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India's FAL: The 1A1 Inch/Metric Hybrid (Ad-free)
🕑 Added 2025-02-05 12:00:02 +0000 UTCFor political reasons, India decided to adopt the 7.62mm NATO cartridge when it needed to replace its No1 MkIII SMLE bolt action rifles with a modern self-loader. They chose the FN FAL as the rifle to adopt, but wanted a license to produce it domestically at the Ishapore rifle factory. FN insisted on the Indians buying Belgian tools as part of the agreement, which India was unwilling to do. So instead, Ishapore used the samples it had of both British L1A1 and Belgian FAL rifles to produce its own reverse-engineered drawings.
The resulting plans use a mixture of British ("inch") and Belgian ("metric") parts, and are not interchangeable with either standard pattern. As a result, the Indian 1A1 rifle is a clone of the FAL that is not actually parts compatible with the FAL. That did not prevent Ishapore from producing hundreds of thousands of them, with production apparently ending only in 2012.
Thanks to Sellier & Bellot for giving me access to this 1A1 example to film for you!
Comments
Dennis McNamara
You have said many times that reverse engineering gun is very hard because getting the tolerances correct. Can you give an estimate of how many sample guns would have to be measured to do that?
z c
I like that they went with the ambi magazine release. Now ill need to see if they ever used rifle grenades.
WayneWiiki
bro that's rough. still kill you just as dead though.
Guido Schriewer
as much as I like the fal... wow that looks rough! were those en par with other fal or rather... not so reliable?
Thomas Batha
The two questions I have are: 1 why didn't the Indians use a British manufacturing package and negotiate a royalty arrangement with FN and 2, are these (and the L1A1) technically legal to import or are they a Class 3 firearm?
Old n Grey Gunner
I guess another name for this one would be the confused gun. Am I Imperial or Metric, duh I don't know I am so confused. And should I have camouflage scratches so they don't realize I am new off the shelf and in the hands of a new recruit.
EyeBall
It is surprising to see so much surface area with rough machining marks.
