M14/M1a vs FN FAL

nelly said:
Quoted for truth!!

But, in all seriousness, as we can sit and argue the FN FAL vs M-14 type thing until the new millenium, with neither side being more "right" than the other...

I NEED to know: Which rifle is better for bear defense??

:pirate:
Click to expand...

We did a winter exercise up in Churchill in January 1974. I recall that we had a US Army company down from Ft Richardson Alaska (the Arctic Foxes or something like that;)). They had one M14 per squad for bear defence while the rest carried M16s. Our people carried FNs, but not for bear defence as the bears were pretty much all out on the ice at that time.

It was colder than a witch's t!t and the Americans really suffered because of their pi$$-poor winter gear. Everything was bad in comparison to our stuff-parkas, boots, tents, stoves, toboggans, you name it.:eek: The Yukon Stoves were especially bad as they generated too much heat and melted down thru the snow until they had a muddy mess on the ground. We actually had to call a safety halt and bring them into Ft Churchill to thaw out and get some rest. Ft Richardson can be quite mild in comparison to Churchill because of the sea effect on the west coast. It was quite a rude awakening for the "Arctic Foxes".:eek:
 
purple said:
We did a winter exercise up in Churchill in January 1974. I recall that we had a US Army company down from Ft Richardson Alaska (the Arctic Foxes or something like that;)). They had one M14 per squad for bear defence while the rest carried M16s. Our people carried FNs, but not for bear defence as the bears were pretty much all out on the ice at that time.

It was colder than a witch's t!t and the Americans really suffered because of their pi$$-poor winter gear. Everything was bad in comparison to our stuff-parkas, boots, tents, stoves, toboggans, you name it.:eek: The Yukon Stoves were especially bad as they generated too much heat and melted down thru the snow until they had a muddy mess on the ground. We actually had to call a safety halt and bring them into Ft Churchill to thaw out and get some rest. Ft Richardson can be quite mild in comparison to Churchill because of the sea effect on the west coast. It was quite a rude awakening for the "Arctic Foxes".:eek:
Click to expand...

Purple, when I first went to Fort Richardson in 1984 (FNG) the division up there had special non-exercise canvas warming tents manned 24/7 where US Army soldiers could hide from the cold and get hot coffee or soup & toast anytime. We were a mortar platoon and at a nearby roadblock was a 101st Airborne detachment manning it. They were standing around a 55 gallon oil drum burning absolutley anything they could find to stay warm. Like homeless people in Chicago!! Thier platoon commander forgot to order c-rats, so they had no food for several days! One hungry private offered an M-16A1 in trade for our extra arctic food supplements. Cake in a can, IIRC.
We took pity and gave it to them without the illegal trade.
Also, there were USMC up there to from somewhere stationed in the deep south. Thier commanding officer mandated steel helmuts and flak jackets for thier arctic combat gear. There was no lack of poor jarheads with severe cold injuries at the base hospital.
As a side note, global positioning was brand-new military technology then and specially outfitted jeeps with this gear would rove from unit to unit HQ telling the local CO's exactly where they were on maps. (I swear it's the god's honest truth)
I also vividly remember seeing compounds full of duece and a halves, many of them with tropical camo paint scheme?? I was told, they were bring backs from the Vietnam War and some, some even still had bullet holes in them.
Americans, I love em but, sometimes they are hard to figure out. ;)

PS: Had a close encounter with a dinosaur sized moose there! He took pity on me and left me alone, with my jaw on the ground, frozen in disbelief.
 
Last edited:
I was up in Ft Richardson for a Brim Frost Joint Readiness Exercise in Jan 1985. I was an "American" that time as I was on exchange duties at REDCOM in Tampa, Fl. It was quite mild in Fairbanks when we arrived by C141, in fact warmer than when we departed MacDill AFB at O dark thirty.:eek:

I was running the exercise control ops center for the exercise and spent a lot of time quarterbacking the "enemy" in both a force-on-force scenario and an unconventional warfare scenario which was focussed on the Alaska pipeline. One of the most comical aspects was with some of my "spetznaz enemy" who were actually a bunch of Special Forces guys from somewhere in the deep south. I had a number of chats with their boss who was highly PO'd by the fact that the blue force kept busting their positions by following their tracks back in the snow.:rolleyes: I told him several times that the real Spetznaz people were probably clever enough to walk in eachothers tracks and to obliterate their snow trails with spruce boughs, so that was his special challenge-and not to leave too many pi$$-holes in the snow. They finally got hold of this and it worked out OK.

I remember a few Huey rides out over the Tanana River valley to visit the troops and there sure were beaucoup moose to be seen there. It was quite a memorable exercise for me.:) Got to put together an operation with troops who had arrived from all over the US, got to see my old bn, 1PPCLI, who were on the exercise, got to brief Sarah Palin's predecessor (Alaska Governor) and many visiting Generals and press, and got a luxury ride home to Tampa aboard one of the Presidential aircraft that our 4 star used to visit the exercise en route from Korea. That was the mother of all service flights to be sure-steaks cooked to order and all the complementary booze you wanted served up by the cabin staff who were training to keep up their proficiency for Presidential service. One of the other eye-openers was the lack of higher level communications inter-operability between the USAF and the Army at the time. We had a Canadian destroyer out in the Pacific that could talk to both the USAF and the Army and proved to be a very helpful relay.:eek:
 
reading through this thread only serves to remind me of one more thing that pissed me off as a young lad...... my folks would never let me join my buddies in army cadets and absolutely freaked when i was considering joining the reserves in my mid 20's ..... I should done like i did with many things that pissed them off and just gone and done it anyways.
FAL vs M14 thread or not...... I love reading the stories of your guys experiences.... fantastic reading ;)
 
I've owned a Canadian FN, an Aussie L1A1, a TRW M14, and an original Garand. I still have the L1A1 and the Garand. I prefer the FN design over the M14, but would use either if push would come to shove. I like the FN better, and in the examples I've owned (none of which are match rifles) the L1A1 was the most accurate. I also think the FN design is the better general field rifle. As to our retarded laws, well, hopefully they will change. Keep voting conservative. FWIW - dan
 
Well i trained on the C1, C2 and owned a Lithgow L1A1 in the 80's i shot sometimes in service conditions(service rifle). I remember the first day i took the aussie to the range on a thursday evening practise. We were prone on the 300 yard line and i loaded 5 rounds into my 20 round mag(yes guys we had 20s and 30 s then sorry). Took aim at fig11/59, squeezed, bang. Squeezed again,nothing. WTF ,stoppage drill ,squeeze again ,bang ,again nothing WTF. I did it for 3 rounds. Forgot one little thing from my C1 days, And i know most of you old infantrymen already know what was wrong. The RSO, a retired infantry officer from the 50s, said, "man your gas plug is 180 to launch grenades". So red-faced i turned it around and the beast performed flawlessly though not the most accurate till i sold it. Our FNC1 i think was the finest version used because of the Arctic trigger, open reciever body so we could charge mags from 5 round strippers ,and our folding disc aperture sight i thought was superior to the Australian L1A1 i owned privately. Always felt like a real battle instrument when wielded with the bayonet and the steel butt plate for bashing. Even on parade and rilfle drill it was a weapon to be appreiciated.
 
Last edited:
I guess I'll consider myself one of the lucky ones. I got to shoot both rifles, one after the other and throughly molest em both!! One is a CAI made FN FAL and the other a Springfield M1A scout. We had a SOCOM on hand too but did not get vids of me shooting that rifle. Both have their pros and cons. If I had the choice of which one is better, I would choose the.........better not stir the pot, I'll let you guys choose:D

http://http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg270/bosskiller/?action=view&current=FNFALvsM1A.mp4
 
Seriously folks, is there any point to debate whether M14 or FAL makes a better battle rifle? Now if someone changes the thread title to Which rifle makes a better safe queen, M14 or FAL? We may have a legit case to argue.
Click to expand...

Seriously - The FN is a far better safe queen than mud colored M14 and much nicer than that green ugly stick the G3. As soon as you open the door, the polished wood catches your eye and holds it.:D
 
PSE said:
Seriously - The FN is a far better safe queen than mud colored M14 and much nicer than that green ugly stick the G3. As soon as you open the door, the polished wood catches your eye and holds it.:D
Click to expand...

LOL. I know people get tired of reading these threads, but then again they don't have to after seeing the thread title. Quite a few of us on the board got to fire FN's G3's and real M14's (not that shooting a M14 and a Nork 14 are all that different in the grand scheme of things).

If people who never got to shoot these guns want to start a "what if" or "what was it like" thread and you don't like it, don't participate. It makes your and the OP's experience on the site that much more enjoyable.
 
M14FN.jpg


I prefer the G3 :bump:
 
Sorry, I just have to do this picture post! Even if I love shooting my M14 rifles, I just gotta do the trip back in memory for old time's sake....

Summer 1977 in Battle School Wainwright... Canal Du Nord Pl 7708.. We started with 45 soldiers and marched off at Grad Pde with 18 bodies. Nobody heard of the word "retention" back in the day. Everything was about meeting the standard, it was very different with 2CDO instructors everywhere! ;)

scan0010.jpg


Oh, to wear Size 1 Short/Small once again!

Cheers,
Barney
 
I just liked the way it feels in your arms when shooting it - it balances well and just felt natural. Then again maybe I'm just pining for something I can't have anymore (shooters that is). It is definitely heavy compared to modern assault rifles.

A big bonus is having the charging lever on the left side - all rifles should be set up this way. Plus the FN FAL field strips easily.
 
I like them all; G3, M14, and FN FAL/C1A1.

Better? They all suck, and they all rock. :stirthepot2:

(Tho' not issued the first two ever, I was trained on the C1A1, but I've fired all of these and even handloaded for the first two.... I like them all, none is 'better' than the others. I suppose it's whichever one you're more skilled/familiar with?)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom