The first time I saw one of them might have been quite like the first time many Americans first saw one-somewhere other than on American soil. I happened to be walking down the dusty street of a border-town in Chihuahua, Mexico, in the company of a Chihuahua State Police agent. I must admit that, had I not been accompanied by that official, I might have been indeed a bit intimidated. As we proceeded down that busy dirt street, the sight of Mexican soldiers standing on the street corners with FN FAL rifles slung over their shoulders was,
for various reasons, a little disconcerting.
At the time, I had never actually handled one of these rifles, but I was definitely intrigued by the sight of the young soldiers' confident display of one of the world's most renowned modern battle rifles. Interestingly, upon arrival at the Chihuahua State Police headquarters, the comandante had several FN FALs in a rifle rack-along with other automatic rifles behind his desk. After mentioning to him that I’d never handled one, he gladly took one down and let me have a good look.
Fabrique Nationale of Belgium began manufacturing small arms for battle before the turn of the 20th century and manufactured millions of excellent arms thereafter, including the Browning Hi-Power pistol. The company became a huge force in military arms expansion after WWI and later developed the semiautomatic EN, or SAFN, a gas operated, rear locking-bolt battle rifle with a 10-shot fixed magazine. After escaping Belgium prior to the Nazi invasion, the designer, Dieudonne Saive, restarted his project in England and developed the rifle even further.
After the war, further design changes were implemented and numerous countries, especially South American governments, adopted the SAFN for military use in various calibers, including 7X57, 7.65, .30-06 and 8mm. Other countries, including Belgium and Egypt, followed suit in the acceptance of the SAFN and the rifle quickly gained battle experience and notoriety as an excellent and reliable combat rifle.
Further post-war developments led Saive to design an automatic rifle
that fired the WWII German PP43 7.92mm Kurtz
round (itself the
inspiration for the 7.62X39 Russian). Upon adoption of the more powerful 7.62 mm round by NATO forces, FN modified its new rifle, which became the FN/FAL. The new rifle went on to become adopted by more than 90 countries.
Hardly an engagement in the world since the development of the FAL has taken place without the presence of one, and it's truly held in high esteem by fighters and law enforcement agencies worldwide. The list of countries still actively using the FN FAL rifles is quite lengthy.
Because the popularity of the FAL has grown among shooters in the U.S. Entréprise Arms (Dept. GA, 15861 Business Center Dr., Irwindale, CA 91706; 626/962-8712) recently saddled up to manufacture longarms and offers a variety of FAL configurations. When Howard Chow of Entréprise advised he was shipping me a pair of the new rifles for testing I was anxious to satisfy the curiosity my friend in Mexico had instilled.
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