Williams ALUMABOMB FAL Receiver!

[Cheezle56]

Just saw this on gunbroker. Somebody has one of the famed Williams "Alumabomb" FAL reciever for sale. They were called Alumabombs because FAL receivers are forged or cast steel (depending on type) and the design relies on the receiver to lock the bolt much like the SKS, VZ58, and M1A. During the early 2000's some guy who supposedly made an excellent scope mount for the FAL decided to get into making FAL upper receivers (unlike AR's, you DROS the upper for a FAL)... except instead of steel, the upper receivers were made of aluminum. Initially, they worked, but eventually reports of growing headspace and catastrophic failures started showing up. supposedly, a competing receiver manufacturer had tested one of those and had a KB. So this guy is offering for sale a virgin Williams FAL receiver. http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=343135691 Anybody interested?

[jfifer]

are there reports of using pistol calibers leading to catastrophe?

[Cheezle56]

Nope, just with .308 from what I've heard

[Cannon-Arms]

These recievers are great for building a PISTOL calibre carbine, as it's feather light.These are not strong enough for a .308/7.62X51 NATO calibre build due to reciver stretch.

Right from GB ad.

[fal_762x51]

Back in the day they were used for .45 builds. Ah... the Alumabomb... brings back memories.

[berg]

As I recall from the FALfiles when this all went down, it was DSA or Entreprise that tested the receiver and it worked fine with normal rounds but they tested it using a "proof" load which is a high pressure round and that's when it blew up. There was quite a hub-bub about it back then.

[Cheezle56]

Yeah, I know that a competing manufacturer would bias tests in their favor, but even then, I know the max tensile strength of billet aluminum is nowhere near that of forged steel. On the FALfiles, I heard they said it was well made, but Williams should've had some areas built up to compensate for the lower strength of AL.

[Citadelgrad87]

I saw/held one of these right before they hit the market. I used to be pretty tight with Lawrence (IIRC) at Entreprise, I went by a couple times a month to shoot the breeze after he headspaced my Izzy style carbine. Initially, Williams got Entreprise to claim they were making them in house. Not sure when it fell apart, as Lawrence left around this time.

But I got to handle one before there was any hint of any issue, he handed to to me and I almost threw it over my shoulder, it was like picking up a plastic mug that looks like a heavy glass beer mug, the thing was a feather, very crisp looking, nice dark finish, engraving was very welll done.

Shame they were a bomb designed to hold right next to your face.

[thedrickel]

I have one and I'm going to use it with a .22 kit, they have become popular for this reason. $350 is still way too much, I paid 75 for mine. People have used them with calibers up to .223 I believe, with no issues (yet?).

The machining is excellent and it weighs absolutely nothing, it's a shame they didn't pan out and that Williams quit the FAL business after that (and absconded with a bunch of people's money).