If it is from a desert country the plastic tube might be an attempt to protect the users cheek from a hot metal stock.

The "weird plastic pipings" on the folding buttstock struts are common flexible corrugated conduits for protecting electric cables. As other viewers have pointed out, they're there not for aesthetics, but for the practical purpose of insulating the cheek from the metal surface on a hot day or a cold night.

That's more of a handheld stun-grenade than a rifle.

The NZ and Australian SAS in Vietnam modified their SLRs by cutting the barrel down and modifying them to full auto for the shock and awe factor at close range in the jungle. Their philosophy, operating in small teams was to break contact as quickly as possible and move away. The sound and muzzle flash of a burst of fully auto fire from a cut down SLR was pretty intimidating and helped to get the enemies head down and appear to be far more fire power than just that of a small recon team.

The other advantage of a shortened L1A1/FAL was the intimidation effect when used to break contact for a recon patrol. An ARVN patrol commander that was mistakenly engaged by an SASR patrol with modified L1A1s reported the noise effect was more like being ambushed by multiple .50cal MGs and his troops reacted accordingly....

The plastic wrap around the stock ought to be pretty effective at preventing frostbite to the face when using it it in cold weather.

I know it's sacrilege, but I like it, and I DO think it looks cool. I love weird semi-field crafted firearms.

Fun fact, if you buy a shortening kit for FAL barrels; khaki short-shorts are included, and mandatory to wear.

Thank you for commenting on the “right arm” phrase. It’s so proliferate in even general firearm circles and I had never heard the about its proper origin beyond “lots of Western nations adopted it”. Thank you, excellent pick from the collection

I noticed the Royal Armouries do have a couple Brazilian Imbel rifles, both derivatives of the FAL. It would be nice to see a video of them.

The L1A1 was my first rifle and this poor abomination of a rifle gives me heartburn just looking at it... Thank you for the great work you do as whenever I visit the family I do try and visit the Leeds museum... which is an amazing place the museum not so sure about Leeds though...

I don't recall ever hearing Jonathan describing a gun as "junk", a title this gun certainly deserves.

When I joined the Aussie Army in 1983, the official nomenclature for our SLR was that it was our "MBR" or "Main Battle Rifle". Also, in 2007, I was offered one of these, almost identical, from the Black Market in Afghanistan. I suspected it was a Peshwar Valley copy.

Be willing to bet the plastic on the stock tubes is protection for the shooter's cheek against a painfully hot or freezing cold bare metal stock. I suspect eith thr super shorty barrel, it's slightly more likely to be concerns of hot metal rsther than freezing conditionsm

I know pretty much nothing about firearms but I really enjoy watching him talk about them.

Thanks again Jonathan and team. This almost seems like a real world example of the kind of 'junk' gun that you start out with in some FPS games, before you get the chance to upgrade to better items.

'Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly' the most British term for it will blow the hell up

Would have been nice to see it beside a regular FAL

That looks like shooting it on full auto might be a rather intense experience (assuming it’s select fire)… Edit: oh, apparently it may explode

Looks like a parts kit rifle we were building in the late 90's/early 00's in the US from surplus rifles that had been de-mil'd and sold as spare parts. You could get a kit from $100-$200 and an upper receiver for about the same amount, back then. Some guys experimented with a short barrel and short stroke piston system, done in their home workshops. Headspacing was the easiest thing to get right when working on them. A lot of folks couldn't get the builds correct, so they sold them off to poor, unsuspecting suckers. They were a lot of fun to build, and ammo was cheap - some guys could pool their money and order surplus ammo by the pallet.

Kind of reminiscent of my FAL except I did mine properly. Mine 16 inch barrel, SAW pistol grip, L1A1 charging handle, L1A1 mag release, L1A1 safety selector, Railed dust cover. Fun to build fun to shoot .

7.62x51 PDW.

Ian Yuel used a shortened FAL in the Wild Geese.

Ah yes: the repeating flash bang device.

Keep up the good work and great content! Love yall!

I just like how you guys refer to Ian McCollum on Forgotten Weapons for info about the Para FAL. He’s officially a professional source!

If this thing is from a cold environment i would suggest that the stock plastic covers could just be a way of preventing your face from touching metal when you aim. Could also presumably be better in a hot condition, as plastic heats up slower than metal

Quite an intersting example of a firearm. Thx for the Video

We ran F1A1 when i was in service, loved this rifle, the 7.62 round was perfect.

Rhodesian FAL was initially shortened for the RLI paratroopers where it was common for full length barrels to get bent when landing on operational jumps

I love that they kept the carry handle

I have been lucky enough to hold one of these things and it was quite the treat. pretty neat rifle!

Once again great video.

Jonathan, being a fan of the MP-5 why don't you make a "What is that weapon" with a HK G53, lot of people aren't aware of this weapon history and existence and it would be cool to see it getting some recognition !

It resembles the cut down FAL used by the Argentinian Federal Police except theirs came with a forward pistol grip, just a standard FAL pistol grip mounted to the underside of the gas block.

“Has been bodged onto the gun “. Love when Jonathan uses technical language.

...gotta be the most bestest euphemism of of ALL TIME..."Rapid, unscheduled disassembly..."

Not one but two meme titles. Good job Royal Armouries.

i love the almost forensic accuracy of your statements and comments about this weapon!

My favourite Firearms Expert talking about my favourite Firearm? Oh yes please

The look of confusion and disgust just sells it! :D

The definition of "Make do and mend" I like it.

i wonder why Jonathan didnt bring in an emotional support FAL just to ease his pain

With the gas port location the bolt must give a massive jolt when it hits its rearward end of travel.

All things considered, whoever owned this gun in its service life clearly loved it very much(or maybe was forced to), enough to optimize the stock for a hot desert day/freezing night, and enough to refinish the gun with a new pistol grip and ergonomic charging handle. I personally quite like it, I think its a gun with a lot of character

While at university in the UK in the early eighties I played soldiers in the OTC so was running around with an SLR. I loved it. Someone has been very mean to that poor FAL Jonathan, give her a pat from me before you put her away.

its a curiosity for sure, thanks for sharing

A FAL is one of the items still on my "to acquire" list. I've got a few FN-49's and they're great rifles too. Quite similar in their internals but are built much more along the lines of a pre WW2 infantry rifle with a wood stock. I'd love to get a Canadian military FAL but you'd have more luck finding a bushel of hen's teeth.

one of the FALs I have in my own collection is a brand spanking new (2019) DS Arms FAL in nearly this exact configuration. And I can tell you that I LOVE IT !!!!... Don't get me wrong, I love my 21" FAL and my "old school" L1A1 with its S.U.I.T and wood furniture (not original woof, sadly) is one of the first rifles I ever purchased about 40 years ago I would never think of selling. However, the DSA shorty PARA is wonderful. It is fun and fast and is something quite different than the ubiquitous AR style rifles everyone uses here in the US. Granted, my shorty is newly manufactured here by an excellent company that puts out a quality product, and it is not a chopped-up, bastardized assembly of rusted junk. I can tell you my shorty FAL always gets the envy at the range or in the woods. She is a hell of a truck gun and unmatched at dropping feral hogs. (shorty has put a lot of meat in the smoker). Perhaps its just deep-fried, American hillbilly sense of the aesthetic, but I like it. The one you are showing, maybe after a few drinks and from a somewhat greater distance, but yeah,, I like it.

i believe the plastic around the stock is for reducing discomfort in hot or sub-zero environments. the finns did something similar with the rk rifles.

"Massacred"?! That thing is AWESOME! It's the FAL version of an HK51.

My dsa osw shorty FAL is my favorite. Very loud but it’s awesome!

How about doing a video on how these weapons are acquired by your institution, and from where? The relationships involved, permits/paperwork, etc, would be interesting...

I'm poor and live in the US this is the closest I'm ever going to get to your museum thank you for these videos

What is this? AN FAL FOR ANTS!? 😂😂 great reference

The plastic sleeves on the stock serve two purposes - one is to maintain the stock at a mangeable temperature, which is especially important in cold climates. the other is to mitigate stock slap that's generate by recoil.

i think the stock is like that for comfort metal heats up and freezes that plastic stuff shouldn't get as hot or cold

For some reason I really like this one. It shows what an Iraqi Bubba could do to a nice and perfectly good firearm. I think American Bubbas should take note and stop. I think the folding buttstock is fine and I don't see any reason why a small spring clip couldn't have been attached to the carrying handle to hold the buttstock in the folded position. The Iraqi Bubba may very well have known that the headspace was important and may have gotten his hands on a set of gauges. Also, the plastic on the struts is so you don't burn your face if the rifle has been in the sun for a while. The Bubba also knew the fact that when you severely shorten a barrel, you have to move the gas block and hole so that it won't adversely effect the bullet velocity more than cutting the barrel has already done. Look at the first iteration of the M16 carbine and all the trouble they went through to finally get an efficient short barreled rifle that didn't have all the troubles that you get when you cut the barrel, but not move the gas block. That was my two cents. Have a grand time

My experience with the SLR is that the weak spot was the gas port, what happened is that people didn't clean the barrels properly after using BFAs, so you'd get a ring of carbon in the barrel which increased gas pressure with live ammunition. That led to gas port erosion and damaged the gas plug and the piston and then the rifle stopped working. People forget that the main reason for the adoption of the SA80 was because the SLRs were worn out, and the SA80 was delayed. If you go to a shorter barrel you also bugger up the gas system, it's not a good idea. The SLRs were put in war reserve, that was a pretty big contract to repair them from what I recall, some company down in Devon? Can't remember the name. Anyway, I was always of the opinion that the purpose of the SA80 was to make FIBUA easier, the explanation of "it fits into a Warrior IFV" was the official reason, no one wanted to say: "it fits into a terraced house in Belfast more easily."

I was in the South African military when we used the FAL (R1, as we called it) and built 2 examples here in the US - metric-pattern 21" and and 18" Para. Now, I was a contractor in Iraq for OIF II and III ('04 and '05) and there was a building in Camp Cooke (an Iraqi military facility in Taji, some miles north of Baghdad) full of rusty FALs - so the one Jonathan's clutching may very well have been sourced from a place like that.

I always like the short barreled variants, I would have to say the FAL OSW is one of my dream guns. Garand Thumb did a video on it and boy it is a sexy firearm.

Its a thing of beauty!!!

America considered using a version of the FAL, at West Point Museum there is an experimental version with wooden furnishings on it.

In one of my stories the characters would describe that as a 'tenderizer'. Good enough to get fast and messy, no loss to dump.

Omg! Bet muzzle blast and recoil is unbelievable!

The FrankenFAL ! I would guess that the plastic tubing encasing the butt stock may have been installed to help stop the metal frame becoming hot in the sun or cold on desert nights , and to assist the user form a more comfortable cheek weld . Weird guns are always really interesting , it would be nice if the museum could get hold of a correctly modified "official" conversion . Stay Safe & Stay Well , catch You next episode .

"Hot and sandy with lots of bullets flying everywhere" and "homemade" firearm immediately make me think Khyber Pass region of Afghanistan

The dsarms FAL’s are gorgeous

Despite the obvious FAL blasphemy, I still think it looks pretty damn cool and way more handy than a normal FAL.

The piping on the stock is so you don't freeze to it Or get burnt by it in the heat Someone mentioned the freezing part I just saw, but for leaving in the heat, dark painted metal is gonna get hot

I absolutely love short rifles and a lil' shorty FAL is at the top of my list of favorites

as a woodworker that grip looks pretty good, curves are hard!

Elbonian Airbourne Forces standard issue. TEL would then be the Territorial Elbonian Legion

It may be a piece of junk, but that weapon has a lot of character to it. And it may not be worth preserving every gun with a bit of kit-bash character, but there's something about that particular FAL rifle. It just looks like it has quite a story behind it, even if we're not quite sure what it is.

We used to use that piping on our bike chains back in the 80's. I think it was electrical piping for electronics.

Some original Belgian type III 50.63 Paratroopers came with folding charging handles, similar to the charging handles on the British L1A1’s. I can’t tell which one that rifle has.

Just love the FAL, be it short or long.

Upon the unwieldiness of "battle rifles" Doing my military service as a pioneer (combat engineer) equipped with the G3. When building bridges sometimes a soldier found himself with the weapon on one side of the girders and his body on the other side connected to each other by the sling, hopefully one of his comrades where able to uncouple the sling from the weapon, sometimes this where impossible and then the parts of the bridge had to be dismantled (in wartime under time constraint cutting the sling where a valid option)

I put a 11.5 inch dw barrel in my lmt MWS with a warcomp on it , went night shooting with it, and literally blinded everyone that was with me …It was awesome

I did see a very similar weapon with somebody in the Kosbs in 86. Exercise E.T.

I'm reminded of that scene in Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, where Sanchez shoots his pistol with another pistol.

Interestingly indicative to the now-older DSA OSW 13" guns, I frankly enjoy the look of the super-shorty 7.62 NATOs, ala OSW, HK-51, etc. Some know the (more popular) 11" OSW and the horrifying HK51 or DSA Para 8" guns, but 7.62 NATO's velocity REALLY tanks under 13 or 14 in, obviously the cartridge thrives under 20 or 22 in barrels.

Starts with "you'll probably notice something wrong" with a disappointed face 🤣🤣

Fue mi herramienta de trabajo muchos años. Lo sigo admirando. Es un gran fusil.

When I had a personal FN FAL one of the things I liked about it was the intimidatory factor of it's sheer size! Agree it was awkward in type spaces. Fulton's of Bisley fitted a heavy barrel (which seemed even longer in my memory). Very accurate and comfortable to shoot. It is in the basement of the Imperial War Museum now is that anything to do with you? I've been out of the country for 35 years.... P.

Would love to see you also shoot these devices in your videos!

One of the more interesting weapon's you've shown us i'd say, it looks like it may have one mighty story. Perhaps a well-liked weapon, used and repaired until its condition became a total mess haha

The FN FAL is a metric piece and only produced in metric , all others are licensed imperial manufactured by UK , Australia etc . Plastic stock guards for protection from heat or cold . The charging handle assembly does not interchange between the 2 readily , without a considerable amount of work including notching the receiver and bolt carrier and not a simple bodge or swap . The other distinguishing feature that appeared on the L1A1 variants by this time which would have been useful here was the bolt carrier dust/sand grooves . This cocking assembly was also used for some AR15 upper receiver forgings for left hand cocking along with the existing rear charging handle . If you happen across one of these, the FN FAL cocking assembly does not fit , nor can it be made to fit as the detent that communicates with the carrier is in a completely different position on its slide . This FN may have been modified here in the UK , if its 1975 Persian origin can be substantiated. A contemporary rifle , the G3 had been successfully modified in the UK in the 80s to a shorter length carbine with collapsing stock for a special forces , policing role under contract to Turkey . The G3 having no gas system to worry about , of course . I mention this as clearly the H&K styling was used for the pistol grip design.

It would be absolutely sick to see a version of this that's refined to be more reliable and maybe chambered in 556. I like seeing miniaturized versions of beefier guns, so this is really cool to me, even if it is probably correct to call it junk.

Does changing the position of the front sight forwards or backwards mess up the elevation adjustments of the rifle? I don't mean in the short term, but the graduations of 100m 200m 300m etc built into the rear sight.

It's basically a miniaturized FAL Para. I've shot an MC51, basically a 10" barrelled HK G3. They're not called "Flash-Bang dispensers" for nothing. That FAL is as cool as it's unwieldy.

I think the tubing could be on the stock one can aim down the sights in super hot or cold weather.

Those of you who remember the movie 'Wild Geese' [1978] will no doubt be aware of the 'shorty FAL' that was used by the character played by Ian Yule ['Tosh']. I tried to find out more about this weapon. It was (I was told by Mr. Yules agent) supplied by a 'contact' in the South African army (the movie was shot in South Africa with the support of the Apartheid Government of the time). In proportions this modified 'short FAL' used in the movie was similar to the modern DSL made SA58 OSW. An additional interesting aspect to that weapon was that it was fitted with - the now nearly forgotten - 'SINGLEPOINT'. Ian Yule himself was a very interesting character. Ex-SAS, he wore his SAS berry in the movie, he was also a member of 'Mad' Mike Hoare's Congo mercenaries.

Love the gun rack in the back ground

If this massacred FN FL was used in extreme conditions (very hot or very cold) then "something not metal" is a good idea to have on the stock, to get a cheek-weld on, without getting stuck or scorched.

the PARA-FAL(as we call in Brazil) was designed and is used(to this day) to parachutist units ONLY(as exception a few police special units use them aswell), due to its size and foldable stock, very very trustable weapon that can resist pretty much all sorts of weather without jaming(if made by real factories like IMBEL, not diy ofc)

My Lithgow licensed L1A1 was loud,almost to obnoxious levels, with a standard Australian issue barrel. That thing would drop a black dog at fifty metres with muzzle blast alone.

The SAS once experimented with an MP5 chambered in 7.62x51, the HK51 and found it intolerable to fire as it induced concussive effects in everyone nearby. Unsurprisingly, they didn't use it. I can imagine how firing this FAL would be.

Looks like one of the ones Tosh Yule used in that '70's documentary on Africa, "The Wild Geese". The magazine he used was a bit longer, thirty-rounder or possibly forty-rounder.

11:35 - Just putting this here for future reference. "R.U.D" tickled me harder than I thought it would