Combat Ready

The Fn Fal, From Nato Armories to American Gun Safes, Has Always Been a Capable Battle Rifle

- Leroy Thompson

Had the Cold War heated up, the allies had excellent battle rifles at the ready. Foremost among them was the FN FAL.

During the War on Terror, there has been a tendency to view the classic clash of rifles as the M4 carbine or M16 rifle versus the AK-47 or AK-74. During the Cold War, however, that face-off was between three classic 7.62x51mm battle rifles and the 7.62x39mm assault rifle.

The three principal battle rifles of NATO—the FN FAL, H&K G3, and U.S. M14 would have faced the Warsaw Pack SKS and AK47. Based on the confrontations in which the 7.62x51mm rifle has faced the 7.62x39mm rifle, the more powerful rifles have shown an advantage in range and striking power. This has been especially true in mountain combat or combat across flat areas where greater range is an advantage. Fortunately, the Soviets and the other Warsaw Pact armies never came storming across the North German Plain to face NATO, so the effectiveness of the respective weapons was tested only in proxy wars.

BIRTH OF A LEGEND

Of the three NATO battle rifles, the most widely used—and best in the opinion of many—was the FN FAL. As originally conceived in 1946, the FAL would have been chambered for the intermediate 7.62x33mm cartridge developed in Germany during World War II for the Sturmgewehr (assault rifle). However, the U.S. wanted a rifle firing a more powerful cartridge: the 7.62x51mm round that would later become NATO standard.

Reportedly, the U.S. cut a deal with the British and Belgians that if NATO would accept the 7.62x51mm round, the U.S. would adopt the FN FAL, which had been developed by two FN designers in 1951. Though the FAL made it into the final tests against what would become the M14 rifle, it was not adopted by the U.S. However, it has become the classic battle rifle.