Timber Wolf
Finally picked up my new Golani Sporter from my FFL last week and took her out to the range a few evenings ago. This is one of the AIM $699-delivered guns and I am well pleased. I was waiting for my ship to come in the middle of last month (February) before ordering and apparently made it in just under the wire before AIM took them off their websight. I had been wanting one of these reasonably priced Galil clones since they came out but the price and reported issues with them held me back. I am more inclined then some to roll the dice on Century since I have owned several of their semi-auto rifles (L1A1 butthole-stocked sporter, early CETME, two SAR-1s, two SAR-2s, two SAR-3s, and two Yugo M70-AB2s) and have not had any major trouble. I did have to 922r the L1A1 to get rid of the butthole, clean metal filings out of the CETME, fix wicked trigger slap (trim the tail on the disconnector) on both SAR-2s, and replace the hammers of the SAR-3s but nothing much I did not know about going in on any of them. The sights were even straight on all of my SARs, just lucky I guess.
So, I called the friendly folks at AIM (they sure get a lot of my $$$$$) and enquired about the condition of this batch of Galils. The fellow told me they had had no returns or complaints about this batch and they should be good to go. I tendered my plastic and they sent one out to my FFL via BBT.
Gun was well and truly packed in bubble wrap and tape inside the cardboard box. Included were two 35 round mags and a pretty fair (for Century) manual. The first thing I noticed was the bayonet lug, the fact that it actually had one. AIM’s description said this batch was neutered but my rifle has the evil appendage, a definite +1 although I really was not worried about not having the feature when I ordered. Happy surprise number 2 was both mags appeared to be very lightly used mags instead of one refinished and one beat, rusty mag as advertised. They may both be refinished but in any case they are nice and I am up 2 points at this point and it just kept getting better.
The folding butt-stock has no disenable wobble when fully open, and it folds and un-folds easily. The hand guard does have a very slight wiggle but I can live with it. Cycling the action was very stiff at first but seems to be loosening up with use. The receiver was shaving (scrubbing off really) a tiny amount of metal off the upper-back-rear corner of one of the mags but both mags fit fine after bring inserted and removed a few times. I had a couple of Galil 12 rounders I had bought to modify for the SAR-3 but had not gotten round-tuit so had them on hand for the Golani.
No real surprises at the range, I had expected the milled receiver Golani to be a “soft” (subjective, I know) shooting rifle since I have a milled Bulgy-Hungarian 7.62X39 I put together a few years ago that has a whole different “feel” when fired compared to stamped receiver AKs. I loaded both 35 rounders to the max with 62 grain steel cased Wolf and put 10 rounds each in the 12 round mags and headed out after work.
Since I also had some handguns to shoot for the first time (my range trips are all to infrequent these days) I set up on the short side of the range and put up targets on the 25 yard line for the Golani. I charged it and ripped through the first 35 without a hitch. Inserted the other 35 round mag and repeated the same scenario. Bang, bang, bang, etc. Not really shooting for group just off-hand and one elbow support on the bench and pulling the trigger just as the sites settled back in the vicinity of the bull. 70 rounds down the pipe I stuck one of the short mags in and blasted out a quick 10. I was shooting pistols in between mag changes but the Golani still got pretty hot but had no hiccups, yet.
For some as yet unexplained reason the second 12 round mag did not want to strip rounds now and again. It would strip them if cycled by hand but would not self-strip (kind of required for a semi-auto). I was getting tired and the range cleanup guy was giving me the stink eye as it was getting late and he wanted to finish up so I threw the partial mag in my range bag and headed out. I hope (and think) that I will find it is just an isolated magazine problem and will therefore fit this mag to the SAR-3 as originally intended. It may lockup a little low in the Golani for the bolt to catch a round when moving quickly but hand cycling is slow enough to pick a round up.
I do have a few issues with the rifle but most are Galil features and not necessarily a problem with this particular rifle. The first is the peep sights. I was surprised to find that neither aperture was a “ghost ring” type for close work. I may have to drill out the shorter-range peep a little. The second “problem” is the thumb safety falls, for me anyway, right under my thumb when I grip the p-grip. It did not affect firing and I can’t say I even noticed it when firing the rifle although I was concerned that I might inadvertently activate the safety but it did not happen. It is neat to be able to so easily engage / disengage the safety with the stock folded. The safety works very smoothly but did not really “snap” into either on or off, as I am accustomed to in my AK. Third, later while showing the rifle to a bud I noticed the flash hider was loose and backed off. I screwed it back on by hand and need to torque it down but I think it is telling me to lop the barrel at 15.5” or so and weld on some other muzzle device. I will ponder it but the Golani is such a brick (heavy) that I really don’t know how much handier it would be with a little less barrel. It would fit in a shorter case though!
Mags for this thing are pricey. I have one Orlite somewhere and several rough-but-usable 50 rounders sourced from FWRA back-in-the-day but would like a few more nice steel 35s. I may also try and pick up some more Orlites if I can find the one I have and it works well in this gun. Some people are reporting tight mag wells in their rifles causing issues with fitting the Orlites but this is supposed to be fixed in the later receivers (like mine) so we will see.
To sum up this rather longish post, I believe I have a keeper that works well and is a reasonable approximation of a Galil and therefore earns its’ place in the collection.
Edit: Found my AR-15 bayonet the other day and tried it on the Golani, fit like it was made for it (as of course it was). So I guess I will not cut the barrel off as I would lose this very valuable feature. The way ammo prices are going I may end up using this thing as a very awkward spear anyway. :cry_small :cry_small Better then rocks and harsh language to ward off zombies! :wink_smal
Edit 4/01/08: I would like to be reporting on the fit of the 5-35 round steel mags I ordered from DSA two weeks ago but they have not arrived nor has DSA responded to my e-mail asking if they had shipped, oh well. But I did find my 50 rounders and the one Orlite I had at the shop and brought it and two of the 50s home. The 50s both fit fine although one required more gusto to snap it in then the other which fit perfectly. The Orlite was a different story, it will not go in at all being too long front to back. There does not appear to be enough meat on the back of the mag to thin it until it would fit. I suppose a little radius could be made on the back of the mag well of the receiver but I am not going to bother since I am not planning on using Orlites anyway.
Will edit again when the DSA 35s make it and I get to shoot it some more. I will check the headspace too, I just need to remember to bring my gauges home.
Edit 1/22/09: Still have not gotten around to headspacing but will try before I shoot it again (hopefully soon). Never did get the mags from DSA, they were out and did not bother to contact me to tell me so. I ended up getting some very well used but mostly OK 35 rounders from J&G in Prescott, AZ. Actually I think they are R4 mags but they all fit fine. Some are of course better condition then others and some fit better so I picked out a few to clean up that seemed to be the "cream" of the crop and threw the rest back in the box for storage. I will try to get the headspace checked and do another range report soon.
Edit 1/29/09 new post below about headspace.
So, I called the friendly folks at AIM (they sure get a lot of my $$$$$) and enquired about the condition of this batch of Galils. The fellow told me they had had no returns or complaints about this batch and they should be good to go. I tendered my plastic and they sent one out to my FFL via BBT.
Gun was well and truly packed in bubble wrap and tape inside the cardboard box. Included were two 35 round mags and a pretty fair (for Century) manual. The first thing I noticed was the bayonet lug, the fact that it actually had one. AIM’s description said this batch was neutered but my rifle has the evil appendage, a definite +1 although I really was not worried about not having the feature when I ordered. Happy surprise number 2 was both mags appeared to be very lightly used mags instead of one refinished and one beat, rusty mag as advertised. They may both be refinished but in any case they are nice and I am up 2 points at this point and it just kept getting better.
The folding butt-stock has no disenable wobble when fully open, and it folds and un-folds easily. The hand guard does have a very slight wiggle but I can live with it. Cycling the action was very stiff at first but seems to be loosening up with use. The receiver was shaving (scrubbing off really) a tiny amount of metal off the upper-back-rear corner of one of the mags but both mags fit fine after bring inserted and removed a few times. I had a couple of Galil 12 rounders I had bought to modify for the SAR-3 but had not gotten round-tuit so had them on hand for the Golani.
No real surprises at the range, I had expected the milled receiver Golani to be a “soft” (subjective, I know) shooting rifle since I have a milled Bulgy-Hungarian 7.62X39 I put together a few years ago that has a whole different “feel” when fired compared to stamped receiver AKs. I loaded both 35 rounders to the max with 62 grain steel cased Wolf and put 10 rounds each in the 12 round mags and headed out after work.
Since I also had some handguns to shoot for the first time (my range trips are all to infrequent these days) I set up on the short side of the range and put up targets on the 25 yard line for the Golani. I charged it and ripped through the first 35 without a hitch. Inserted the other 35 round mag and repeated the same scenario. Bang, bang, bang, etc. Not really shooting for group just off-hand and one elbow support on the bench and pulling the trigger just as the sites settled back in the vicinity of the bull. 70 rounds down the pipe I stuck one of the short mags in and blasted out a quick 10. I was shooting pistols in between mag changes but the Golani still got pretty hot but had no hiccups, yet.
For some as yet unexplained reason the second 12 round mag did not want to strip rounds now and again. It would strip them if cycled by hand but would not self-strip (kind of required for a semi-auto). I was getting tired and the range cleanup guy was giving me the stink eye as it was getting late and he wanted to finish up so I threw the partial mag in my range bag and headed out. I hope (and think) that I will find it is just an isolated magazine problem and will therefore fit this mag to the SAR-3 as originally intended. It may lockup a little low in the Golani for the bolt to catch a round when moving quickly but hand cycling is slow enough to pick a round up.
I do have a few issues with the rifle but most are Galil features and not necessarily a problem with this particular rifle. The first is the peep sights. I was surprised to find that neither aperture was a “ghost ring” type for close work. I may have to drill out the shorter-range peep a little. The second “problem” is the thumb safety falls, for me anyway, right under my thumb when I grip the p-grip. It did not affect firing and I can’t say I even noticed it when firing the rifle although I was concerned that I might inadvertently activate the safety but it did not happen. It is neat to be able to so easily engage / disengage the safety with the stock folded. The safety works very smoothly but did not really “snap” into either on or off, as I am accustomed to in my AK. Third, later while showing the rifle to a bud I noticed the flash hider was loose and backed off. I screwed it back on by hand and need to torque it down but I think it is telling me to lop the barrel at 15.5” or so and weld on some other muzzle device. I will ponder it but the Golani is such a brick (heavy) that I really don’t know how much handier it would be with a little less barrel. It would fit in a shorter case though!
Mags for this thing are pricey. I have one Orlite somewhere and several rough-but-usable 50 rounders sourced from FWRA back-in-the-day but would like a few more nice steel 35s. I may also try and pick up some more Orlites if I can find the one I have and it works well in this gun. Some people are reporting tight mag wells in their rifles causing issues with fitting the Orlites but this is supposed to be fixed in the later receivers (like mine) so we will see.
To sum up this rather longish post, I believe I have a keeper that works well and is a reasonable approximation of a Galil and therefore earns its’ place in the collection.
Edit: Found my AR-15 bayonet the other day and tried it on the Golani, fit like it was made for it (as of course it was). So I guess I will not cut the barrel off as I would lose this very valuable feature. The way ammo prices are going I may end up using this thing as a very awkward spear anyway. :cry_small :cry_small Better then rocks and harsh language to ward off zombies! :wink_smal
Edit 4/01/08: I would like to be reporting on the fit of the 5-35 round steel mags I ordered from DSA two weeks ago but they have not arrived nor has DSA responded to my e-mail asking if they had shipped, oh well. But I did find my 50 rounders and the one Orlite I had at the shop and brought it and two of the 50s home. The 50s both fit fine although one required more gusto to snap it in then the other which fit perfectly. The Orlite was a different story, it will not go in at all being too long front to back. There does not appear to be enough meat on the back of the mag to thin it until it would fit. I suppose a little radius could be made on the back of the mag well of the receiver but I am not going to bother since I am not planning on using Orlites anyway.
Will edit again when the DSA 35s make it and I get to shoot it some more. I will check the headspace too, I just need to remember to bring my gauges home.
Edit 1/22/09: Still have not gotten around to headspacing but will try before I shoot it again (hopefully soon). Never did get the mags from DSA, they were out and did not bother to contact me to tell me so. I ended up getting some very well used but mostly OK 35 rounders from J&G in Prescott, AZ. Actually I think they are R4 mags but they all fit fine. Some are of course better condition then others and some fit better so I picked out a few to clean up that seemed to be the "cream" of the crop and threw the rest back in the box for storage. I will try to get the headspace checked and do another range report soon.
Edit 1/29/09 new post below about headspace.