Nitty gritty details on 922R and my rifle

[diddler1]

All,

Just spent two hours pouring over search results with regards to 922r compliancy, and I think I've got most of my answers. A few remain, so I'd like to hash over them briefly.

Starting with a Century R1A1, Century receiver, Aussie parts, cheap plastic US made furniture. I'm in the middle of swapping out the furniture to all wood, Izzy light barrel handguards and Aussie wood buttstock and pistol grip.

Going over the list I found in other threads, I'll mark down what I know about the parts. USA = US made, # = foreign, ? = Questionable:

The FAL has 17 of those parts:

1. Frame-Receiver - USA
2. Barrel - #
3. --------
4. --------
5. Muzzle Attachment - ?
6. Bolt - #
7. Bolt Carrier - #
8. Operating Rod (charging handle) - #
9. Gas Piston - ?
10. Trigger Housing (lower receiver) - #
11. Trigger - USA
12. Hammer - USA
13. Sear - USA
14. --------
15. Buttstock - #
16. Pistol Grip - #
17. Forearm/Handguard - #
18. Magazine Body - #
19. Magazine Follower - #
20. Magazine Floor Plate - #

A little addition, even assuming that both the muzzle attachment and the gas piston are in fact US made (we'll come back to that) I still add up to 11 foreign made parts. Because of this, the rifle is still sporting its crappy plastic furniture for the time being. Of the other parts I believe to be US made, the receiver seems obvious. The hammer and trigger both have a "C" stamped on them, which I gather stands for Century. Correct?

First question, the two parts of unknown origin, the gas piston and the muzzle device. The gas piston is totally unmarked, which if I understand correctly, is common on both US and foreign versions. Any way to tell with certainty?

Muzzle device, all I know about it is its a muzzle brake, source unknown. Held in place with a blind pin, unknown if its threaded on or not. If its not US made, guess I'll have to consider butchering the durned thing off and seeing if there are usable threads beneath. Couple of decent pics can be seen here:

Muzzle brake pictures (and other shots of the rifle) (http://www.bayarea.net/~diddler/R1A1/)

Ok, so replacing parts, seems like the easiest thing to do start with the magazine follower and floorplate. Logical question on that: can I expect to find a US made follower and a floorplate for an Inch magazine? This is a Kalifornia Pinned magazine rifle, only uses the one magazine. Never heard of a quality US made mag body for Inch.

Second option, replacing the charging handle. Again, is there such a thing as a US made charging handle for an Inch type rifle? I've gotten used to the folding charging handle, but would consider switching to a non-folding style if I needed to.

Pictures of the charging handle (http://www.bayarea.net/~diddler/charging-handle/)

Third option, and I'm guessing it'd be a bit more costly, replacing the piston grip with something that'll match the wood of the handguard and buttstock.

Am I missing anything? Some other option I should consider?

In closing, I'd like to vent briefly and thank the BATFE for making the USA a safer place by wasting chunks of my life pondering this bull-dung. How some pencil pushing bureaucrat sleeps better at night knowing I'll be putting a piece of US made wood on my rifle instead of foreign, its just beyond me. Ok, venting done.

[gunnut1]

If you are the first owner of the rifle. you have nothing to worry about. The rifles that Century puts out have to comply with 922r.

The parts should bee IIRC,

Butt stock
Pistol grip
Hand guard
Hammer, sear and trigger
Gas piston.

The Thing on the end of the barrel is a Century built muzzle brake. It doesn't have to be blind pinned anymore. But then who knows what Century does?

From looking at your pictures it appears that you are OK. The muzzle brake is in fact a Century job the furniture is also Century. I did see any pictures of the HTS or gas piston.
If you are going to replace anything, replace the stupid muzzle thingy for a real Aussie one.

Look ob the right side of the receiver behind the recoil plate. If the is a number that starts with AU********* that is the original serial number of the rifle. AU indicates that the original rifle was built at Lithgow in Australia. The first 2 numbers after the AU are the year of manufacture. The rest of the numbers are the contract serial numbers. BTW: this serial number means nothing legally. The only serial number that means anything on the gun is the one on the upper receiver.

[Prototype Services]

AFAIK, Century didn't make a USA trigger, only hammer and sear, based on reading here at the Files.
On your rifle, I would replace the muzzle device with a 5slot Aussie, add the sling swivel to the barrel ring in front of the gasblock, put 3- pc Ironwood walnut furniture, check the piston, replace with Tapco if needed. You can replace the charging handle with a USA one if needed.

Receiver
hammer
sear
Ironwood buttstock
Ironwood handguards
Ironwood grip
piston

That is 7. Gunplumber has some USA made 5 slots at one time, and Gunthings has CHs. Someone has inch and metric floorplates. Your receiver might only take a metric mag, I didn't notice if you had a pic of the magwell. USA Metric mag followers are out there, but not inch.

[diddler1]

Originally posted by gunnut1
If you are the first owner of the rifle. you have nothing to worry about. The rifles that Century puts out have to comply with 922r.

Unfortunatly, I'm neither the original owner nor do I put strong faith in Century to get it right. Stories exist on this forum from owners of Century rifles who contacted CAI to get data on their 922r parts; Century's records indicate they replaced the HTS with US and yet the parts in the gun still bear the markings of the original foreign countries

Further, I'm taking what I believe to be a currently compliant rifle and putting on three extra foreign made parts, the wood foregrips, pistol grip and buttstock. Adding those parts would almost certainly violate 922r if assembled, so I'd need to lower my foreign part count.

Originally posted by gunnut1
The Thing on the end of the barrel is a Century built muzzle brake. From looking at your pictures it appears that you are OK. The muzzle brake is in fact a Century job the furniture is also Century. If you are going to replace anything, replace the stupid muzzle thingy for a real Aussie one.

Putting on a real Aussie muzzle device would only make my problems worse, I'm trying to reduce foreign parts, not add them. As long as its confirmed that the silly thing on the end of the barrel isn't adding to my 922r woes then I don't care to go through the hassle of removing it. This rifle is already a bastard child FrankenFAL, my motivation is not historical accuracy. Just want a fun, functional rifle that looks good to me.

Originally posted by gunnut1
I didn't see any pictures of the HTS or gas piston.

I can add pictures if they're needed, it was my understanding that one couldn't reliably identify gas pistons by look alone. Can't even tell with certainty if its stainless or chromed, though it appears to be stainless to me.

Thanks!

Ryan

[diddler1]

Originally posted by Prototype Services
AFAIK, Century didn't make a USA trigger, only hammer and sear, based on reading here at the Files.

Awww heck, if thats the case, now I need to replace another darned piece!

Well, here's two pictures, sure enough, I see that the hammer and the disconnector/sear both sport the "C", and cannot find the "C" on the trigger itself. Just disassembled the sear from the trigger to look beneath it, no markings at all on the trigger. I know I've read references to Century replacing the whole HTS combo, this is one burr under my saddle I wasn't expecting. Any way to tell for certain?

http://www.bayarea.net/~diddler/hammer2.jpg
http://www.bayarea.net/~diddler/trigger-sear2.jpg

Originally posted by Prototype Services
On your rifle, I would replace the muzzle device with a 5slot Aussie, add the sling swivel to the barrel ring in front of the gasblock, put 3- pc Ironwood walnut furniture, check the piston, replace with Tapco if needed. You can replace the charging handle with a USA one if needed.

Gunthings has CHs. Someone has inch and metric floorplates. Your receiver might only take a metric mag, I didn't notice if you had a pic of the magwell. USA Metric mag followers are out there, but not inch.

Answering your points top to bottom:

1: as referenced in my previous post I'll be leaving the muzzle brake alone as long as its US made.
2: I've already added the sling swivel, the pictures I have online are old.
3: As to the furniture, I already own it, but its all foreign. Izzy handguard and Aussie wood buttstock and pistol grip.
4: I've already checked the piston, there are no markings that I can see. Its my understanding that some (most?) US made pistons have no markings.
5: I'll poke around on Gunthings and see if I can find an Inch charging handle, and see if my google skills are up to finding an inch floor plate.
6: The receiver has an Inch cut, but can take metric mags. Metric's fit loosely, with good bit of slop. Since I have the magazine pinned in place I wanted the one magazine I use with the rifle to have the most secure fit, so I'm sticking with the Inch mag. Its disappointing that nobody makes a US Inch follower.

Hope that clears things up,

Thanks!

Ryan

[BlasterLP]

Check Gunthings for mag floorplates also.

you should be able to get the required US parts from:

Gunparts guy
Gunthings
Falcon arms
DSA
Gunplumber

[daschnoz]

Jump!!!

http://www.ssqq.com/information/images/hoops.jpg

[diddler1]

Originally posted by daschnoz
Jump!!!

http://www.ssqq.com/information/images/hoops.jpg

Yup. Thats what it feels like. Fine system!

[gunplumber]

the century inch hammer and sear are pretty good - a lot better than their attempt at a metric set.

[diddler1]

Originally posted by gunplumber
the century inch hammer and sear are pretty good - a lot better than their attempt at a metric set.

What surprises me is that if this trigger actually is a foreign original, they did a pretty darned good job getting the aftermarket sear and hammer to engage so smoothly. I never would have guessed that the trigger wasn't part of a matched set, or that anyone would bother tooling up for their own hammer and sear but not bother making a new trigger. Just seems odd to me.

Ryan

[gunplumber]

Originally posted by diddler1


What surprises me is that if this trigger actually is a foreign original, they did a pretty darned good job getting the aftermarket sear and hammer to engage so smoothly. I never would have guessed that the trigger wasn't part of a matched set, or that anyone would bother tooling up for their own hammer and sear but not bother making a new trigger. Just seems odd to me.

Ryan

they didn't need it and selling as a separate group wasn't part of their plan.

US receiver
US hammer
US trigger
US PG
US stock
no flash hider
US handguards.

it would have been nice . ..

then they ran out of imported barrels and went with the GM

At least they stopped using that abortion FA enterprises 2-piece piston.

[mutter]

The muzzle device is US made. It is the worst abomination on earth. It is blind pinned at 6 o'clock/ center bottom. Replacing it with an original or other combo device will save your hearing and increase your shooting enjoyment tremendously.

If you want to put your stocks and other pieces on without changing the other parts then just pull the mag out and only put it in when you are out shooting ALONE or with friends you trust. That decreases your parts count by 3. The law does not say how many US parts you must have. It says how many foriegn parts you can't have.

If you want a few US parts you can get them here pretty cheap. I picked up floor plates from sgtrock for a buck a piece and 2 US made birdcage FH for 20 bucks total. Alot of good people here, just keep your eye on the marketplace.

[diddler1]

Originally posted by mutter
The muzzle device is US made. It is the worst abomination on earth. It is blind pinned at 6 o'clock/ center bottom. Replacing it with an original or other combo device will save your hearing and increase your shooting enjoyment tremendously.

As I've mentioned, as long as its US made I'm not considering replacing the muzzle brake at this time. I'm only currently concerned with reducing my foreign parts count. I don't really want to know what I'll find underneath the junky muzzle brake, the monkeys at CAI are knows for hacking crap together. I'm betting I'll find something like this underneath it:

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/rkba2da/FAL%20parts%20pics/muzzlemangled-blindpinsgtmike.jpg

Also heard lovely stories where they rammed non-threaded press-fit muzzle devices onto the original threaded muzzle. Quality!

Originally posted by mutter
If you want to put your stocks and other pieces on without changing the other parts then just pull the mag out and only put it in when you are out shooting ALONE or with friends you trust.

I am not going to knowingly break the law. Besides, this is a pinned magazine, and it -never- comes out of the rifle. I'd be in violation of Federal 922r laws when the magazine was in place, and creating a Kalifornia defined Assault Weapon when the magazine was removed.

Originally posted by mutter
If you want a few US parts you can get them here pretty cheap. I picked up floor plates from sgtrock for a buck a piece and 2 US made birdcage FH for 20 bucks total. Alot of good people here, just keep your eye on the marketplace.

Looks like still need to find one more part to replace. Since it appears the trigger is foreign, that puts me a step back with 12 foreign made parts if assembled now, assuming the gas piston is US made. I can replace the floorplate, quick and cheap, making it 11. Still need to nix one more foreign made part, so whats the most cost effective part to replace? Have yet to find a usable US made Inch charging handle. Haven't seen a US Inch wood pistol grip either, but I'm guessing that I can find, haven't sifted through Ironwood's site yet. For the time being, I can just leave the crappy CAI plastic Pistol grip in place, since its relativly small and inoffensive.

Any other recommendations?

Thanks!

Ryan

[gunplumber]

I have inch US floorplates. $26.50 for 10 shipped

[gunnut1]

Counting foreign parts is confusing.

Remember this.
7 US parts with muzzle device
6 without muzzle device.

I typically use.

Reveiver
HTS
pistol grip
charging handle
gas piston

That is 7. If you are going to replace 3 foreign parts then you need to replace with a like number of US parts.

I would use:
DSA gas Piston
DSA charging handle
DSA trigger

I find this much easier to remember. I just by 7 US parts and don't worry about it.

It ain't rocket science. Don't make it harder than it has to be.

[BUFF]

Post a "WTB" ad in Marketplace for an inch U.S.-made cocking handle. I don't think that anyone is making one right now, but several folks have in the past (FSE, Dan at VOW; SLR-5000 was waiting for machined slides last I heard) and when I posted that I wanted to buy one this spring, several offers came in.

The gas pistons are less expensive than the charging handles, right now, and a lot easier to find.

I bet you can buy a walnut, U.S. pistol grip from Ironwood. He often has seconds and they usually are pretty good enough.

No one I have seen is selling only the U.S. triggers, just full h/t/s sets.

It's a challenge to use imported furniture and be compliant on an inch FAL. I have several. Usually:

1- Entreprise upper

2,3,4- FSE h/t/s

5- FSE cocking handle

6- TAPCO gas piston

7- VOW or FSE/modified by ARS muzzle devices.

I am going to put U.S. floor plates on a bunch of my inch range mags, including my only 30 rounder, so I can use an original Australian or Canadian flash hider/muzzle brake on my inch HB.

Good luck!