Dear liberals who are reading this blog: despite the looks this isn't a dreaded "assault" weapon so you do not have to wet your pants.
Assault weapons can fire multiple rounds of ammunition with a single trigger pull. This one can only fire one round of ammunition for every trigger pull, just like a regular semiautomatic pistol or hunting rifle. The ammunition magazine has a capacity limit of 10 rounds and it is permanently fixed (non removable).
In the picture: the civilian version (semiautomatic only) Federal and California law compliant FAL pattern rifle.
FAL: Fusil Automatique Legere.
Invented in 1951 by Dieudonne Saive at Fabrique Nationale Herstal in Belgium.
Because of its prevalence and widespread use among the armed forces of many Western and other non-Communist countries during the Cold War, it was nicknamed "the right arm of the Free World".
The FN FAL (Fusil Automatique Leger - Light Automatic Rifle) is one of the most famous and widespread military rifle designs of the XX century. It was used by some 70 or even more countries, and was manufactured in at least 10 countries.. While no production numbers are known, it is estimated that FAL production (in all of its variants) has exceeded 1,000,000 units.
The FN FAL is a gas operated, selective fire or semi-automatic only (in the civilian version), magazine fed rifle. It uses short piston stroke gas system with gas piston located above the barrel and having its own return spring. After the shot is fired, the gas piston makes a quick tap to the bolt carrier and then returns back, and the rest of the reloading cycle is commenced by the inertia of bolt group.
The gas system is fitted with gas regulator so it could be easily adjusted for various environment conditions, or cut off completely so rifle grenades could be safely launched from the barrel. The locking system uses bolt carrier with separate bolt that locks the barrel by tipping its rear part into the recess in the receiver floor.
The receivers initially were machined from the forged steel blocks, and in 1973 FN began to manufacture investment cast receivers to decrease production costs. Many manufactures, however, stuck to the machined receivers.
The trigger housing with pistol grip is hinged to the receiver behind the magazine well and could be swung down to open action for maintenance and disassembly.
The recoil spring is housed in the butt of the rifle in fixed butt configurations or in the receiver cover in folding butt configurations, so the folding butt versions require a slightly different bolt carrier, receiver cover and a recoils spring.
The cocking handle is located at the left side of the receiver and does not move when gun is fired. It could be folding or non-folding, depending on the country of origin.
The safety - fire selector switch is located at the trigger housing, above the triggerguard. It can have two (on semi-automatic - civilian versions) or three (on select-fire rifles military versions) positions.
The firing mechanism is hammer fired and use single sear for both semi-automatic or full automatic fire.
Barrel is equipped with long flash hider which also serves as a rifle grenade launcher. Design of flash hider may differs slightly from country to country.
The furniture of the FAL also can differ - it could be made from wood, plastic of various colors or metal (folding buttstocks, metallic handguards on some models). Some models, such as Austrian Stg.58 or Brazilian LAR were fitted with light bipods as a standard. Almost all heavy barrel versions also were fitted with bipods of various design.
Sights usually are of hooded post front and adjustable diopter rear types, but can differ in details and markings. Almost all FAL rifles are equipped with sling swivels and most of rifles are fitted with bayonet lugs.
Here is a neat video of this baby, courtesy of Discovery Channel:
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