Belgian Gendarmerie FAL Parts Kits from FN America
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- Someone digging through the warehouses an FN in Herstal found 400 FAL rifles turned in by the Belgian Gendarmerie when they upgraded to newer arms...and they decided to send them to the US as parts kits. So FN America has these 400 kits now, and they are selling them off via lottery (free entry for a chance to purchase a kit). This is done to prevent them all from being bought up by speculators to flip on GunBroker, and I am happy FN chose to do it...check out FN America's web site for full details.
It has been a long time since actual Belgian military FAL kits were available here, and I think it's pretty cool to get a shipment of Gendarmerie ones. The kits are complete less the upper receiver, barrel, muzzle device, gas piston, and magazine. The Gendarmerie used the same rifles as the Belgian Army - M1 and M2 pattern FALs (the M5 is a separate specialized rifle used by the Gendarmerie for launching tear gas, which we will cover later). These kits are from M2 pattern rifles, and have some cosmetic wear and little mechanical wear - they were carried a lot and fired rarely.
In the next few months I'll be having this kit built into a complete rifle, and we'll have a closer look at the original military pattern of the FAL...
Disclosure: FN America gave me the kit.
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle 36270
Tucson, AZ 85740
Man, Lego has come a long way since I was a kid
lol
I missed this exhibit at the Lego museum when I took my kids.🤣👍🥃
They also seem to have moved from Denmark to Belgium :D
Now extra fun
Not funny, their from Denmark
I'm genuinely happy to see FN took the time to come up with a fair way to distribute these. We unfortunately live in an age when scalpers are rampant, and with historically significant guns like these that are going to be subject to insanely high demand, it would be extremely frustrating to see people snap them up just to resell them at exorbitant prices.
Yup this is a great way to make sure they make their way directly into the hands of collectors and end users, rather than allowing vultures to profit off of history
Romanian AK
For $900 a kit you're not getting a deal lol. Better off with an Imbel kit that comes with og barrel
@@AKIMBOASSASSIN67 the deal is in it's rarity and collectability
Yes I agree that FN came up with a fair way to distribute these, unless you live CA like I do. F**k California!
Good job FN for making sure somebody doesn't buy them all up to flip. I bet Mark at ARS could make it run like a champ. Congratulations on your parts kit.
That's a great idea.
Yeah ,i bought his gunplumbers guide to gunsmithing for FN FAL DVD and build manual , I just need a decent receiver to build on now.
yah hopefully other importers take note.
And if you do decide to give a few away, there’s only one person better than Ian I could think of. And that’s myself, clearly, please and thank you…. Hahaha
Yeah I bet Mark will build a bunch of these. Definitely where I would send my kit if I win.
Belgian here. I remember the Gendarmerie (or Rijkswacht) guarding supermarkets with FALs during the Brabant Killers period in the 80s. Pretty intimidating as a kid.
Same here. It's crazy to think we had a Gendarmerie patrolling the streets and carrying these legendary battle rifles.
They also had UZIs.
Different times.
@@MrKinir Different times? I don't know about that. Not so long ago we had the army patrolling the streets with FNC's and SCAR's because of the terrorist attacks.
Imagine what it was like for kids in Northern Ireland with soldiers carrying the L1A1 while they played (I’m also ex British Army)
@@ambivalentonion2620 you’ve obviously never been there
And I was one of those guys who lay on the roof of a Colruyt or Delhaize Supermarket ... dressed in Khaki armed with a Fal ... terrible times that coincided at that time with another terror ... the CCC ,( Cellules Communist Combatant)... was 23 years old at that time 🫤
There's always something special with FAL and G3. Such classic Battle rifle
FAL is such a legendary battle rifle. Jealous. Probably never find one I can afford😭
I feel you brother.
Yeah, I'd love to get one too.
DSA sells FALs and SA58s, but the prices keep increasing unfortunately so I recommend getting one and keeping it as long as you can.
There are plenty of used ones for sale at decent prices, also, as much as gun shows suck these days, a lot of older people will go there to sell off a really nice gun that don't know any better. I saw a VERY nice STG-58 rifle with Imbel receiver that some idiot sold to a dealer for 8hundred galactic credits, I should have offered him more but didn't have the cash on me.
Though most of the dealers at most gun shows have terrible prices on, well everything really, every now and then you can find a deal on FAL mags too.
As a FN Fanboy, I'm ecstatic to see that they aren't just dumping these out to speculators. I'm totally in on this.
hope u get one bro
FaNboy :P
Wow, it's is *weird* seeing bit of a FAL with polymer furniture instead of the well worn and hard-lived wooden fittings of the SLR that I'm used to. Solid rifle was unbreakably bloody solid, even after decades of really rough use by Aussie soldiers (proper and weekend warriors both) in Aussie conditions. And if all else fails, and you were out of ammo, you could easily club someone with one, and they'd come out of that far the worse for wear than the SLR did!
Haven't carried one in 30 years, but I still think of it as 'my' rifle.
Pal of mine used to refer to the butt of his inch pattern SLR as "Attitude adjuster MkI"
Belgian here, my L1A1 SLR (much easier to aquire here because they came semi-auto from the factory) came all polymer, i would've liked some wood but the rifle seems to new for it to have the old wood
@@webtoedman It will adjust the hell out of that, all right! 😁
@@RobinVerhulstZ Ahh, jealous! Sadly, a certain murderous nutjob ruined owning SLRs and similar rifles for the rest of the country back in '96. May he rot in a padded cell for all eternity.
Hands up who wants to watch Ian reassemble his FAL in real time live?
Please, a livestream of building a FAL.
Probably mega illegal here, probably *very* interesting to some alphabet bois, and overall not the best idea, but damn I would love to see it.
@@internetbodhi1009 Maybe illegal in some countries, but if you mean here in the US it's fine. The problem is that kind of content is against youtube TOS, so we unfortunately won't see it here.
@@ittapupu7406 that's what I meant, UA-cam has determined it illegal
@@internetbodhi1009 A corporation can't dictate law, but they can restrict the content they provide. Broadcasting this kind of content can be seen elsewhere, it's not outlawed.
But the barrel is sawed.
My dad and grandpa were in the gendarmerie (rijkswacht) and they told me about all the trouble the orgenisation got in during the days of the Brabant killers. Lots of suspicion, near misses and tragedy.
do you mean de bende van nijvel??
@@asmo1313 If you say: "bende van Nijvel", you have to say "operation gladio". It's almost sure that some people in US intelligence knew who they are.
@@asmo1313 yeah
@@ROOSTER333 Yeah, really. Never heard of these terrible events/weirdly unsolved crime-spree. (Hardly surprising given the fact that I was a kid at the time and am still on the far side of the planet, but still odd that I've never stumbled across it in all the years since.)
@@asmo1313 Being from Nivelles, it was weird to learn some years ago that this ordeal was named after the town in Dutch when in French it's indeed the "Brabant killers". It's even weirder to then see my hometown mentioned under a Forgotten Weapons video of all places...
It's nice to see a selection of Belgian surplus rifles that didn t End up in some African conflict zone in the 90's. Or got shipped to Iran.
During the Cold War the Gendarmerie organisations in European countries had a role in mobilisation, territorial defence (critical installations) during actual war or before open war the so called "state of emergency", so units were armed (including machine guns and mortars for company sized units) and trained for this role. I remember exercises in the mid 80s: in the 5 paragraph order, the Situation was "spetsnaz have been detected near..."
In war time, the Gendarmerie/Rijkswacht (litteraly "Guard of the Realm" in Dutch) was tasked with the "prévôté militaire" (sort of military police with judicial powers) and also had to provide recce squadrons to the military effort. They had armoured cars for this task: i.imgur.com/viQ5YIq.jpg
I hope you'll give us another video of your completed FAL Ian. I'm also glad to hear that the company is aware scalpers exist. Doing raffles is a great idea.
It's also smart business. They will get a ton of people to sign up for their promotional emails while ththe
Every company knows scalpers exist, some just don't care who buys as long as they get paid.
as a belgian it makes me sad they are getting shipped to the US meaning they won't enter the market here but i'm glad they are being preserved
@@ambivalentonion2620 indeed, it would have helped with the absurd prices FAL's go for here nowadays
@@ambivalentonion2620 Weren't they originally select fire? So even after conversion, they'd be in category A in the EU... I suspect the Czech Republic would have been the only country in which they would have been legal to sell, and even then, only to collectors.
@@ambivalentonion2620 So it's still legal in Italy! Good for you. That stupid change in law in France threw lots of museum pieces straight into the trash...
Well there are a lot more that are in the market over there, we cant get here
They have a far better chance of surviving long term in the US. You guys don't really stand up for your natural rights
Glad the guys at FN USA were aware of this sort of thing. Looking at MAC for the SVD debacle a while ago for a shining example of this.
That was Copper Customs, not MAC. He's really just like a spokesperson, not the owner/operator.
@@AKS-74U he has equity in Copper, he’s an owner
@@ddt6352 never heard of a spokesperson who doesn't get paid.
Never said it was charity.
Having carried one similar to that in the CAF I have a soft spot in my heart for the FAL, and a sore spot on my right cheekbone 😂
It must be great for FN to have a contact like Ian. Like hey we got some collectible goodies coming in, let's send one to Ian and have him do a video advertising it to like 95% of the collectors that would jump on this coming in.
Excellent marketing strategy.
Best of Luck with the build!!! Built my L1A1 FN FAL from a Canadian Parts Kit many years ago and love it!
FN FAL, the Right Arm of the Free World!
Would love to see FN start selling FAL kits regularly like AR manufacturers sell AR kits
My first gun build was an l1a1 on an imbel type 3 receiver with a folding charging handle cut! Love the Fal!
The fal and it’s story are always so fascinating.
Nice! And I happen to have all the missing parts to complete a kit like this. As far as the cleaning kit in the grip goes, the wire clip is the most common.
That's great.
Best of luck to you if you enter. Be nice to complete one of these.
It's nice to see these not going the way those SVDs did a few years back. 😏
Thanks again Ian
I really appreciate FN FAL’s as well and I had really wanted one since 1981 and I finally got a DSA Congo model back in 2016 special ordered by its previous owners in 2003 who had passed away and his sun sold off his collection to a gun shop and that’s how I came across it.
Unless I was in an FAL competition only I would probably run an AR-10 variant.
Thanks again Ian.
Such an iconic weapon, I am glad FN America has done it as a raffle. Enjoy yours for us who can't.
Remember the good old days at the FALfiles when Imbel and G1 a kits were $99-150.00
Back in the 80's your average two man Gendarmerie/Rijkswacht) in addition to their Browning HP sidearm there was a FAL an UZI and a Shotgun in their patrol van.
Anyone who has never fired a FAL, you are missing out. These are great. I had one and loved it. They are heavy , but that helps on the recoil.
Hell yeah. I got excited as soon as I saw the thumbnail. 🎉
Back in the good old days I bought a G1 parts kit, minus the receiver. It too had been in storage much, and shot little. I bought the best receiver available complete with lightening cuts and still have the completed rifle. Accuracy is only so-so, about 3" with surplus NATO ammo, but it's a hoot to shoot.
Lord, I see what you've done for others and I wish for these things in my life.
"Qualified gunsmith required for assembly."
-Me having built 10+ in the last year-and-a-half: That couldn't possibly be referring to me.
i like the way they are doing the sale. everyone gets the same chance to get one.
Looking forward to the complete version!
I would buy a FN FAL the day the dropped if FN brought them back
I bought a FL kit 15 or 20 years ago from a place called Ohio rapid fire and it came with absolutely everything including original barrel except the receiver and I paid like $40 for it. If I would have only known then what we know now I would have bought 10 or 20 of them. 😱
A note for you on 922R, the mag body, floor plate and follower are each an individual part so it's 5 parts they pulled not 3, excluding the stuff that's been cut (the receiver and the barrel) which means that there will be 7 in all pulled.
Cool guns, I entered to buy a kit. I'd love the rebuilt one but would gladly take a kit.
You probably know this, the barrel has nothing to do with 922r but was a rule change later because the Gooberment didn't like people building "military" guns from parts kits and someone figured that barrels were the hardest part to recreate in the US.
I love how forgotten weapons has become one of the most prolific gun channels on UA-cam, while never spending a dime on a camera that's worth the value of a Hi-Point. Imagine the level popularity this channel would achieve if you could actually see what was being talked about!!!!!
I think you might need to select I higher resolution in your setting lol
He films with an iPhone. If your video is blurry, change your YT settings. I have to constantly set the video resolution.
DSArms SA58 is very cool, but it would be incredible to own a real steal, FN FAL! A real piece of history!
Would be nice if FN made more Metric Magazines. Awesome that they're raffling up these kits!
This parts kit reminds me of the Inrange CETME build series, when Ian and Karl built their own rifles, welds and all.
Weird, just finished the Rhodesian FAL video (I watched Blood Diamond recently). Very cool.
Wow! Always wanted one, and just signed up for the raffle and will pay $900 for it.
where are they?
Hey Ian, just some info the gendarmerie was a part of the military in Belgium. It became demilitarised only a few years before it was desolved and their tasks were taken over by the police.
It was always a police force.. Traditionally, it depended both from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence (and the judiciary for any tasks of criminal investigation). First the dependence of the Ministry of Defence was abolished. After 2002, part of the Gendarmerie/Rijkswacht was integrated into the Federal Police and part into the Local Police. The Belgian Federal Police was basically composed of the "central" and more specialised parts of the Gendarmerie and of the entire "Judicial Police". I can assure you, the rivalry lasted for a fair number of years within the new organisation...
turned in by the gendarmerie when they upgraded to newers arms -> clunky metal mp5 and uzi.
some of us are finally getting the FN SCAR-L.
I bought three kits 25 years ago. New barrels with each. 99$ each.
Two Heavy barrel kits.
Fast forward to today, and I don't even bat an eye at $900 for this thing.
Whooa! I ALMOST ordered one of the FN FAL kits the other day. There were several up, but ended up not ordering it.
Good luck building it out! Looks like a fun project. Keep us updated, man. Itll be cool seeing this come together.
Thanks for the video. I remember when FAL parts kits could be had for a few hundred bucks in the late 80's/early 90's, complete with decent barrels included. I got a mixmaster FAL kit (with good barrel) and had it assembled with US made piston, FCG parts, muzzle brake, etc. Sadly, it's in a fixed 10 round magazine configuration to comply with insane Kali laws and a stripper clip top cover, so it's basically an updated FN49. I also have all the parts necessary to assemble an Aussie L1A1, but that's going to wait until the Kali AWB law is overturned, hopefully soon.
$900 is probably more than what they charged Belgium for the complete guns to begin with.
Yes indeed: a month ago I saw a FAL at a gun shop being sold for 550€ .
That's one good way to solve the issue with scalpers.
A box of unobtainium. Now if you have a LMT made receiver you got something special.
The tooling marks still highly visible on the bolt 👍👍👍
Love them. They just feel right.
Beautiful parts kit!
Seeing the parts coming in separate bags in a box reminds me of opening a lego set.
Yes ! This is heavenly content ✨️
I so appreciate you bringing this to my attention Ian, the original FAL is probably the most iconic firearm for me. It would be a dream come true to actually have one of my own, fingers crossed my name gets picked!
Beautiful, I'll definitely be trying to get one to build
Can't wait to see it built, I hope you'll do it as close to original as possible.
At FN HQ: Hey we have 400 of these to raffle out in equal parts but we have time for only 3, what to do? I know! Let's give one to Gun Jesus, that leaves us with 399 kits which divides by 3!
I'm very envious. We kanadians aren't allowed to have anything so evil. Thanks for sharing, Ian!
@@ROOSTER333 No kidding. But he's smart, and has all the new kanadians and welfare suckers as his minions. Stay well.
Well gun owners are pretty "persona non grata" here. It's not surprising we've been so heavily restricted.
I wish people were more sane here.
@@dwi2921 Me, too, brother. Me too.
@@kbjerke
What always blows my mind is just how closed off from the rest of the world Canadians are when it comes to the issue of firearms. It's like they/we have tunnel vision, and can only see the US and it's gun violence problems and say "ah yes this is what gun ownership looks like, let's restrict it" and just forget that the way the US does things IS NOT the only way.
I actually like using the UK as an example as you can own a lot more than you might think over there. I mean just look at their SLRs, yes they are not semi-auto anymore and have been (I assume permanently) altered to be manual operation only, but Canada can't even do this. Further proving that our nonsense laws are in reality just rampant Anti-Americanism, appearance and flawed uninformed perception.
Our decades long cultural, d$%k measuring contest with the Americans, trying desperately to proove how "superior" we are has a lot to answer for. Yes we do some things better than the US. Yes our healthcare is statistically, MARGINALLY better than that of the US, yes our "democracy" is MARGINALLY better than the US, yes our people are MARGINALLY happier than in the US. I got bad news for folks, those are not high bars to clear.
But our new handgun ban and the up coming feture ban on magazines that are capable of holding more than five rounds is the politically expedient move. Remember blaming a minority (be they gun owners, Metis or Indigenous individuals, many of whom are also gun owners), is the Canadian government's modus operandi.
@@dwi2921 Canadian "democracy" is inferior. Trudeau pulling rules and laws out of his a$$ is a huge failure of the system.
Me at home and the postman comes: I hide because I'm sure they're bills I owe.
Ian at home and the postman comes: He brings him a Kit for FAL.
never seen a parts kit before.. so thats kind of cool to see!
make a video when you complete it :D
Just got mine today.
Can not wait to get it together.
The kits from the 90s and early 2000s had full barrels and pistons, even cut receiver bits.
curious to see how this turns out when you build it up!
Christmas came early this year. Really early.
Very cool. The locking shoulder itself can be had in many sizes and not so long ago armorer kits where available with selection of various sizes of locking shoulder in .01mm or .001 inch increments.it is a small bar that is pressed into the receiver to headspace a bolt to a barrel . I am curious if a national match type m14 chamber reamer would also work on these rifles . It's a finish cutter with a handle that extends through the barrel , with centering guides. You install the cutter into the rough chamber, attach the handle and install the bolt /carrier and return spring to cause forward pressure. When the chamber is cut to NM spec,the bolt locks closed on the reamer. Give half of one more turn and remove . You now have a minimum length .308 win/7.62mmNM chamber with just enough room for the extractor to work . A throating reamer can then be used to adjust free bore and rifling onset angle if need be.
Interesting idea but it does depend on the locking shoulder you get with your kit being large enough to result in a chamber with material to be removed. While I get the idea of striving for a NM chamber, the FAL doesn't really have that much inherent accuracy to make a difference (in my opinion). I have built a half-dozen metric FALs and the standard procedure of measuring and installing the correct sized locking shoulder isn't all that difficult.
@@ShowaEraGaijin it isn't that I am trying to get a match chamber specifically,but that's the tool available for this type of chamber cutting. However, try looking at it reverse to how you are, it would be cutting a new chamber to headspace on the given shoulder. the barrel is a threaded interface type. a rough chambered barrel installed , finish reamed until the bolt locks means it will be head spaced to the specific locking shoulder installed , any replacement would have to be the same size as the one that is custom headspaced. A true NM chamber In a fal seems like it's asking for operational problems from stuck cases . A pre-chambered barrel will have to have it's shoulder replaced with ever larger sizes until lock up on a go-gauge happens,and not on a no-go. to get a properly headspaced bolt/ barrel. As long as the shoulder is in spec, and the bolt locks without a barrel installed, headspace is achieved in the standard way . By Cutting to depth and measuring the headspace from the locked bolt face to the chamber neck or shoulder. Depending on what cartirdge is chosen.
@@coreymerrill3257 One of the unique tools sets needed for building a metric pattern FAL is a set of pins which are in different diameters corresponding to the standard range of locking shoulders. Once you have the barrel correctly screwed into the receiver you try different pins sizes (in the hole where the locking shoulder goes) until you find the pin size on which you can close the bolt on a GO gauge in the chamber with two thumbs pressure on the bolt carrier. Then you procure and install a locking shoulder in the size of that pin.
If the locking shoulder you happen to have on hand is large enough that you cannot close the bolt on the GO gauge then you could ream the chamber until the bolt will close on the GO gauge. That is an option if you have the tool on hand - and the locking shoulder you have is not so small that the bolt is too sloppy on a GO gauge or even closes on a NOGO gauge.
Thank you so very much for another outstanding video dedicated to such an effective and prolific military weapon. I am in the process of building a very early Israeli FAL rifle with excellent Israeli military components.
Thank you again for your perusal of the FN FAL kits and outlining the program by which these kits will be made available for individual purchases.
Have a fantastic week, my friend. 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸
I was going to say that sling looked suspiciously similar to my WWII-era jungle green Lee-Enfield sling 🤔
It would be nice if FN offers a reciever! I have an old imbel build that would be great to "update" to a FN reciever!
And if they were forged
That kit was about 150 a decade ago. Incredible price inflation. Many of the kits available have practically zero fire time on them.
Damn' I want one of those little boxes!
I just got my kit today and I am PUMPED to get this bad boy built
What all is needed? Just a reciever and barrel?
@@dariusbelzer3256 gas piston and selector as well. DSA is selling all the parts you need
Imagine Ian covering obsolete firearm laws as “Forgotten Weapons.”
Fair is FAL, and FAL is fair: hover through the fog and Belgian air
They found a way to keep someone from pulling a Tim.
Can't wait to see the finished FAL.
When I got my kits, all the parts came with it. The only problem was the upper receiver was cut into with a cutting torch. I once had three that I built. One for me, one for my son and eventually traded one off for a different gun. I plan on keeping the G1 FAL that I have. Great gun that I tried to keep as original as much as possible.
Just put my order in! I didn't think I'd actually get a code - can't wait to see it!
Served in the UK infantry and recognised the rifle we called the SLR, much envy to you Americans Id love own and hold that for a while
bayonet was weird, ceremonial?
I have an Imbel kit that i bought in the early 2000's ,nice complete kit with barrel with good rifling . Is DSA the only place to get a receiver to build the kit around because I've heard good and bad stories about the DSA receivers.I have not found an affordable IMBEL receiver in years, and the other 2 companies that made FAL receivers went out of business
This is, in fact, very interesting!
Finally, a Gun Jesus unboxing video
That purple bayonet would go nice with your hair, Lemon!
I would love to see you do a build video on this gun.
If only UA-cam would let him.
@@anon_y_mousse Yeah, he would have to do it on utreon, probably let him there. A real shame. I wouldn't buy one myself but to see it go from a pile of parts to a finished weapon would be cool.
@@Jimtheneals Yeah, it would be awesome. I really miss the channel that I used to watch. This machinist built from chunks of steel an entire gun. Thing of beauty.
Thank you , Ian .
🐺
Would luv to see videos of it being built put together and shot cheers FW great videos as always 👌 👍 👏
Can’t wait to see it on the range
$900 seems a bit excessive for a kit missing a barrel. Looks like they are also missing the fire control parts.
@@TheOriginalShoneBoyOnYT - this kit is gonna need a barrel, receiver, piston, fire control parts et al. Last FN kit I bought maybe 4 years ago was $500 and included a barrel and all the parts
In the Belgian navy we used these to shoot our lines across to the supplying ship (fe when refuelling at see) standard army rifle was FNC.
I have a FAL that was built on an Izzy kit, I would love for it to have a brother in the safe. Hoping I get a chance at one of the kits.
Thank you for your videos.
From the opening view, I half-expected him to spread the parts out on a tray.
Nice
nice, just wish it was the complete rifle. Sucks to have to dump another 500 or more into it to get it running.
I agree, but these were machine guns and there's no way they could have come into the country.
@@ForgottenWeapons yeah, silly nfa.
Damn. I wish I had the $900 to spend if I were to be selected. Great idea from them to mete them out as such.
The Belgian Paratroopers have their own FAL variant and their own march music. Does the Gendarmerie have their own tune, too?
They did 😉 ua-cam.com/video/gtqVzRrwHn8/v-deo.html
Here in Britain the only thing in that kit that's legal is the strap and the bayonet
the whole set looks as if it was made and sent by IKEA, only the assembly instructions are missing😂
Those parts seem pretty good, not sure why Ian keeps calling them foul