Anyone have one of these?

[edipus]

I beg your pardon, as I have lurked here for way to long without registering, or logged on to tother friends accounts. My contribution has been sent...

I am considering this purchase from dsa as an alternative to a SA SOCOM II and am curious as to your thoughts. Does anyone own one of these and if so, what are your thoughts please? I own a fair few FAL's already son I have "buku" mags already. Gonna have to bust open a few cases of port soon i guess.

http://dsarms.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SA58ELITE

Thanks folks!

Ed

[USMC 0341]

This is what he is looking to buy :

SA58 FAL PARA Elite Compact Rifle, .308 Cal.

Para with 13" barrel and Browning long flash hider.

Personally, I prefer the barrel to be 16" to 18". No reason to lose all that velocity - particularly if you are not going SBR and getting the other benefits of a smaller OAL.

[justashooter]

the long english style flash hider is effective and looks to be a US part, but a 16" bbld gun will give 160-200 fps velocity increase over a 13" gun. you will be getting the same energy from that gun as from a 20" bbld 30-30 unless you handload with a faster burning powder like H-335 or H-332. i have a 16" DSA carbine with the short brake and am quite happy.

the DSA scope mount is the best available, and the short gas system is regarded as reliable. the aluminum lower is a small savings in weight, and a US part, as is the unique pistol grip and the DSA FCG set. the para will fold it to about 28" and the forward grip is useful. the 30 rd mags as pictured are actually designed for the bren mark 5, and for use in the inverted position. some people say they do not have enough spring pressure to feed 100%. the full cheezegrater is your call as far as esthetics vs function.

a little pricey, but i paid $1000 retail for my 16" STG58CAR in 2001. i have since built FAL's for as little as $325 with imbel kits, dan coonan and imbel receivers, and century/FSE FCG. those were the golden days.

go with your heart. all said and done, it's your rifle.

[Lee Carpentieri]

I had the second Prototype DSA Tactical carbine during the ban with a standard STG butt stock, LW lower, 13 inch barrel with the fake browning flash hider and it was very accurate out to 200 yards. That was the longest range down here in SE Florida at the time I had access too. With a Trijicon Ta-31 with both the DSA scope mount and DSA Fas rail system the weapon weighted 8 1/2 pounds. But it depends on what you want the weapon for, Or is it going to be your CQB primairy weapon? As for the Socom II, Most people I know weren't that impressed with it.

[Jurassic Jake]

I built up a carbine with the 13 inch barrel with the long Browning flash hider. Fairly accurate at 100 yards when my eyes are clear enough to use the sights. Expect a substantial bark with an outrageous muzzle flash upon firing.

The M1A SOCOM looks a bit goofy to me with it's pushed in looking snout. In the M1A's 18 inch Scout rifle form, it still manages to display the rifle's excellent sense of proportion. That's about as short as I would advise going if it's a short barrel you want.

The short barrels do sacrifice a bit in velocity and hitting power, but not enough to invalidate such a rifle as an effective CQB weapon. They are handy and fun to shoot.

Justashooter says it best... "Go with your heart. All said and done, it's your rifle."

Jake

[Ssarge]

The M1A SOCOM may look "goofy", but I know mine will shoot. I traded for a M1A SOCOM II and chunked the aluminum rails, they just add weight I'm not gonna tactical it. Since then the only thing I have done is stick it in a new USGI brown fiberglass stock, new USGI handguard, used good grease on it and shot the shit outa it. It's good out to 400 or so meters with iron sights and 100% reliable after a couple thousand rounds of the crappiest Falklands War pick up ammo I could get. (mixed RG and Argie ammo from Paragon I have had sitting in my garage for years in ammo cans I got almost 20 years ago.) It recoils like a .223, but it is loud.