FAMAE 540 FAQ: Why its cool, and you should own one

Anyone know if there are going to be anymore
542 308 magazine's imported
The Canadian 20 round and 30 round magazine
Pouches work very well for the 5.56 magazines
A little tight for the SIG magazines because of
the knobs that allow one to join them together
 
It’s not the price that gets me, but it’s the access to magazines. Why don’t they manufacture a lower to take AR-10 mags, they already have a version to accept AR-15 magazines.
 
Likely due the fact that AR10 mags (KAC pattern) are physically larger and won't fit the existing magwell of a 542.
They would need to re-tool and redesign the entire lower.

The STANAG AR mag is dimensionally smaller than a 540/550 mag, and does fit within the magwell of the 540, so there is just the need to adapt the existing lower to work with the magazine architecture.

Add to the fact that the rock and lock mags work far better than how STANAG mags lock into a lower receiver, and the choice is pretty obvious.
 
Having looked at the "new" FAMAE rifles with their furniture "upgrades", I much prefer the aesthetics of the older, "classic" rifles. Knowing that the basic operating systems remain unchanged since they were first developed in the 1970's, there is no way in Hell that I would pay $3600 for one of the newly-manufactured FAMAEs when the very latest hotness is available for $200 less n the CZ Bren 2. I'd go with the Bren 2 all day, every day for the win. The Bren 2 is lighter weight, with better accuracy than the classic FAMAE SG540, a superior trigger, and much more durable external and internal finishes. Unless the new FAMAEs come with a free-floated barrel, an upgraded trigger and/pr a Cerakote finish instead of enamel baked over parkerizing, they really bring nothing new to the table aside from an adjustable Buttstock and a lot of exposed Picatinny Rail.
 
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Bartok5 said:
Having looked at the "new" FAMAE rifles with their furniture "upgrades", I much prefer the aesthetics of the older, "classic" rifles. Knowing that the basic operating systems remain unchanged since they were first developed in the 1970's, there is no way in Hell that I would pay $3600 for one of the newly-manufactured FAMAEs when the very latest hotness is available for $200 leess n the CZ Bren 2. I'd go with the Bren 2 all day, every day for the win. The Bren 2 is lighter weight, with better accuracy than the classic FAMAE SG540, a superior trigger, and much more durable external and internal finishes. Unless the new FAMAEs come with a free-floated barrel, an upgraded trigger and/pr a Cerakote finish instead of enamel baked over parkerizing, they really bring nothing new to the table aside from an adjustable Buttstock and a lot of exposed Picatinny Rail.
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was debating on picking a SG540 or just get another Bren since i converted my bren to NR and i do not like it anymore, barrel to long :D Probably gona get another 11" bren.
 
CyprusTM said:
was debating on picking a SG540 or just get another Bren since i converted my bren to NR and i do not like it anymore, barrel to long :D Probably gona get another 11" bren.
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That is precisely the problem with "pinnochio-barrelled" NR rifles - they look silly to my eyes and I simply cannot bring myself to own them. Right or wrong, I am all about owning the correct barrel length on my semi-auto rifles with a military pedigree, even if it means the dreaded "Restricted" classification.
 
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I prefer the looks of the old 540s as well
The x95 seems like the best bang for the buck available now though, even if accuracy might not be great
 
lone-wolf said:
I prefer the looks of the old 540s as well
The x95 seems like the best bang for the buck available now though, even if accuracy might not be great
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Best bang for the buck is always debatable. Having owned pretty much everything semi-auto that is legal to own in Canada, I'd say that the the 14" CZ Bren 2 is the best of our remaining choices at $400 more than the cost of the Tavor X95. Better Trigger, lighter weight, conventional "AR" ergonomics, nicer BUIS, etc, all combine to more than make up for the price difference.
 
Sorry libtards but I believe in long stroke supremacy in loo of the CETME L or CETME A , at which point I'll switch to Roller Delayed supremacy
 
Bartok5 said:
That is precisely the problem with "pinnochio-barrelled" NR rifles - they look silly to my eyes and I simply cannot bring myself to own them. Right or wrong, I am all about owning the correct barrel length on my semi-auto rifles with a military pedigree, even if it means the dreaded "Restricted" classification.
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You are so very correct. I am always thinking about ways to dress up that pencil stick. I felt more than once talking out that angle grinder.

There is a market but nobody covers it. I like the way they did it on the Mini 14 with the harmonic balancer, it was to reduce that spewing of brass but looked cool.


But not enough reason for me to go restricted.
 
Handled the latest iteration of the 540 and 542 this evening, and I gotta say, that aside from the butt stock, overall these appear to be an improvement over the first generation rifles brought in by ERE.

Things I like:

- straight up phosphate finish on the metal, much like the original Manurihin rifles. Does away with that thick looking powder or poly finish that chipped off around the ejection port.
- While I'm not a fan of four-way picatinny rails on the fore end, it isn't clunky like most quad rails. The lock up with the front of the receiver and front gas block was solid. If I bought one of these I'd probably have most of the 3, 6 and 9 o'clock rail milled off and keep the full length top rail. This is one feature that turned me off putting a deposit down when they were first announced, but now that I've handled a few with them, I'm not hating on it like I thought I would.
- The rifle was very tight and smooth. Like SAN PE90 or B&T APC action smooth. Blows the older first gen. guns away in this regard.
- Trigger was awesome. Take up and broke like the Sig trigger, but I think crisper.
- The 18.5" barrelled guns didn't feel front heavy or awkward - balance was good and it felt 'right'.

Things that were so-so:
- BUIS - looked like magpul plastic knock offs. Yeah they are Backups and no worse than the ones that come on a B&T APC, so really this is a nit picky bit.

Things I didn't like:
The butt stock - sucked big time. It felt cheap and the length of pull was awful. Range of adjustment was poor , and overall it just felt like junk. Probably my biggest beef and might be a deal breaker depending on what is available to replace it with.
 
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firebat said:
Now we need someone to manufacture a new version of ACR stock adapter for these rifles..
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Except that Magpul has ceased production (again). That is why Crusader Arms had to go with the less than ideal "F5" brand knock-off Buttstock for its "Templar" rifle. The stock has the correct appearance, however it is more flexible than the Magpul product and flops around when folded. Still, even that would be better than the factory SG 54X Buttstock.....

"Beltfed" forgot to mention the horribly-placed Buttstock Retention Post located on the side of the Receiver right where your hand needs to sweep when charging the rifle. That thing is going to result in plenty of skinned knuckles. Furthermore, I wouldn't consider the Phosphate finish to be an improvement over the former baked on enamel. Chipping around the ejection port aside (which still left phosphating underneath), the baked-on enamel over parkerkizing is far more durable than phosphating alone. Furthermore, once it begins to wear, phospating requires constant oil in order to avoid rust, whereas the baked-on paint is maintenance-free.
 
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Yeah, that butt stock retention stud / post is poorly placed and quite long.

The PE-90 stud in comparison is shorter, molded as part of the lower hand guard and placed a few inches in front of the charging handle.
I can't recall ever snagging or catching my hand on the PE-90 stock retention stud.

The baked on enamel finish is pretty brittle and chips and scratches in more than just the ejection port spot with moderate use. I've seen it chipped on any edges or protrusions on the rifle like the winter trigger guard, safety, gas plug, etc.
 
The rifle has its quirks.
I can see the buttstock retention stud even breaking with rough use.
Length of pull is going to be short for those over 5ft 9 ish I think
You cant do an AK "swipe" mag change, you have to keep the release flapper pressed for the entire time you remove the mag, or it stays where it is/gets stuck
 
zupermann said:
You cant do an AK "swipe" mag change, you have to keep the release flapper pressed for the entire time you remove the mag, or it stays where it is/gets stuck
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This is a quirk to my old style one too, bit of a pain in the butt when you let go too early
But the release lever is within reach of the trigger finger - someone should make a mag release that makes it easier on the trigger finger to use.
Like was done for the vz58
 
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