[Ruzai]

New gun purchase for me....well pending gun purchase. I put down half the money for a FAL in 308 Win. The magazine well was marked Century Arms International R1A1. I know Century FALs have a bad rep and I'm not totally sure who the manufacturer of the reciever is quite yet. I hope to put on a better stock if I can find one. My problem is the features I saw on the R1A1 I'm buying has the features of an "inch" style FAL much like the common L1A1 I keep seeing when I search for the differences. But for some reason when people ask about the R1A1 they're told that its a "metric" type FAL. So I'm confused...someone help me untie my brain so I can understand which type stock and parts to plan on buying for my investment please. Any info would help really...
Did I get a kit gun, did Century mark things wrong, or perhaps I'm missing something?

[steve666]

Check out the review and info at the link below:
The FAL

[Ruzai]

Thanks for the link. It did help clear up a little bit but my question still remains. Why am I seeing "inch" FAL features on something that everyone says is a "metric" FAL? Is it even possible to have a metric reciever with an inch upper? I feel so ashamed to have to ask these kind of questions but I know next to nothing about the FN-FAL other than the actual mechanical function and a little history about it.

[sarge_257]

I have a L1A1 which is basicly a FAL made for the British. Mine is inch. Some parts will interchange, but not many. The magazines are completly different. Sorry I can't help you any more on that.
Sarge

[HKSlinger]

I know this doesn't answer your main question,but about the mag.well (lower), I have a Belgium STG that I put an Imbel on and love it. Check it,maybe they make an inch type that will work with your rifle. It doesn't have the fluting around the edges,said to be a weak point on the,"right arm of the free world".

[Ruzai]

Ok so I have the rifle sitting here beside me. Its a CAI R1A1. Its unfortunately an inch FAL, which means I wont be able to get as many accessories as the metrics but it still works as a rifle.
This thing was dirty as hell. I pulled the recoil springs from the stock and it was caked with resembled crap. I'm guessing Cosmiline and gunshot residue and sitting around didnt help much.

The rifle has a problem with mutilationg and skinning bullet tips as most of the CAIs do. I did a little research and found two gunsmithing projects to do on the rifle to improve functioning. The first is tuning the ejector to eliminate brass contact with the receiver and dust cover, this one needs it badly as the knicks are apparent from the previous owner. The other project will be to widen the rails of the reciever since they partially block correct feeding from the magazine into the chamber, thus making them mutilate the bullet tips. I'll also be doing polishing on all the contact surfaces to make it run a little faster.
So pretty much I dont have any questions any more, other than where to find a wider pistol grip that will fit an inch FAL. I have a sneaking suspicion I'll end up having to make one myself out of wood, which will take a lot of planning and measurments because i want to change the angle of the grip to a more 1911 style angle for the pistol grip.