I hit the range yesterday and got some shooting done in between rainstorms. I took a few guns but was really concentrated on testing out my new FAL. I started out at 25 yards, checking the gas system to make sure it would function and hit on paper at close range. I had a handful of new DSA magazines. I'd loaded them all with 20 rounds and that was possibly a mistake. I had a few of them that took some coax into get that first round to strip from the mag. Some wanted me to use the bolt release and some wanted the bolt handle pulled back and let go of. No issues after the first round on any of them, though.

My first 25 rounds from the bench at 25 yards just chewed the center out of a 3" bullseye sticker. Then I ran three magazines through it pretty quick, doing some fast shoot/move drills. It ran like a champ. Recoil wasn't bad from the 16" barrel. Noticeable, but not a big detriment. I do want to time myself on some drills against me shooting an AR, just out of curiosity.

After letting it cool down some, I mounted a cheap 4-12x scope I had at home. I got it zeroed at 25 and headed to the 100 yards range. First few shots were off the paper high, but I got it down where it needed to be. A little left and I put three shots into a little over an inch! I was pretty happy and kept on shooting it, but groups started to get bigger. Thinking its skinny barrel may be heating up, I switched to another rifle to try and let the FAL cool down. I was shooting off a bench where someone had left some sand tubes. I should hve gotten my front and rear sand bags as I think I was teeter-tottering the rifle. Five shot griups were in the 3" range, but with lots of vertical stringing. In those five shot groups, there were several 1 1/2" and under three shot clusters. I think the rifle has it in it to be a solid 1-1 1/2" gun, just needs some better shooting technique. I put a 45% scale IPSC steel target out at 100 and cranking the s open down to 4x, it was no trouble snaking steel as fast as I could reacquire the sight picture and pull the trigger. I think I'll mount a 1.5-5x scope I have here on it and go with it that way. I'm happy to be back in the FAL game again!!

nm

Sounds like a winner !! Enjoy....