Just bought a FAL... WTF do I have?

[I_Hate_George_Lucas]

I just purchased this Century Arms FAL for $800. Came with six 20rd magazines, Condor "Tactical" sling, forend rail, and twenty five rounds of Lake City 7.62x51mm NATO. I haven't shot it. Everything is nice and tight on this rifle and the finish is excellent. Just a few dings in the stock and a little parkerization is worn from where the charging handle is.

Anyways... some pics and explanations.





The receiver has the following on it. The IMBEL Gear logo followed by...
[CENTER]FAL
RECEIVER MADE BY IMBEL - ITAJUBA - BRAZIL
C.A.I. GEORGIA, VT[/CENTER]

On the upper rear (just below the rear sight) of the lower it has a serial number of 226527



The serial number on the IMBEL receiver is FAL14XXX. What's interesting is that "FAL" is done by electric dot and the numbers are not and "FAL" is just off line and is not aligned with the numbers. It appears that the "FAL" part of the serial number might have been added after the receiver was made and the numbers were struck. The numbers are in the same font as the information stamped on the receiver.



Inside of the magwell it's stamped "2004".



The IMBEL receiver is marked "Cal. 7,62mm (.308)". The lower has the following selector markings. "S", "R", "A". No other marking are on the lower. The selector switch will not move past the "R" but I am not sure if this is due to the selector switch itself or simply the pistol grip.



The rear sight is graduated from 200mm to 600mm.



The front sight post has "0", "4", "8", "12" stamped on it. The gas selector has no markings on it.



There is an "A" stamped on the gas plug.



There are no other marking on the rifle. I took the forend off and there are no markings on the barrel. The bolt carrier is stamped with a number that does not match anything else.

[Kutter_0311]

Looks like you got... a... Century FAL.

I'd get some good ammo and go BZO it quick. Any problems will be readily apparent.

Good luck! Hope the Century Monkeys didn't fuck your shit up...

[landser]

Fusil automatic leager receiver made in brazil the reciever is certainly good but not a belgian one. Used by 90 countries at one time seeing great succes in rhodesia and many other battle fields. Alas the FAL was not enough to stop robert mugabe and the greatest agricultural region is now a failed region. Even thought the FAL used by the rhodesian armed forces won every battle and saw more para drops than any other rifle it could not stop the tide ZANU. I hope you have a good one.

[Regular Guy]

Looks like you got... a... Century FAL.

I'd get some good ammo and go BZO it quick. Any problems will be readily apparent.

Good luck! Hope the Century Monkeys didn't fuck your shit up...

It's an Imbel reciever so it's prolly a Brazilian kit which is good. Now, before you fire it have a gunsmith check the head space. You may have to have some work done to it but you have a very good reciever. Don't destroy it by firing a gun with jacked up head space.

[Kutter_0311]

It's an Imbel reciever so it's prolly a Brazilian kit which is good. Now, before you fire it have a gunsmith check the head space. You may have to have some work done to it but you have a very good reciever. Don't destroy it by firing a gun with jacked up head space.

Yeah, that would be bad. Prolly hurt, too!

I wonder if there are guages around for that...