FN FAL

Description

With the Soviets already ahead of the game with their newly developed AK-47, the West rapidly needed new advanced rifles to counter the threat posed by their new Cold War enemies.

Dieudonné Saive of Fabrique Nationale Herstal (FN), rose to the task with an initial concept based around the German wartime Sturmgewehr MP/StG 44 7.92×33mm Kurz catridge, which, funnily enough the Soviets had also used as a basis for their Kalashnikov.

Delays were incurred as the Western allies debated over which calibre this new weapon should be, as they were seeking to standardize the ammunition used within NATO. Eventually, after pressure from the United States who wanted it to be their .30 calibre cartridge, the metric equivalent of 7.62x51mm was adopted. With that major issue resolved, fine tuning of Dieudonné’s design could begin.

The FN FAL would go on to become one of the most widely used self loading rifles (SLR’s) of the Cold War period, with the widespread issue of it and its many licensed variants to just under 100 countries.

It proved so popular that the inevitable happened in 1982, when British forces armed with their semi-automatic L1A1 variants came up against FN FAL’s in the service of the Argentinean forces occupying the Falkland Islands.

Although no longer produced by FN, with more than 7 million of these iconic rifles leaving the production line, they remain in service with many regular (and many irregular) forces around the globe.