Value of IMBEL FAL?

[Mr_Maim]

Greetings fellow AZS members. A friend of mine has asked me to help him sell a couple rifles but I have no idea about FALs. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Marked:
R1A1 Sporter
Receiver made by IMBEL, Itajuba BRAZIL
Imported by CAI Georga VT

Arizona Response Systems did something to it and marked it. No idea what.

 

[Remow2112]

I believe that is a STG-58 clone. Should have no trouble getting 1k for it. Most likely ARS (who does very good work) converted it from a thumbhole stock to original stock and added the flash hider.

It should take metric mags which are much cheaper then the inch pattern.

 

[Suck My Glock]

I believe that is a STG-58 clone. Should have no trouble getting 1k for it. Most likely ARS (who does very good work) converted it from a thumbhole stock to original stock and added the flash hider.

It should take metric mags which are much cheaper then the inch pattern.

2004 was the expiration of the AWB, so Remow is likely correct that this was a post-94' thumbhole sporter before Mr. Graham gave it back it's testosterone. Imbels were made properly, so Mark would not have needed to do his typical thing of fixing mistakes in interior geometry and feed ramps and such like he often has to do with most other FAL receivers. And with both the Imbel and ARS stamps on there, you basically have the gold seal stamp of approval for the expectation of reliability and function.

By comparison, here is another Imbel FAL assembled by ARS, and they are asking $1650.


https://www.armslist.com/posts/12293007/wisconsin-dells-central-wisconsin-wisconsin-rifles-for-sale--imbel-fal-with-gear-logo-receiver

 

[knockonit]

yip, the gunplumber has some nice stuff on the street.
nice looking fal

 

[Harrier]

IIRC the real R1A1 was a South African FAL and were considered top of the line as many were Belgain FN produced..
Not sure why CAI marked them R1A1 unless perhaps they built them from SA kits on Imbel receivers and added the butthole stock to get around the import ban of 1989 on non-sporting rifles (had nothing to do with the 1994 AWB).
I agree with the above... Imbel is the only remaining FN licensed manufacturer of the original FAL receivers on FN machinery (and one of the few things with the CAI stamp that I would buy) I would say $1500 would be a fair price with a couple three mags... maybe more/maybe less depending on the current market - check gunbroker sold items and also for over to FALfiles to see what the experts are paying for a STG clone.

 

[needsmostuff]

Every CIA built FAL I ever saw worked well and was a decent gun.
Every other rifle CIA ever touched was a total crapshoot with many bordering on unfixable.
I wonder as the receiver was marked RIAI if it will also accept metric mags. Century sometimes cut them to accept both.

 

[Harrier]

The Imbel receiver IS metric... your thinking of the frankenfal they produced based on L1A1 (UK-inch) parts, also on a metric receiver IIRC. Those are the ones that sometimes have problems and earned them the nickname 'angry beavers' due to their habit of using a dremel to make things fit... They continued that practice with a lot of what they sold - which ended up giving them a bad rep. Some of the stuff they imported premade, like the romanian AK's were good cuz they didn't screw with them.

 

[Manitu]

Armlist pricing amazing.

 

[Mr_Maim]

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, I appreciate it. I will report back to the owner.

 

[Harrier]

I was at a gun show today a couple states east and they had that exact same rifle, actually saw 3 or 4 of them but the price was $1750 and IIRC the other 3 were in that ballpark... but then they were also asking 600 for a plain S&W M-10 and MAK-90 or WASR were priced at $1100
Every thing was was priced sky high as far as I could see.
9mm Ammo was .50/ea and 223 was $1... prices are crazy right now...