Florida Shooters Network

My dad has a IMBEL L1A1 with a thumbhole stock. He wants to switch it out to a fixed stock with a pistol grip. I want to get this done for him for fathers day but I don't know much about FAL's.

How hard is this, what tools do I need, what parts will I need, and where should I shop the parts? Also, are there any issues with compliance parts?

Thanks in advance

My dad has a IMBEL L1A1 with a thumbhole stock. He wants to switch it out to a fixed stock with a pistol grip. I want to get this done for him for fathers day but I don't know much about FAL's.

How hard is this, what tools do I need, what parts will I need, and where should I shop the parts? Also, are there any issues with compliance parts?

Many of the thumbhole sporters lack the 922R compliance parts as they were grandfathered in. To do the conversion you're going to have to worry about:

Compliance parts count. (gas piston, handguards, US mag, muzzle device, pistol grip, hammer trigger sear, stock, etc.)
Many times they ground off the pistol grip stud and modify the lower, if that's the case you'll need to repair it.
Metric or Inch (commonwealth) parts mix. (The century angry beavers tossed all kinds of parts together.)
Buttstock removal tool. Without it, you'll need a cleaning rod inserted to prevent the bolt and springs from shooting around the room.

Jupiter isn't too far from Court in Fl, and he's very good with FAL stuff. There's a pretty active community in PB with regards to FAL and L1A1 as well.

Post some pics, with closeups on the front end, other areas, etc. That helps more than anything. Also the falfiles.com has a pretty good section on restoring/fixing Century L1A1 rifles.

James

Thanks for the info. I'll talk to my dad about it and let him know what's involved then see what he wants to do from there. It sounds like it might be worth it to have someone else do the conversion. If I can get a hold of the rifle in the next few days I'll talk some pics and post them up

Nah. do it yourself. it's more fun that way, and better as you'll learn the rifle. Besides, the buttstock removal tool is cheap, and worth owning for cleaning and maintenance.

If you don't want to buy a buttstock tool you can just use a good cleaning rod to align the spring and cap.

mohshard wrote:Nah. do it yourself. it's more fun that way, and better as you'll learn the rifle. Besides, the buttstock removal tool is cheap, and worth owning for cleaning and maintenance.

If it was mine I'd already have it torn apart, but being my dad's I'm a little more cautious of what I do

You can check out gunthings.com they have the replacement pistolgrip bushing you will need and alot of other Fal parts. They also have a fair amount of us made parts for inch pattern rifles. It shpuld not be too hard of a project. Be careful as posted with that recoil spring.