Why Venezuela's First FAL Rifles Were Chambered in 7mm Liviano

Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons visited ARS Mechanica, the FN Browning Group's heritage foundation, to examine Venezuela's Model 54, the only FAL contract ever produced in a caliber other than 7.62 NATO.

Key points

• Unique chambering: Venezuela adopted the FAL in 7mm Liviano, also called 7mm Optimum II, which pairs a 7mm Mauser bullet with the American T65 case and let the country keep using its existing 7mm bullet tooling.
• Early adopter: After buying FN49 rifles in 7mm Mauser in 1949 and 1951, Venezuela purchased two of FN's early FAL prototypes and then ordered 5,000 production Model 54 rifles.
• Distinctive features: The rifle has a six-aperture rotating rear sight, a T48 or Israeli-style standoff handguard and a three-prong flash hider not found on any other FAL.
• Short service: By 1959 Venezuela was testing German G1-pattern FALs, and in 1961 it recalled the original 7mm rifles and converted them to 7.62 NATO with new barrels, since the bolts and magazines needed no changes.

Quick take

McCollum says that because Venezuela recalled and rebarreled the entire batch, original 7mm Liviano FALs are now extremely scarce. The Forgotten Weapons write-up adds that Venezuela was the only country to adopt the FAL in this caliber, and that the rotary rear sight was used only by Venezuela and Paraguay.

Watch the full video: Forgotten Weapons