The century arms IMI Galil Golini (5.56 NATO)
I find most people have never heard of this gun so a basic
overview, I feel is necessary. The galil is a semi auto ak47 style rifle
chambered in 5.56 mm NATO with a few really nifty modifications. The safety is
the same as an ak47 except it has a selector on the left side of the grip. They
come with a ace style folding stock, they have ghost ring sights mounted on the
rear of the dust cover that make the sight radius much better, and the charging
handle is swept up, so even though it is on the right side of the gun you can
easily operate it with your left hand. Also it has a milled receiver that is
rumored to make it more accurate, but it really made it quite heavy. Israel has
been at war since the day after its creation (modern creation). they know small
arms and have proven them in conflict for years. Century arms buys essentially
a parts kit that includes everything but the receiver and barrel, then makes it
in the US so it can be sold as a non-imported gun, as in the US, the receiver
is considered the firearm. (Rather ingenious if you ask me) and though century
arms has had some bad press over the years my experience has only been
positive.
This was the gun that really opened my eyes to a self-funding
hobby. Now you may not believe this possible but it really is. It just takes a
whole lot of time and research. I actually traded my highpoint carbine for the
galil straight across. It was probably my best gun deal to date. But the guy
was very happy and so was I. I made a guitar
case into a rifle case and bought some tapco mags for it, but in reality there
is not economical way to modify the galil, (no real support for it), which is
one of the reasons that I ended up selling it. I got a little red dot sight
that I wanted to put on it, but I never found a good way to mount it. I looked
at rails but the charging handle would need to be switched to fit one. I tried
putting a rail on the dust cover but it wouldn’t hold zero if I cleaned the gun.
I even tried a 45 degree clamp on mount on the gas tube with no luck. So I sold
it for a hefty profit and moved on.
As for the rifle it ran 100% I put about 1000 rounds through
over the year I had it with no issues at all.
THE GOOD:
It ran like the
energizer bunny zero issues, ever
The tapco galil mags fit great and shoot perfectly.
The folding stock was very well made and had no wobble at
all.
THE BAD:
There is no good way
to mount an optic on a galil.
Parts are hard to
come by.
It was heavy, like
8.5lbs empty.
I got a 50 round IMI mag for it, but it was so long and
heavy that I sold it in the end
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The galil is the one
and only gun I have owned that I miss, I will someday get another.
