Features

eatures

The Galil is hammer-fired and has a trigger mechanism patterned after the trigger used in the American M1 Garand.[1] The rifle's fire selector lever is on the right side of the receiver and is similar in design to the one used in the AK; it is simultaneously the manual safety. The selector's uppermost position, marked "S" ("safe") disables the trigger and covers the cocking handle slot, inhibiting the ingression of environmental debris into the receiver, but allowing the bolt to be retracted enough to check the chamber. Unlike the AK, the Galil includes a selector switch on the receiver's left side—above the pistol grip—intended to be manipulated by the thumb of the shooting hand. This switch has three positions: "R" (British terminology for "repetition" or semi-automatic fire); the middle position, "A", produces fully automatic fire; and pushing the lever fully forward will activate the safety.

The Galil prototypes used a stamped and riveted sheet metal steel receiver, but due to the higher operating pressures of the 5.56x45mm cartridge, this solution was discarded and the designers turned to a heavy milled forging. As a testament to its heritage, early prototypes were fabricated using Valmet Rk 62 receivers manufactured in Helsinki.[1] All exterior metal surfaces are phosphated for corrosion resistance and then coated with a black enamel (except for the barrel, gas block and front sight tower).

The weapon is fitted with a high-impact plastic handguard and pistol grip and a side-folding (folds to the right side) tubular steel skeleton stock. The rifle can also be used with a sound suppressor.
[edit] Barrel

Early production models were supplied with barrels that had six right-hand grooves and a 305 mm (1:12 in) rifling twist (optimized for use with M193 ammunition), while recent production models feature a 178 mm (1:7 in) twist barrel with six right-hand grooves (used to stabilize the heavier SS109/M855 projectile). The barrel has a slotted flash suppressor with 6 ports and can be used to launch rifle grenades or mount a bayonet lug attachment (it will accept the M7 bayonet).[1]
[edit] Feeding

The Galil is fed from a curved, steel box magazine with a 35-round capacity (SAR and AR versions), a 50-round capacity (ARM model) or a special color-coded 12-round magazine blocked for use exclusively with ballistite (blank) cartridges, used to launch rifle grenades. An optional magazine adaptor enables the use of STANAG-compliant 20 and 30-round magazines from the M16 series.[1] The magazine is inserted front end first in a similar manner to the AK family.
[edit] Sights

The L-shaped rear sight has two apertures preset for firing at 0–300 m and 300–500 m respectively (the rear sight can only be adjusted for elevation). The front post is fully adjustable for both windage and elevation zero and is enclosed in a protective hood. Low-light flip-up front blade and rear sight elements have three self-luminous tritium capsules (betalights) which are calibrated for 100 m when deployed. When the rear night sight is flipped up for use, the rear aperture sights must be placed in an offset position intermediate between the two apertures. Certain variants have a receiver-mounted dovetail adapter that is used to mount various optical sights.
[edit] Variants