Fusil Automatico Republica Argentina). The design borrowed features from the FAL such as the gas system and folding stock. It seems to have been also influenced to some degree by other Western rifles (the Beretta AR70/223, M16, and the Galil). An estimated quantity of between 2,500 and 3,000 examples were produced for field testing, but military spending cuts killed the project in the mid 1980s.

There was also a semi-automatic–only version, the FSL, intended for the civilian market. Legislation changes in 1995 (namely, the enactment of Presidential Decree Nº 64/95) imposed a de facto ban on "semi-automatic assault weapons". Today, it can take up to two years to obtain a permit for the ownership of an FSL. The FSL was offered with full or folding stocks, plastic furniture and orthoptic sights.

Argentine FALs saw action during the Falklands War (Falklands-Malvinas/South Atlantic War), and in different peacekeeping operations such as in Cyprus and the former Yugoslavia. Rosario made FALs are known to have been exported to Bolivia (in 1971), Colombia, Croatia (during the wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s), Honduras, Nigeria (this is unconfirmed, most Nigerian FALs are from FN in Belgium or are British made L1A1s), Peru, and Uruguay (which reportedly took delivery of some Brazilian IMBEL made FALs as well).

The Argentine Marine Corps, a branch of the Argentine Navy, has replaced the FN/FM FAL in front line units, adopting the U.S. M16A2. The Argentine Army has expressed its desire to acquire at least 1,500 new rifles chambered for the 5.56 × 45 mm NATO SS109/U.S. M855 (.223 Remington) cartridge, to be used primarily by its peacekeeping troops on overseas deployments.

The Australian Army, as a late member of the allied rifle committee along with the United Kingdom and Canada adopted the committee's improved version of the FAL rifle, designated the L1A1 rifle by Australia and Great Britain, and the C1 by Canada. The Australian L1A1 is also known as the Self Loading Rifle (SLR), and in full auto form, the Automatic Rifle (AR). The Australian L1A1 features are almost identical to the British L1A1 version of FAL, however the Australian L1A1 differs from its British counterpart in the design of the Main Body (Upper Receiver) lightening cuts. The lightening cuts of the Australian L1A1 most closely duplicate the later Canadian C1 pattern, rather than the simplified and markedly unique British L1A1 cuts. The Australian L1A1 FAL rifle was in service with Australian forces until it was supplanted by the Steyr AUG in the 1990s.

The Australians, in coordination with Canada, developed a heavy barrelled version of the L1A1 as an Automatic Rifle variant, designated L2A1. The Australian heavy barrelled L2A1 was also known as the Automatic Rifle (AR). The L2A1 was similar to the FN FAL 50.41/42, but with a unique combined bipod and handguard and receiver dust-cover mounted tangent rear sight. This L2A1 was intended to serve a role as a light automatic rifle or quasi Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). The role of the L2A1 is essentially the same in concept as the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) or Bren. The L2A1 often was considered a replacement for the BAR or Bren, although in practice many considered the L2A1 inferior to the BAR or Bren. It is noteworthy that most countries that adopted the FAL rejected the Heavy Barrel FAL, presumably because its "in-between" role served a need that really did not exist; and that it did not perform well as either a light rifle, or a SAW. Countries that did embrace the Heavy Barrel FAL included Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, and Israel.

Unique 30 round magazines were developed for the L2A1 rifles. These 30-round magazines were essentially a lengthened version of the standard 20-round L1A1 magazines, perfectly straight in design. Curved 30-round L4A1 magazines from the 7.62 NATO caliber Bren Gun are interchangeable with the 30-round L2A1 magazines, however they reputedly have feeding difficulties due to the additional friction from the curved design as they must be inserted "upside down" in the L2A1 FAL. The L4A1 Bren magazines were developed as a top-mounted gravity-assisted feed magazine, opposite of what is required for the L2A1 FAL. Regardless of these shortcomings, the L4A1 magazines are popularly used in FAL rifles of all types.

The Australian L1A1/L2A1 rifles were produced by the Small Arms Factory, Lithgow, with approximately 220,000 L1A1 rifles produced between 1959 and 1986. L2A1 production was approximately 10,000 rifles produced between 1962 and 1982. Lithgow exported a large number of L1A1 rifles to many countries in the region. Notable users were New Zealand, Singapore, and Papua New Guinea.

Many Australian soldiers used the SLR rifle during the Vietnam War despite its unsuitability for close jungle combat. In fact, many Australian soldiers preferred the larger calibre weapon over the American M16 simply because they felt they could trust the NATO 7.62 round to kill an enemy soldier outright. Australian jungle warfare tactics during the Vietnam War were far more conservative than those employed by U.S. troops, and often determined by the strengths and limitations of the SLR and its heavy ammunition load. Use of the SLR in fully-automatic fire was discouraged. Because of financial constraints, soldiers were not allowed to discard empty magazines — they had to refill them when given the opportunity.

Another interesting product of Australian participation in the conflict in South East Asia was the field modification of L1A1 and L2A1 rifles by the Australian Special Air Service Regiment SASR for better handling. Nicknamed "The Bitch". These rifles were field modified, often from heavy barrelled L2A1 automatic rifles, with their barrels chopped off immediately in front of the gas block, and often with the L2A1 bipods removed and a XM148 40 mm grenade launcher mounted below the barrel. The XM148 40 mm grenade launchers were obtained from U.S. forces. For the L1A1, the lack of fully-automatic fire resulted in the unofficial conversion of the L1A1 to full-auto capability by simple filing of the selector.

The United Kingdom developed its own variant of the FAL in 1957 as the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (SLR). It was manufactured upon tooling using Imperial measurements and ultimately included many minor changes, considered improvements by the UK. These changes included a folding cocking handle; an enclosed prong-shaped flash suppressor patterned after the US T48 FAL; a folding rear sight; sand-clearing modifications (cuts or grooves) in the body (upper receiver), breech block (bolt), breech-block carrier (slide), and gas regulator; an integral "fold-away" trigger guard with modified pistol grip for winter use; a strengthened butt-stock attachment; enlarged change-lever (selector); enlarged and ambidextrous magazine release; a strengthened magazine catch and magazine; modified take-down release lever to prevent unintended activation; and top-cover retainer tabs to prevent forward movement. Late production L1A1 rifles were equipped with synthetic furniture, including handguards, pistol grip, carrying handle and buttstock. This synthetic furniture was produced from "Maranyl" plastic, a Nylon-66 and glass fibre composite. The synthetic L1A1 furniture is noted for its anti-slip texture, termed "Pebblegrain". The synthetic buttstock included the unique feature of a replaceable butt-pad, available in several different sizes to accommodate an individual shooter's "length of pull". The majority of these modifications (improvements) were also reflected in Canadian (C1 and C2 Rifle), Australian (L1A1, L2A1 AR or Automatic Rifle), and to a lesser extent, Indian (1A-SL) production. The standard UK L1A1 FAL was produced as a semi-automatic only rifle, in contrast to the original Belgian version which was selective fire. Adaptations were made unofficially to give the UK version full auto capability - and 30 round magazines from the 7.62 BREN machine gun could be used without modification on the UK L1A1. These modifications were often retained by some units - although such adapted weapons were never officially sanctioned. The L1A1 was replaced in the mid 1980s by the 5.56 mm Enfield SA80 L85A1.

Due to the significant departure of features from the original Belgian FAL rifle, full interchangeability of components between the original Belgian pattern FAL and the L1A1 pattern FAL was not possible, although complete sub-assemblies of the L1A1 pattern rifles are generally interchangeable with assemblies from most other Belgian pattern FAL rifles. Many individual components are also interchangeable, however a significant proportion are not. It should be noted that although the UK L1A1 and its Australian and Canadian counterparts were produced upon machine tools utilizing imperial (English or "inch") measurement systems, they are actually of the same basic dimension as the original Belgian FN FAL rifle. Incompatibility between the original Belgian FAL and the L1A1 are due to feature pattern differences, and not due to different dimensions as [incorrectly] implied by the differing measurement systems. Confusion over this subject has given rise to the common terminology of "metric" or "inch" FAL rifles, presumably originated to reference the machine tools that produced them, when in fact virtually all FAL rifles are of the same basic dimensions - true to the original Belgian FAL design. Popularly, the use of the term "metric" FAL refers to a FAL rifle with original Belgian FN pattern features, and the use of the term "inch" FAL refers to a FAL rifle produced with the modified Australian, Canadian, UK, or "Commonwealth" L1A1 pattern. The Indian 1A-SL FAL rifle unofficially included a majority of the UK L1A1 pattern modifications.

The UK L1A1 FAL rifle was manufactured by three makers: The Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield (Enfield); Birmingham Small Arms (BSA); and the Royal Ordnance Factory, Fazakerley (Fazakerley). Replacement components were also made by Parker Hale Ltd.

Later production UK L1A1 FAL rifles are noted for the availability of unique optional sights. The first of the optional sights included a folding dual-aperture day/night sight, commonly known as the "Hythe Sight". The Hythe sight was developed for close range, dusk and night use and incorporated two overlapping rear sight aperture leaves, and a permanently glowing (until radioactively decayed) tritium inserts in the front sight post for improved night visibility. Also noteworthy was a unique scope designed specifically for the L1A1 rifle. The scope, identified as the L2A1 "Site Unit, Infantry, Trilux" (SUIT) is a fixed-focus 4X magnification scope with an unusual prismatic offset, a unique inverted tapered tritium illuminated sight post reticule, and an integral bullet-drop compensation via a two-position mechanical cam. The offset prismatic design reduced overall length for improved clearance around the L1A1 action, reduced parallax errors and to significantly reduced the effects of heat mirage from a hot rifle barrel. The inverted sight post allowed a very rapid target re-acquisition due to the fact that recoil typically raises the rifle barrel, leaving a clear sight picture under the inverted pointer, which combined with the pointer's thick taper promoted the quick target re-acquisition. Although relatively heavy, the SUIT scope was also noted for its durability, due to the very robust construction. It is also noteworthy that the during the Cold-War, the UK SUIT scope was copied virtually verbatim by the Soviet Union and designated as the 1P29 telescopic sight. Both the Hythe and SUIT sight options were commonly found on production UK L1A1 FAL rifles.

The USA tested the FAL in several forms; initially as manufactured by FN in experimental configurations, and later in the final T48 configuration as an official competitor for the new US Light Self-Loading Rifle intended to replace the M1 Garand. The US Army procured T48 rifles from three firms for testing, including two US based companies in an effort to assess the manufacturability of the FN design in the USA. The T48 was manufactured for testing by Fabrique Nationale (FN), of Herstal, Belgium; Harrington & Richardson (H&R) of Worcester, Massachusetts; and the High Standard Company of Hartford, Connecticut.

The T48 competed against the T44 rifle. The T44 was a heavily modified version of the earlier M1 Garand. Testing proved the T48 and the T44 comparable in performance, with no clear winner. However, the ease of production of the T44 upon machinery already in place for the M1 Garand, combined with the US Army's desire to maintain a Springfield Armory relationship dating from 1793, ultimately swayed the decision in the direction of the T44. The US chose to adopt the T44 which became the M14 rifle. The United States also received a small number of FAL Heavy Barrel Rifles (HBAR) (either 50.41 or pre-50.41) for testing, under the designation T48E1, though none of these rifles were adopted by US. Various American unconventional forces have been reported to have been issued the FAL in preference to the M16 for certain missions.

In the wake of World War II, the NATO "Rifle Steering Committee" was formed to encourage the adoption of a standardized NATO rifle. The Committee and the US interest in the FAL proved to be a turning point in the direction of the FAL's development. The US and NATO interest in small arms standardization was the primary reason why the FAL was redesigned to use the newly developed 7.62×51 mm NATO cartridge, instead of the intermediate cartridge designs originally tested by FN. Two political factors are worth noting: the US Government tacitly gave the nod to NATO, and specifically to the United Kingdom, that if the FAL were redesigned for the new US 7.62x51 mm cartridge, then the FAL would become acceptable to the US, and the US would presumably adopt the FAL rifle. Secondly, FN had indicated that it would allow former WWII Allied countries to produce the FAL design with no licensing or royalty costs as a gift to the Allies for the liberation of Belgium. Ultimately, the US chose to part with the other NATO members and adopt the M14 rifle, while the majority of NATO countries immediately adopted the FAL.

During the late 1980's and 1990's, many countries decommissioned the FAL from their armouries and sold them en masse to United States importers as surplus. The rifles were imported to the United States as fully-automatic machine guns. Once in the U.S., the FAL's were "de-militarized" (upper receiver destroyed) to eliminate the rifles' character as a machine gun. Thousands of the resulting "parts kits" were sold at generally low prices ($90 - $250) to hobbyists. The hobbyists rebuilt the parts kits to legal and functional semi-automatic rifles on new semi-automatic upper receivers.