FAL magazine identification

[Mr pogo]

Remember this was talked about on the old board but forgot details.

Metric, body finish is black paint with nonparkerized shiny blue/black followers. Beak is about same or slightly bigger than my Austrian Fal mags. Slightly different base plate, removal hole and ear is slightly bigger than the Austrians. Wondering if these are Belgium, Argies, or something else. TIA

[This message has been edited by Mr pogo (edited February 01, 2001).]

[ September 09, 2001: Message edited by: gary.jeter ]

[Mr pogo]

BTT
Come on you guys! I know somebody can answer this.

[EMDII]

I recall these as Argentine, IF they have no bizarre aleph maerkings. Belgians, IIRC, have witness holes.

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1*.....Train Like You Fight: Second Place is NOT an Option.

E.M. (Ted) Dannemiller II

[Master Blaster]

Sounds alot like the South African mags that were for sale by Cliff Brown @ Dixie Ammo Dump a short while ago.

[Mr pogo]

Thanks Ted, was remembering something about beak size also determines source? But Austrians are the ones with witness holes AFAIK.

[Mr pogo]

South African?! Ill have to check that out.

[EMDII]

I have a Belgian w/ holes, but it's parkerized. Monsieur Pogo is correct about Austrian black w/ witness holes. Sound Austrian.

Mea culpa.

Cliff's SA mags have Inch-style floorplates. VELLY INTELESTING! I bought several (remember the 'what is this' I posted?! TeeHee!)

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1*.....Train Like You Fight: Second Place is NOT an Option.

E.M. (Ted) Dannemiller II

[Mr pogo]

Hold on dere Ted! I got some Austrians, witness holes and parkerized a medium gray/black. I havent heard of Austrians being painted either tho its possible.
The black ones Ive got cant be SA then, have metric floorplates similar to the Austrians as noted.

[NZ L1A1 Collector]

Point to note guys when you are trying to ID magazines............... you can only go on the manufactured differences....... NOT finish!

Magazines are notorious for being re-finished! Look at how it is made to determin where it came from. Some are easy Austrian made mags have ovals with a number on them, some Belguim ones have the NSN number stamped on the side.

BUT

do you call a Izzy mag an Izzy mag just because it has an Izzy marking on it? NO because there are 2 types of mags the Isreali's had.
1. FN made mags for Israeli
2. Israeli made mags

They both look similar but there are a number of manufacturing differences + the markings are different.

You have to look at all these points then make a judgement. Just because a mag is quoted as being South African..... dosen't mean it is South African. Sure the importer may of brought it from there, but it might in fact be an original FN made mag! not SA, what a bonus for the buyer!

The same concept also goes for Stg58 mags some are FN Made while others are Austrian made copies- easily IDed due to there markings. I wish they all were that easily IDed.

Just a little insight into the headaches of IDing parts and equipment correctly.

I'll stop ranting now http://www.fnfal.com/forums/smile.gif

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Kevin Adams
Rifle, 7.62 mm, L1A1 Collector & Researcher.
NEW ZEALAND

[Mr pogo]

Then what are my black mags Kevin? While we're on mags where are the markings on the Stgs? I have some with the witness holes/dark gray parkerizing but no markings. No markings=? Also black ones have no markings I can find. Enquiring minds want to know.

[Farmer from Hell]

Mr Pogo I think Kevin has a point about the difference between where they came from and who made them. I have an Izzy that is identical to an SA mag with the only differance being the Hebrew markings. Both have the large hole on the floor plate for romoveing them. I also have some mags that are like new black that have the small hole in the floor plate. The Styer ones are way smaller. Most of my Styer mags I have have the oval with the number inside on the front faceing thin edge of the mag. Some are marked very lightly and you really have to look for them and some are not. I guess they just werent positioned in the machine to get stamped right.

FfH

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What part of Shall not be Infringed dont you understand pinhead?

[NZ L1A1 Collector]

Plain black mags are MOST LIKELY to be original FN made mags.

Do they have the following characteristics?

BACK
1. Note the 'shallow' type impression where the tip of the round is used to lever the bottom plate off.
2. Horizontal indentation in the reinforcing rib is the standard FN distance of 75 mm (from the bottom of the casing along the reinforcing rib).
3. Horizontal indentation in the top reinforcing rib (above mag catch position).
4. Follower tab (the tab that engages the Bolt Hold Open Device) is the standard FN long pointed type.

TOP
1. Follower has two sets of holes 1 at the front to retain the spring and 2 at the rear to retain the loop of the spring.
The sloped ramp starts 6 mm from the rear of the follower.

BOTTOM
1. Has the standard FN Mag 'lips' (wide at the front then tapering to the rear).
2. Bottom Plate; has 1 large hole (used to lever the plate off using the tip of round) and the rear of the plate protrudes beyond the back of the case.

How do they stack up against these features?

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Kevin Adams
Rifle, 7.62 mm, L1A1 Collector & Researcher.
NEW ZEALAND

[This message has been edited by NZ L1A1 Collector (edited February 06, 2001).]

[Mr pogo]

Plain black mags are MOST LIKELY to be original FN made mags.

Do they have the following characteristics?

BACK
1. Note the 'shallow' type impression where the tip of the round is used to lever the bottom plate off. Not sure, only have austrian mags to compare to. Not as shallow as austrian
2. Horizontal indentation in the reinforcing rib is the standard FN distance of 75 mm (from the bottom of the casing along the reinforcing rib). Strange thing here, of the 10 black mags, 5 are exactly 75mm, the other 5 at around 73-74mm. Distance corresponds with the bluing of the followers, the 75mm have a bronze tint to the bluing, the 73-74mm ones a dark blue bluing. What this means I don know
3. Horizontal indentation in the top reinforcing rib (above mag catch position). All have this
4. Follower tab (the tab that engages the Bolt Hold Open Device) is the standard FN long pointed type. Compared to the austrians yes they are all taller and pointier. However shape are slightly diff between the bronze and blue followers as noted above

TOP
1. Follower has two sets of holes 1 at the front to retain the spring and 2 at the rear to retain the loop of the spring.
The sloped ramp starts 6 mm from the rear of the follower. Yes to all, follower spring holes noticeably larger than austrian

BOTTOM
1. Has the standard FN Mag 'lips' (wide at the front then tapering to the rear). Yes
2. Bottom Plate; has 1 large hole (used to lever the plate off using the tip of round) and the rear of the plate protrudes beyond the back of the case. Has 1 large hole, the tab for this hole does extend past the rear of the mag body

Thanks mucho for the help Kevin!

[Master Blaster]

Kevin,
The Specs that you listed describes the mags that I bought from cliff to the last detail. Thank you for the information!
Jim

[W.E.G.]

moved to FAQ