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Posted: 7/24/2010 9:12:23 PM EDT
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Ok.. maybe I'm a moron, who knows....
I stripped down an inch pattern FAL to clean and install new furniture. The problem I am having is that after installing the trigger/sear, then hammer, then hammer spring (trigger will move), but as soon as I install the selector, nothing will move. Here are the parts I removed from the lower: 
Now, after installing the selector, the only way the trigger will move is if it is in this position 
Did some little part fly across the room that I don't know about? I had a guy in arf chat tear down his rifle and go step-by-step with me, and his functioned fine, mine did not. I have had this rifle for a long time and put several hundred rounds through it with no malfunctions. 
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All the items worked OK before, right?
Then you've mis-installed something. Take the safety out and re-install it right side up, after verifying EVERYTHING else is correctly installed. Possible mis-installation of FAL parts was one of the reasons the FAL failed in the M-14/FAL trials. |
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Quoted:
All the items worked OK before, right? Then you've mis-installed something. Take the safety out and re-install it right side up, after verifying EVERYTHING else is correctly installed. Possible mis-installation of FAL parts was one of the reasons the FAL failed in the M-14/FAL trials. Thanks for lending a hand. I stripped it down completely, along with someone in arf chat, we put each component in at the same time, still can't get the selector to insert and function, but it function checks 100% with it out. I've started a HTF thread and will try a local store/range that deals with a lot of battle rifles and NFA items. |
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I dont' consider it even a sideshow. What we have about 100 members, tops, that have FALs and contribute here.
Compared to the FAL Files, we aren't even the Bearded Lady. The clue is the position of the safety now required for HST function. Look at it carefully, FAL lowers ain't brain surgery. Something isn't right. Good Luck, RMD EDIT: I don;t see the locking plate in the pix. How are you putting it in? |
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Quoted:
All the items worked OK before, right? Then you've mis-installed something. Take the safety out and re-install it right side up, after verifying EVERYTHING else is correctly installed. Possible mis-installation of FAL parts was one of the reasons the FAL failed in the M-14/FAL trials. On an L1A1 the locking plate for the hammer and trigger pins is affixed within the lower receiver. If the locking plate is not lined up perfectly, the end result will be exactly what the OP is suffering from. Pull the trigger and hammer back out and make sure there is no goo or grime keeping the hammer and trigger pin locking plate from aligning correctly in the lower. Make sure everything is luber and reassemble carefully. Older FN manufactured G1 lowers do this. IIRC some inch pattern selectors are two piece held together via slave/cotter pin. Make sure pin has not worked it's way out causing interference of trigger. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
All the items worked OK before, right? Then you've mis-installed something. Take the safety out and re-install it right side up, after verifying EVERYTHING else is correctly installed. Possible mis-installation of FAL parts was one of the reasons the FAL failed in the M-14/FAL trials. On an L1A1 the locking plate for the hammer and trigger pins is affixed within the lower receiver. If the locking plate is not lined up perfectly, the end result will be exactly what the OP is suffering from. Pull the trigger and hammer back out and make sure there is no goo or grime keeping the hammer and trigger pin locking plate from aligning correctly in the lower. Make sure everything is luber and reassemble carefully. Older FN manufactured G1 lowers do this. IIRC some inch pattern selectors are two piece held together via slave/cotter pin. Make sure pin has not worked it's way out causing interference of trigger. This was exactly the problem. After messing with it and stripping it 4 or 5 more times today, I finally noticed the two piece selector had slightly rotated. This had probably been working it's way in that direction for some time. I bought the rifle in '05 or '06 and have put at least one case of surplus through it. I pulled the pin out, got everything aligned properly, and after putting it all back together, it function tested 100%. Would it be a bad idea to tac weld the external portion of the selector to avoid this in the future? Before: 
After: 
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Looks like someone, long ago, used a center punch to upset the metal at the border of the head of the pinion shaft and the surrounding metal of the lever. proper, in order to prevent mutual rotation.
If the original pin is missing, then replace. If it has broken––a possibility in view of the previous repair attempt, then replacing it would be more expensive in time and hassle than another switch. If you have a friend who will tack this for you–– only the smallest tack will be needed–– and then clean it up afterwards, that would be a permanent repair. Tape the "button" (where your thumb actuates the switch but good with some duct-tape. It will burn, but save some spatter cleaning in those little steps on the button. You'll want to re-finish, or at least re-paint the switch afterwards, but that is no big deal. Paying a commercial weldor to do the job might be more than a new (or decent used) switch will cost. If you don't want to go to that hassle, set the switch up in a vise, and re-strike the place where it was center punched before. For insurance, strike two other spots arranged in a triangle, so to speak. Strike only once in each spot, then go on to the next, in rotation. This will do the job, and probably last forever, BUT, since this is a potentially life-or-death item, I'd personally be more comfortable with a tack weld, or a new, one-piece switch. As an aside, when I was fabricating my ambi-safety long ago, I initially experimented with Inch safeties. What I noticed, however, was that when using the rifle weak-hand, and especially with gloves/mittens worn, the gloved hand often bumped the inch safety upwards. I didn't much care for that, so I finalized on metric safety levers, which had no interference issues with gloved hands. YMMV. FWIW, the metric safety is one-piece, inexpensive, and is a drop-in replacement for the Inch unit. |
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"Would it be a bad idea to tac weld the external portion of the selector to avoid this in the future?"
It wasn't unusual (when all the kits were being imported back in the olden days) to see the selector and the locking lever shafts welded on Commonwealth FAL's ––––––––––––––––––- It was really common on the Brit guns. I would replace them with new Australian parts that I would get from the Dealers Warehouse... |
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