DS Arms SA58 (FALO) 18” first shots

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Skarekrow88

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Finally settled on the model of FAL that I wanted after years of being undecided on one. From the title you can see it was the 18” FALO. Great looking rifle imo.

Long story short I elected to “tune” the gas system like the manual says to do by opening the gas system all the way up and loading a single round at a time and closing the gas two clicks or so at a time until the rifle locks open when empty (then closing it two more clicks for assured reliability). I started out doing this with Monarch lacquer coated .308 FMJ and I was never able to get the rifle to lock open even after closing the system all the way.

Luckily my buddy had a box of Winchester M80 and I was able to get the rifle tuned with a small handful of clicks left before the gas system was all the way back to its original position.

I knew monarch was probably a little less powerful than M80 but I wouldn’t have thought they would be so different that it meant the difference between cycling and not cycling a tried and true battle rifle design like the FAL. I tried to find the muzzle velocity of Monarch .308 using my google-fu but didn’t have any luck. Anybody have any insight? I was kinda disappointed that it won’t function with the cheaper steel cased stuff, it’s one of the main reasons I bought the rifle in the first place.
 
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So you bought a $1800 rifle to shoot cheap ammo?

How many rounds are through the rifle? Has it had a chance to break in yet?

Have you cleaned the rifle yet?
 
Well when you put it that way it doesn’t make much sense, I can always count on the firing line to be the voice of reason. I guess my thought process was “military weapon, should eat anything” although that doesn’t always ring true, apparently.

I can get over the fact it won’t run cheap junk. I suppose I mainly wanted to make sure it’s not just my particular rifle that doesn’t like it. If it’s a common thing for FALs I can live with that.

To answer your question it’s had about 40 rounds through it. Rain storm cut our range trip short. It has not been cleaned, I ran it right out of the box which is what I usually do. I realize this can be a big factor in reliability with a new firearm but I do this because if it runs well out of the box then I generally don’t have to worry about the reliability of the weapon in the future given I make sure to keep up with regular maintenance and cleaning
 
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/me thought that "regular maintenance and cleaning" included getting the packing 'anti-rust' salve out of the weapon BEFORE using it... shows how dumb i am. but you are right about one thing if they will run in that condition they probably will run streight out of the swamp.
 
I would give it a good cleaning first, the junk they put on/in a weapon is to keep it from rusting while sitting in a box in a warehouse, not lube (this goes for any new gun). Then I would go out and put a few hundred rounds of ammo through the gun (yes I know 308 is not the cheapest). After that, I would give the monarch ammo another try.

The problem with military-style weapons is that they are styled after a military weapon and, unless promised in the advertisement of certain expectations, can be a letdown sometimes. The real question is how tight was the group you shot with the M80 Winny ammo? I'm sure it will come around after a good break-in period. Please keep us posted on your progress.

Also, did you have the magazine in the rifle when performing your test or were you hand-feeding the rounds one at a time?
 
I will give it a good thorough cleaning and run a a few hundred rounds through it as suggested. Thanks.

I was shooting a large steel gong at about 100yds so I couldn't tell you how it was grouping. Yes I had the magazine in the rifle, I was loading one round into the magazine at a time then inserting the magazine and firing that round per the "tuning" instructions in the manual.
 
Long story short I elected to “tune” the gas system like the manual says to do by opening the gas system all the way up and loading a single round at a time and closing the gas two clicks or so at a time until the rifle locks open when empty (then closing it two more clicks for assured reliability).
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This part has me confused. The terminology I am familiar with is the opposite.

OPENING the gas system allows more gas into the system, CLOSING the system reduces the gas allowed in, and with the system fully closed the gas is "off".

The method of adjusting the gas system I am familiar with starts with the gas system closed (off), then you open it a specified number of clicks (often 2) and test fire. Repeat firing single shots opening up the gas system one or two clicks each time until the action locks open empty. Then open it up a couple clicks more for reliable operation.

With the gas system set and reliably operating, then you begin your "break in period", and after that, you look at reliability and accuracy, and determine what, if anything else you need to do.

I guess my thought process was “military weapon, should eat anything” although that doesn’t always ring true, apparently.
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The reasoning is sound, essentially, but you're confused about the details. Its not (and never was) "should eat anything" its "should work under harsh conditions". Military arms are designed and made to "eat and thrive" on the ammo the govt provides. And they are made to do that under harsh conditions on the battlefield. They are not made to run crap ammo (though some will, some won't) they are not made to run "foreign" ammo (again, some will, some won't) and in terms of semi auto /select fire designs, the specific load can be the deciding factor.

When you say "Lacquer coated" ammo, I assume its steel cased, with a lacquer coating. The FAL was designed to use brass cased ammo, and so one cannot, and should not count on every FAL pattern rifle running steel cased ammo without issues. Again, some will, some won't and its an individual rifle thing, most of the time.
 
military weapons are designed to eat military spec ammo.

I would not even consider tuning the gas until I had at least 100-200rnds through the rifle and its broken in. And it will be tuned to that specific ammo, not any various ammo.
 
OPENING the gas system allows more gas into the system, CLOSING the system reduces the gas allowed in, and with the system fully closed the gas is "off".
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The OP is correct for the FN-FAL. The gas system just has a hole at the top of it and you adjust a sleeve with a slant cut out to "close" the hole. When OPEN, the gas is free to vent out of the system and none of it goes into the piston to drive it back. As you close the vent hole, it forces gas into the piston. Fully CLOSED, all of the gas is used to drive the action.
The open vent is what causes the "Rooster Tail" of flame that can interfere with your night firing as the flame is right behind the front sight aligned with your eyeball as you use the sights. I never had an issue but Soldiers in countries who use the FAL we worked did complain on occasion.
 
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