The Israel Military Industries Galil is a magazine-fed, gas-operated, and shoulder-fired rifle, manufactured in Israel. It is chambered for the 5.56 NATO cartridge and takes 35-round magazines normally, though it can also take 50 or 65-round magazines as well.
It has a variant that is chambered for the 7.62 NATO cartridge as well. This variant takes 25-round magazines.
History
After the FN FAL was adopted in the Israeli army in the late 1950s, soldiers later discovered some of the FAL's shortcomings and flaws during the Six-Day War in 1967; while the Israelis were eventually the victor of the war, the problems with the FAL became so apparent during the war that some soldiers even went out of their way to equip themselves with an Uzi fitted with an extended barrel.
During said war, the Israeli managed to get ahold of many AK-47s and began to evaluate them; the AKs proved to be much more reliable than the FALs they were currently using, along with other various reasons. This caused the Israel Defense Force to begin developing a new automatic rifle which would combine both the reliability of the AK-47 and the accuracy of the M16 and FAL. Several designs were submitted over the course of a few years, in the hopes of them becoming Israel's next service rifle; the United States offered both the M16A1 and the Stoner 63, and Germany offered the Heckler & Koch HK33. Uziel Gal of Uzi fame also submitted his own indigenous design, but it was deemed too complex and thus, was rejected. Another indigenous design was submitted by Yisrael Galil, based on the Valmet Rk 62.
Tests were carried out over a few years from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, with Galil's design emerging as the winner. His design would then be named the Galil in his honor.
A few years later, in the 1970s, the Galil ARM and SAR were submitted to Swedish service rifle trials by Försvarets Fabriksverk, also known as FFV, as a potential rifle to replace the Ak 4 in service, a locally produced and slightly modified Heckler & Koch G3 clone. While both the SAR and ARM submitted were export models originally produced by IMI, these were redesignated as the FFV-890 and FFV-890C for the SAR and ARM models respectively; the 890 was later discarded in favor of the 890C and was subsequently modified by FFV to decrease its weight, reduce its size, optimize it for cold weather operation and to lower manufacturing costs. The 890C was one of the two finalists in the competition, but ultimately lost to the FN FNC, which would become known to the Swedish army as the Ak 5.
Design Details
The Galil shares many similarities with the Kalashnikov rifle, and is based directly on the Finnish Rk 62 rifle, itself a derivative of the Kalashnikov rifle. A crude early prototype known as the "Balashnikov" provided the basic layout for the Galil design.
Receiver
The receiver is a heavy milled steel, built to withstand the pressures of the NATO cartridges. All exterior metal surfaces are parkerized to prevent corrosion.
Operating system
Unlike the AK, the charging handle is positioned toward the top of the receiver cover (pointed upward), which makes it easier to charge the weapon left-handed. The operating mechanism of the Galil is exactly the same as the Kalashnikov; the actuator rod is permanently attached to the bolt carrier, and when a round is fired, the gas impinges upon it, pushing the bolt carrier back and unlocking the bolt via rotation. Upon unlocking, the bolt performs a primary extraction movement upon the spent casing, ensuring positive extraction and ejection.
Gas system
The gas block is located on the barrel, with a bipod attachment directly below. The gas port is drilled to .070 inches and is drilled at a 30 degree angle relative to the bore. The piston rod, which is permanently attached to the bolt carrier, is connected to the gas block itself.
Sights
The Galil uses an aperture rear sight, with a front sight post. The front sight features a protective hood, and is fully adjustable for windage and elevation. The rear sight only adjusts for range; the two apertures are set for 0-300 meters and 300-500 meters.
Manual of arms
IMI Galils are gas-operated, shoulder-fired, select-fire weapons. They feed from 35-round box magazines.
The magazine is inserted via a "rocking" motion, positioned so that the lug on the front of the magazine engages with its recess in the magazine well, into the magazine well. It should be pulled to the rear until it snaps into place.
In order to operate the charging handle, the selector must be off safe. The charging handle is pulled all the way to the rear and then released to chamber a round. As the bolt carrier group goes forward, the bolt will strip a round out of the magazine and feed it into the chamber.
When a round is fired, the gas produced by the propellant in the cartridge goes into the gas tube and impinges upon the operating (actuator) rod, which then unlocks the bolt and cycles the bolt carrier rearward, which causes it to cock the hammer as it travels. The bolt carrier then strips another round from the magazine and chambers it as it travels forward, and locks the bolt, sealing the round in the chamber.
When the last round is fired, there is no bolt catch mechanism to catch the bolt carrier group and prevent it from closing on an empty chamber. Thus, when the shooter reloads, he will need to rack the charging handle to chamber the next round. If the shooter experiences a malfunction, in most cases racking the charging handle (or reloading, if the magazine is bad OR empty), will solve the problem.
Vektor R4
The Vektor R4 is a South African copy of the Galil. The R4 was adopted in 1980 by the South African military to replace the R1, a South African variant of the FN FAL.
Gallery
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