The Fusil Automatique Leger, or Light Automatic Rifle (LAR). Introduced in 1951, and beginning production two years later, it has been described as the "right arm of the free world." The FAL assault rifle was NATO's answer to the AK-47, in terms of the sheer number of countries that adopted it, over 70. Unlike the Russian AK-47 assault rifle, the FAL utilized a full-power rifle cartridge (the 7.62x51 mm NATO standard round) commonly called the .308 Winchester in the USA. The FAL was made by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN) in Liege and under license in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, South Africa (designated R1), Brazil, Australia, Canada, Israel, Austria and Argentina. India manufactured FALs without license from FN.

The British adopted their own variant of the FAL in 1957 (calling it the L1A1) and manufactured it based on an imperial measurement pattern, and incorporated minor changes, including folding cocking handle, prong shaped flash eliminator, folding rear sight, sand removing cuts in the slide and beefed up magazine catch. The UK variant, and many others, is semi-automatic only while the original Belgian version and other metric variants are selective fire. Most parts on the British "inch" version are not interchangeable with those built on a metric pattern. The British version was designated L1A1 and was known in service as the SLR (Self-Loading Rifle). The Canadian version was termed the C1. The L1A1 was replaced in the early 1980s by the Enfield SA80. The L1A1 SLR in Australian service was supplanted by the Steyr AUG in the 1990s while R1 rifle in South African service had been superseded around 1990 with the locally built R4 assault rifle. The R4 is a licensed copy of the Israeli Galil assault rifle; the Israelis replaced their FALs with the Galil around 1975 as had the Dutch. The USA had tested the FAL as the T48 in the late 1950s, but chose to adopt its competitor, the T44, which became the M-14 rifle, a modified version of the earlier M-1 Garand rifle.

The FAL operates by means of a gas-operated Firearm action very similar to that of the BAR - Browning Automatic Rifle. The gas system is driven by a short-stroke, spring-loaded piston housed above the barrel, and the locking mechanism is what is known as a tilting bolt, as to lock, it hinges down into a solid shoulder of metal in the receiver like the bolts of the Russian SKS carbine and French MAS-49 series of semiautomatic rifles. FAL magazine capacity ranges from 5-30 rounds, with most magazines holding 20 rounds.

External links

• Additional information, including pictures at Modern Firearms (http://world.guns.ru/assault/as24f-e.htm)