Technical Specifications

Type	Battle rifle
Country of origin	Belgium
Manufacturer	* FN Herstal * IMBEL * Fabricaciones Militares * Rifle Factory Ishapore
Designer	Dieudonné Saive
Designed	1947–1953
Produced	1953–1988 (FN Herstal) · 1953–present (licensed manufacturers)
In service	1953–present
Wars	See Conflicts
Used by	90+ countries (See Users)
No. built	7,000,000
Variants	See Variants
Cartridge	7.62×51mm NATO · .280 British
Action	Short-stroke gas piston, closed tilting breechblock
Feed	20- or 30-round detachable box magazine, 50-round drum magazine.
Rate of fire	650–700 rounds/min
Maximum range	1000 meters

Data from FN FAL (Wikipedia, 2026-09-22). Text licensed under CC BY-SA. Image: CC BY-SA 4.0 — photo: Snark and Armémuseum, compilation: Sumek101.

FN FAL