HK91 or FN-FAL?

S

sholling

New member
I was at one of the local gun shops the other day and happened to notice a HK91 type rifle and a FN-FAL type rifle. I didn't get the manufacturer's names because at the time I figured I spent enough $$$$ on guns this year, however now I'm starting to get the itch. Both were post-ban (no flash hiders). I'm not sure I'm going to buy either, but given the choice which (both are $750) would you buy? Why? Are magazines still available for either?

Thanks!
 
Now that question, is bound to start a holy war. :)

Both are great rifles. My only advice is to stay away from the American made HK-91 style receivers. They're easy to spot. They are big clunky aluminum jobs with a black crinkle finish. Federal makes them I beleave. The real recievers are made of thick sheet metal.

Chuck
 
I'll second Chuck on his opinion of the Federal made HK91 receiver. Hesse Arms makes a stamped one, but I've never seen it so must withhold judgment. HK now imports their own receivers, but dealer's cost is about $449. They're actually very easy to put together.

Returning to the two on your dealer's shelf, for the money, I'd go with the FN design. Mags are also half the cost for the FN.

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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
If its a true HK Dont buy and you can just give me the name and number of where you saw it and Ill make sure to take that off the dealers hands so no innocent gun buyers are forced to buy a true HK at such a high price of $750.

Go with the fal because there is no way that the HK91 is made by HK and the U.S. made recievers are GARBAGE! You can get good fals for $750.
 
Hey Sholling. Both are outstanding firearms. I would shelve the post-ban weapons out of hand, look for what I wanted in a pre-ban form used.

On a wholly personal note, not based in any reality whatsoever, total and complete personal prejudice, The FAL is derived from license granted by that outstanding American John Browning, it is in fact, the BAR. The H&K, is derived from an arms history that is somewhat less to my liking.

They really are both excellent weapon systems, its hard to go wrong either way, if you get quality pre-ban samples. It is certainly possible to get high quality post-ban rifles, but it takes a lot of research, and careful inspection. A lot of post-ban weapons of this class are kits built up on cheap recivers. The prices you quoted sound way too low.

Take care.
 
I did a bit more research and the 'FN' is a Century Arms L1A1 - now $795. The 'HK' is a Federal Arms.

I hear very little good about Federal, but how about Century Arms?
 
Well here's my .02. I don't know anything about HKs, but I just got a DSArms FAL last week. These are made here in the U.S. from original FAL blueprints on CNC machines. I love mine so far. Fairly accurate and a lot of oomph. Like the above poster, I bought it because it is a direct decendant of the original BAR and unfortunately one of those (if they can be found) is way out of mine financial range.
 
Go with the Century Arms. You will find that the ergonomics of the FN are much better. Magazines are readily available and the rifle will be a lot more pleasant to fire. My local shop had a Hesse HK91, Hesse FAL and a DSarms FAL. I used to have the Springfield Armory version, the SAR-48 and it was very nice. I've never shot the HK, but my nose almost butts up to the receiver hump and I just know I'd have a bloody nose after a few shots.

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Dorsai
Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons. The possession of a good rifle, as well as the skill to use it well, truly makes a man the monarch of all he surveys.
-- Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle
 
I did a bit more research at Century's web site. It seems that their FAL's do not take standard FAL magazines, something about inch vs. metric. I think I gotta pass on this one, instead I'll save my pennies for some kind of M14 clone next year.

Thanks much for all your input!!!!
sholling
 
The metric mag has a notch punched out for the catch to grab and the inch pattern has a block attached to the front. Metric mags can be used in inch pattern weapons but you cannot use inch pattern mags in the metric weapon. In some, but not all, inch pattern weapons the metric mags are a loose fit. Dimensionally, they are the same other than the mag catch.
Century used to build their Sporters on metric receivers, but my understanding is that they are now built on inch pattern receivers. There are several ways to tell what style the receiver is; one is to examine the receiver from either side view, if the vertical rear receiver line is straight then it is a metric receiver, if there is an outward hump in the vertical plane then it is an inch pattern receiver; another simple way is to look at the mag well, if it's only beveled for the metric mag, then it's a metric receiver. There are many other clues to look for also. One thing to remember is that an inch upper can be combined with a metric lower and vice versa but individual components within each receiver part must be of the original grouping, (i.e. only inch parts in inch receiver etc).
It gets even more fun when you add in the Israeli style and the Ishapore weapons also. :)
Good luck
 
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