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FN FAL

• moderate
• Shop tier 3
• medium confidence
• Rifle
• battle rifle
• short stroke piston
• adjustable gas
• surplus
• hinged receiver

field strip ~3 min · reassembly ~5 min · detail strip ~40 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• The gas regulator controls how much gas drives the action. Set too open the rifle batters itself; set too closed it will not cycle. Do not change the setting casually, and never fire with the gas plug removed.
• The receiver hinges open like a break-action. Support both halves — the upper is heavy and the hinge is a bearing surface, not a handle.
• Metric and inch-pattern FALs are not fully parts-compatible. A magazine or component from the wrong pattern may not fit or may fit badly.
• Gas system components are extremely hot after firing.
• The recoil spring in a fixed-stock rifle lives inside the buttstock tube and is under compression.

Under spring tension

• Recoil spring in the buttstock tube
• Gas piston spring
• Magazine spring

Easily lost parts

Gas plug · Gas piston spring · Firing pin retaining pin · Locking shoulder (detail strip)

Tools

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 3 Tier 3 — hardest among rifles and carbines, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. FN breaks the strip into 18 groups, most of them for armourer or workshop. Several springs fly when released: the hammer spring housing, the sear, and the frame-body lock spring. The return springs in the butt come out only with FN's special butt-screw tool. The gas regulator and rear sight settings have to be preserved. There are many sprung parts and a dedicated tool, which puts it at the hard end of the rifle group.

Parts: 115 numbered parts (complete semi-automatic FAL per the Gun Digest exploded drawing legend 'FAL Standard Autoloading Rifle' (Browning/FN commercial FAL), keys 1-115, magazine included (112-115). Key 61 'Trigger Mechanism), from The Gun Digest Book of Exploded Gun Drawings (975 isometric views) - Browning 'FAL Standard Autoloading Rifle' — Gun Digest Books / Krause Publications (scan on archive.org), p. book p. 560 (PDF page 561) archive.org [6].

Bench time: about 55 min to strip, 80 min to rebuild (estimate). Estimate: field strip, trigger mechanism (hammer and housing, sear, trigger and plunger, safety, hold-open, magazine catch), pistol grip, return springs with the butt tool, butt stock, frame-body lock, carrying handle, gas regulator and cylinder, front and rear sights, handguards, flash hider. Rebuild longer for the hammer spring housing, the lock spring, the return springs and resetting the gas r

Small parts: 13 pins, 20 springs, 10 detents or plungers (counted by name in the same legend (line items). Pins: 13 gas block retaining pin, 14 retaining pin, 24 slide rod pin, 32 ejector pin, 39 firing pin retaining pin, 52 lug and cocking handle detent ret)

What comes off for coating

• Lower (trigger frame): hammer spring housing, rod and spring, hammer and axis pin, sear and axis pin, trigger and trigger plunger/spring, safety selector, holding-open device, magazine catch and spring, pistol grip and nut screw, trigger guard, frame-body lock, spring and plunger, locking lever — FAL butt screw tool
• Buttstock: butt plate, return springs (inner and outer), plunger, butt screw, butt stock and support screw, rear sling swivel — FAL butt screw tool
• Upper (body) and barrel: cover, slide, breech block, firing pin and spring, extractor (with cartridge or tool), cocking handle, detent and spring, carrying handle, gas plug, piston, piston spring, gas regulator sleeve and spring, gas cylinder, handguards, foresight and detent, backsight, flash hider — FAL gas regulator spanner

Special tools

• FAL butt screw / return spring tool — Butt screw and return springs
• FAL gas regulator spanner — Gas regulator sleeve
• Pin drifts — Frame-body lock retaining pin, sling swivel pin
• Front sight tool — Foresight elevation (only if moved)

Known pain points

• The hammer spring housing is levered out of its notch under hammer-spring pressure and has to be held with a thumb or it flies. (both)
  Source: F.N. Light Automatic Rifle (FAL), English-language manual with stripping/assembly (archive.org text layer) — Fabrique Nationale Herstal archive.org [4] — “keep the thumb lightly on the housing to prevent it from flying out under action of the hammer spring”
• The sear comes off its axis pin under its spring and is held by hand while the pin comes out; the sear spring itself is riveted. (both)
  Source: F.N. Light Automatic Rifle (FAL), English-language manual with stripping/assembly (archive.org text layer) — Fabrique Nationale Herstal archive.org [4] — “Hold the sear with the left hand to prevent it from flying out”
• The two return springs in the buttstock are held by the butt screw and need FN's special tool, held firmly against the springs. (both)
  Source: F.N. Light Automatic Rifle (FAL), English-language manual with stripping/assembly (archive.org text layer) — Fabrique Nationale Herstal archive.org [4] — “Using the special tool provided, remove the butt screw; hold the tool firmly to control the action of the”
• The frame-body (takedown) lock spring launches when its retaining pin is drifted out, so the drift is left in and the spring held back. (both)
  Source: F.N. Light Automatic Rifle (FAL), English-language manual with stripping/assembly (archive.org text layer) — Fabrique Nationale Herstal archive.org [4] — “Hold back the spring with thumb or index finger then remove the drift”
• FN says the full strip is not difficult, but a few operations need special tools and most groups are armourer/workshop only. (both)
  Source: F.N. Light Automatic Rifle (FAL), English-language manual with stripping/assembly (archive.org text layer) — Fabrique Nationale Herstal archive.org [4] — “too much stripping causes extra wear on certain parts and a few operations require special tools.”

Fit or check on rebuild

• Gas regulator setting — The gas setting is factory/armourer-set and must be restored (note the click count before removal)
  Source: FAL User's Manual, Light Automatic Rifle Cal. 7.62 mm — Fabrique Nationale Herstal archive.org [5] — “Before leaving the factory, every rifle has been adjusted for correct gas setting.”
• Backsight stop screw — Only one backsight support screw is removed; the other is a locating stop
  Source: F.N. Light Automatic Rifle (FAL), English-language manual with stripping/assembly (archive.org text layer) — Fabrique Nationale Herstal archive.org [4] — “It is not advisable to touch the second screw”
• Zero — Foresight and backsight moved for coating mean a re-zero by an armourer
• Locking shoulder/headspace — Not disturbed in a coating job, but the breech block and body are fitted; keep the rifle's own breech block

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

What the manufacturer does say: The manufacturer's documents give no torque value. They say: "— Replace the pistol grip and nut screw and tighten screw (fig. 104 and 105)." (F.N. Light Automatic Rifle (FAL) — English-language manual with stripping/assembly and lists of components, PDF p. 45)

Function check

• Verify the rifle is unloaded with no magazine inserted before each step.
• Cycle the action by hand and confirm the bolt locks and returns fully to battery.
• With the selector on safe, press the trigger. The hammer must not fall.
• Move the selector to semi, cycle the action, and press the trigger. The hammer should fall.
• Hold the trigger back, cycle the action, and release the trigger to feel the disconnector reset.
• Confirm the bolt hold-open engages on an empty magazine.
• Confirm the takedown lever is fully latched and the receiver halves are tight.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Bolt locking surfaces and carrier rails
• Carrier where it rides in the upper receiver
• Gas piston (light film only)
• Hammer and sear pivots
• Receiver hinge pin

Cleaning notes

Clean the gas cylinder and piston regularly — carbon buildup there changes how the rifle is gassed and is the usual cause of a rifle that used to cycle and now does not. Surplus ammunition may be corrosive; clean accordingly.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 1000 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Gas piston and rings · Locking shoulder (affects headspace) · Extractor and extractor spring · Recoil spring · Carrier rails

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: L1A1 SLR (inch pattern, with differences) · StG 58 · R1 · Most metric-pattern FAL variants. Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• M14 / Springfield M1A
• AKM / AK-47 Pattern Rifle

Sourcing