User talk:Rebeccarubart1234

The Fusil Automatique Léger (Light Automatic Rifle) or FAL is a 7.62x51mm NATO7.62x51mm NATO The 7.62x51mm NATO is a rifle cartridge developed in the 1950s as a standard for small arms among NATO countries. Specifications for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge are not identical to the commercial .308 Winchester though they are safely interchangeable.... self-loadingSelf-loading rifle Self-loading rifle may refer to:*Semi-automatic rifle, a type of firearm which fires a single shot with the pull of a trigger, and uses the energy of that shot to chamber the next round... , selective fireSelective fire A selective fire firearm fires semiautomatically and at least one automatic mode by means of a selector depending on the weapons design. Some selective fire weapons utilize burst fire mechanisms to limit the maximum or total number of shots fired automatically in this mode... rifleRifle A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile, imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the... produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique Nationale de HerstalFabrique Nationale de Herstal Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, more often abbreviated as Fabrique Nationale or simply FN, is a Belgian manufacturer of firearms. The official company name is FN Herstal. FN is a subsidiary of the Herstal Group. Herstal also owns the U.S. Repeating Arms Company and Browning Arms Company... (FN) during the Cold WarCold War The Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II, primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States... , and adopted by many North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries. It has also been adopted by many other nations for their armed forces and has proven to be a popular civilian rifle for hunting and sport shooting. The FN FAL was also produced under license in many of the adopting countries. 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 WorldFree world The free world is a Cold War-era propaganda term used by the United States and its allies to describe non-communist countries collectively.The term was used to imply the greater personal freedoms enjoyed by citizens of non-communist countries that were democratic, such as the United States, Canada,... ".

History
In 1947, the first FN FAL prototype was completed. It was designed to fire the intermediate 7.92x33mm Kurz7.92x33mm Kurz 7.92x33mm Kurz is a rifle cartridge developed in Nazi Germany prior to and during World War II. The ammunition is also referred to as 7.92mm Kurz, 7.92 Kurz, or 7.92mmK, and was specifically intended for development of an assault rifle... cartridge developed and used by the forces of Nazi GermanyNazi Germany Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party. The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German... during World War IIWorld War II World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... (see StG44Sturmgewehr 44 The StG 44 was an assault rifle developed in Nazi Germany during World War II and was the first of its kind to see major deployment, considered by many historians to be the first modern assault rifle... assault rifleAssault rifle An assault rifle is a rifle designed for combat, with selective fire . Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies, having largely superseded or supplemented larger and more powerful battle rifles such as the M14, FN FAL and the Heckler & Koch G3... ). After testing this prototype in 1948, the British ArmyBritish Army The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and... urged FN to build additional prototypes, including one in bullpupBullpup Bullpups are firearm configurations in which the action and magazine are located behind the trigger and alongside the firer's face, so there is no wasted space for the buttstock as in conventional designs... configuration, chambered for their new .280 British.280 British The .280 British, later designated "7 mm MK1Z", was an experimental intermediate rifle cartridge designed by the British Army in the late 1940s, with later help from Fabrique Nationale in Belgium and the Canadian Army... caliber intermediate cartridge. After evaluating the single bullpup prototype, FN decided to return instead to their original, conventional design for future production.

In 1950, the United KingdomUnited Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands... presented the redesigned FN rifle and the British EM-2EM-2 The EM-2, Also known as Rifle No.9 Mk1 or "Janson rifle", was an experimental British assault rifle. It was briefly adopted by British forces in 1951, but the decision was overturned very shortly thereafter by Winston Churchill's incoming government in an effort to secure NATO standardisation of... , both in .280 British calibre, to the United StatesUnited States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... for comparison testing against the favoured United States ArmyUnited States Army The United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services... design of the time - Earle Harvey's T25. It was hoped that a common cartridge and rifle could be standardized for issue to the armies of all NATO member countries. After this testing was completed, U.S. Army officials suggested that FN should redesign their rifle to fire the U.S. prototype '.30 Light Rifle' cartridge. FN decided to hedge their bets with the U.S., given that the UK appeared to be favouring their own EM-2. In 1951, FN even made a deal with the U.S. that they could produce the FAL royalty-free in the U.S. This decision appeared to be correct when the British Army decided to adopt the EM-2 and .280 British cartridge in the very same month. This decision was later rescinded after the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again... lost the General Election, was ousted from control of Parliament and Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer... returned as Prime Minister. It is believed that there was a quid-pro-quo agreement between Churchill and U.S. President Harry Truman in 1952 that the British accept the .30 Light Rifle cartridge as NATO standard in return for U.S. acceptance of the FN FAL as NATO standard. The .30 Light Rifle cartridge was in fact later standardized as the 7.62 mm NATO; however, the U.S. insisted on continued rifle tests. The FAL chambered for the .30 Light Rifle went up against the redesigned T25 (now redesignated as the T47), and an M1 Garand variant, the T44. Eventually, the T44 won out, becoming the M14. However, in the meantime, most other NATO countries were evaluating and selecting the FAL.

FN created what is possibly the classic post-war battle rifleBattle rifle A battle rifle is a full-size rifle designed for military use that fires a high-power rifle cartridge such as the U.S. .30-06 Springfield, the German 7.92x57mm IS, the Russian 7.62x54mmR, or the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge... . Formally introduced by its designers Dieudonne Saive and Ernest Vervier in 1951, and produced two years later, it has been described as the "right arm of the Free World." The FAL battle rifle has its Warsaw PactWarsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance subscribed by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, that was established at the USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland... counterpart in the AK-47AK-47 The AK-47 is a selective fire, gas operated 7.62mm assault rifle developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the 1940s. Six decades later, the AK-47 and its variants and derivatives remain in service throughout the world... , each being fielded by dozens of countries and produced in many of them. A few, such as Israel and South Africa, manufactured and issued both designs at various times. Unlike the Russian AK-47 assault rifle, the FAL utilized a heavier full-power rifleRifle A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile, imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the... cartridge. In the West, FAL's primary competitor was the German Heckler & Koch G3Heckler & Koch G3 The G3 is a 7.62mm battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency CETME .... .

Design detail
The FAL operates by means of a gas-operated actionFirearm action In firearms terminology, an action is the physical mechanism that manipulates cartridges and/or seals the breech. The term is also used to describe the method in which cartridges are loaded, locked, and extracted from the mechanism. Actions are generally categorized by the type of mechanism used... very similar to that of the Russian SVT-40. The gas system is driven by a short-stroke, spring-loaded piston housed above the barrelGun barrel A gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity.... , and the locking mechanism is what is known as a tilting breechblock. To lock, it drops down into a solid shoulder of metal in the heavy receiverReceiver (firearms) In firearms terminology, the receiver is the part of a firearm that houses the operating parts. It is sometimes called the body of the firearm, and especially in the context of handguns it is often called the frame... much like the boltsBolt (firearm) A bolt is a mechanical part of a firearm that blocks the rear of the chamber while the propellant burns.In manually-operated firearms, such as bolt-action, lever-action, and pump-action rifles and shotguns, the bolt is held fixed by its locking lugs during firing, forcing all the expanding gas... of the Russian SKSSKS The SKS is a Soviet 7.62x39mm caliber semi-automatic carbine, designed in 1945 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. SKS is an acronym for Samozaryadniy Karabin sistemi Simonova, 1945 , or SKS 45... carbineCarbine A carbine is a firearm similar to a rifle or musket. Many carbines, especially modern designs, were developed from rifles, being essentially shortened versions of full rifles firing the same ammunition, although often at a lower velocity... and French MAS-49MAS-49 The MAS-49 is a French-designed semi-automatic infantry rifle that replaced the motley collection of aging bolt-action rifles that were in French service after the end of World War II... series of semi-automatic rifles. The gas system is fitted with a gas regulator behind the front sight base, allowing adjustment of the gas system in response to environmental conditions, and can be closed completely to allow for the firing of rifle grenadeRifle grenade A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade was thrown by hand... s. The FAL's magazine capacity ranges from 5 to 30 rounds, with most magazines holding 20 rounds. In fixed stock versions of the FAL, the recoilRecoil Recoil is the 'kick' given by a gun when it is fired. In technical terms, this kick is caused by the gun's backward momentum, which exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile... spring is housed in the stock, while in folding-stock versions it is housed in the receiver cover, necessitating a slightly different receiver cover, recoil spring, and bolt carrier, and a modified lower receiver for the stock.

FAL rifles have also been manufactured in both light and heavy-barrel configurations, with the heavy barrel intended for automatic fire as a section or squad light support weapon. Most heavy barrel FALs are equipped with bipodBipod A bipod is a support device that is similar to a tripod or monopod, but with two legs. It provides significant stability along two axes of motion -Firearms:... s, although some light barrel models were equipped with bipods, such as the Austrian StG58 and the German G1, and a bipod was later made available as an accessory.

Among other 7.62x51mm NATO battle rifles at the time, the FN FAL had relatively light recoil, due to the gas system being able to be tuned via regulator in fore-end of the rifle, which allowed for excess gas which would simply increase recoil to bleed off. In fully-automatic mode, however, the shooter receives considerable abuse from recoil, and the weapon climbs off-target quickly, making automatic fire only of marginal effectiveness. Today, with a proper modern muzzle brakeMuzzle brake Muzzle brakes and recoil compensators are devices that are fitted to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon to redirect propellant gases with the effect of countering both recoil of the gun and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire... , the FAL on fully automatic does far better and with enough training, can make the FAL as accurate as an M16 on three round burst. However, many military forces using the FAL eventually eliminated full-automatic firearms training in the light-barrel FAL. Due to its high power, the 7.62mm NATO round is not suited to automatic fire from a rifle with any accuracy.

Production and use
The FAL was made by Fabrique Nationale de HerstalFabrique Nationale de Herstal Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, more often abbreviated as Fabrique Nationale or simply FN, is a Belgian manufacturer of firearms. The official company name is FN Herstal. FN is a subsidiary of the Herstal Group. Herstal also owns the U.S. Repeating Arms Company and Browning Arms Company... (FN) in Liège, Belgium and under license in a number of countries. A distinct sub-family was the Commonwealth inch-dimensioned versions that were manufactured in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands... and AustraliaAustralia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans... (as the L1A1 Self Loading Rifle or SLR), and in CanadaCanada Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean... as the C1. The standard metric-dimensioned FAL was manufactured in South AfricaSouth Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern... (where it was known as the R1), BrazilBrazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean... , IsraelIsrael Israel officially the State of Israel, is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its... , AustriaAustria Austria, officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west... and ArgentinaArgentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,... . MexicoMexico The United Mexican States, commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... assembled FN-made components into complete rifles at its national arsenal in Mexico CityMexico City Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008... . The FAL was also exported to many other countries, such as VenezuelaVenezuela Venezuela, officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea... , where a small-arms industry produces some basically unchanged variants, as well as ammunition. By modern standards, one disadvantage of the FAL is the amount of work which goes into machining the complex receiver, bolt and bolt carrier. Additionally, the movement of the tilting bolt mechanism tends to return differently with each shot, affecting inherent accuracy of the weapon. The FAL's receiver is machined, whilst most other modern military rifles use quicker stamping or casting techniques. Modern FALs have many improvements over those produced by FN and others in the mid-20th-century (for comparison, see a photo of a modern Para-style FAL).

While no production numbers are known, it is estimated that FAL production (in all of its variants) has exceeded 1,000,000 units.