Full Auto FN FAL Question

.30/06 FTW

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I shot a full auto FAL today at Bill's Gun Shop & Range in Minnesota, and it did something that kind of surprised me. When the selector was on full auto and I held down the trigger, it would fire one round, and then maybe half a second to a second later it would start firing automatically. When I get home I'll post some video of how it was behaving.

I would presume that this is not normal behaviour for a full auto FAL? Is it a sign of wear on the trigger parts? I asked the instructor about it and he wasn't sure if it was normal or not, but then again he did say that very few people choose to shoot the FAL. I told him that because I was Canadian, I had to do it no matter what. :cool:

EDIT:

Here's the video of what I'm talking about. The trigger was depressed the entire time when firing each burst.

 
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No way that's normal. Did it do it consistently, or did the problem start to diminish as you went along? That could suggest it was having trouble getting into battery to drop the tertiary sear.
 
Mine fires as one would expect. No hesitation.

However, it is useless at hitting anything. The first shot hits the target and the second and third miss the paper out the top or bottom. An expensive noise maker.

The Bren, however, puts all shots on paper.

Oh for the good old days, when we were trusted to shoot at the range.
 
Yeah, it was pretty hard to control. I did manage to get 41/50 hits on the paper at least, but that was at 25 yards. One burst I knew I was going high and to the right, so I stopped to make sure I wouldn't go into the ceiling. lol
 
Sounds like a mag issue. Failing to feed. Maybe bad ammo.
The only Canadian version that was FA was the C2. The standard rifle never was FA.
 
many moons ago i witness reservists C2 beat BCRA's bren in a heads up competition, no mod was done to the C2 .

they were in shocked .

yes, we were pleasantly surprised .

However, it is useless at hitting anything. The first shot hits the target and the second and third miss the paper out the top or bottom. An expensive noise maker.

The Bren, however, puts all shots on paper.
 
Post #1 updated with video.


Rental guns get very little or no maintenance / cleaning. It was probably cleaned sometime in 1983. Now it is probably full of crud, carbon and god nows what.

Trigger mech is probably gunked and sticking.

My 2c.

Mem

This seems most likely, but from what I noticed the other guns I shot didn't seem overly dirty. Some were even pretty clean.

Sounds like a mag issue. Failing to feed. Maybe bad ammo.
The only Canadian version that was FA was the C2. The standard rifle never was FA.

An interesting theory, but that is definitely NOT what was happening.

How NOT to employ a fully automatic rifle:


The PROPER way to employ a fully automatic rifle:


The last three seconds he blew it!

Glad to see I did it more or less the correct way. :D
 
Mine fires as one would expect. No hesitation.

However, it is useless at hitting anything. The first shot hits the target and the second and third miss the paper out the top or bottom. An expensive noise maker.

The Bren, however, puts all shots on paper.

Oh for the good old days, when we were trusted to shoot at the range.

Back in the day, at 400 metres on the bipod, my C2 could cut a nice round hole through Herman the German's bulls eye with 3 round bursts. And that was after a run down from the 600 metre firing point.
 
It should have starting firing full auto as soon as you pulled the trigger.

BTW. I like the way that the R.O. was standing over you just in case the gun started to rise.
 
C1D and the C1A1D, other wise known as the Navy C1. For some reason the Navy needed FA.

My uneducated guess is that the navy was using them for boarding parties and most engagements would end up being close range clearing decks and corridors so having the rifle climb on a short burst isn't going to make you miss your target. Infantry on the other hand, if the balloon went up, would do most engagements at longer distances, catching Soviet troops advancing across fields. Remember at the time the FN was created it was the beginning of the cold war and the Soviets were the big threat.

At one point there were also trials of the C1D with small infantry units, what the goal was I'm not sure, perhaps FIBUA teams?
 
It should have starting firing full auto as soon as you pulled the trigger.

BTW. I like the way that the R.O. was standing over you just in case the gun started to rise.

To be honest, I barely even noticed he was there or how close he was until I looked at the video. As I shot more and he saw I could take the recoil and stay under control with the other guns he backed off a bit too.
 
Back in the day, at 400 metres on the bipod, my C2 could cut a nice round hole through Herman the German's bulls eye with 3 round bursts. And that was after a run down from the 600 metre firing point.
Maybe this is possible.............but only with the designated company gorilla with a steel helmet bearing hard down on the bipod legs.

perhaps
 
My uneducated guess is that the navy was using them for boarding parties and most engagements would end up being close range clearing decks and corridors so having the rifle climb on a short burst isn't going to make you miss your target. Infantry on the other hand, if the balloon went up, would do most engagements at longer distances, catching Soviet troops advancing across fields. Remember at the time the FN was created it was the beginning of the cold war and the Soviets were the big threat.

At one point there were also trials of the C1D with small infantry units, what the goal was I'm not sure, perhaps FIBUA teams?
Someone told me they wanted FA for clearing mines.
 
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