I should add that NEW magazines for the FAL are available from both DSA and Moses, and surplus metric and Commonwealth pattern magazines are not hard to find, certainly neither are as cheap as H&K magazines but they are also not cost prohibitive. The X magazine is also available for the FAL pattern rifles but before I dropped the coin he wants (Allied Armoury make them) for one I would buy a who stack more 20 round magazines a sleep well

Rifle to rifle everyone will have a different opinion on what will and won’t work, I personally find any H&K pattern rifle "clunky" and uncomfortable to operate (beyond just firing, the actual manual of arms). H&Ks are no doubt reliable, no one will dispute that, so are FALs, some struggle with the adjustable gas system but really it is just a ring you turn, with little numbers on it I never got how this confused folks, I figured my first one out as a teenager. If you want the H&K experience out of an FAL just close the regulator right up (all gas diverted to the operating system) and it will recoil and bounce around like a pig all day long Adjust it properly (should take no more than 20 rounds when you first receive a rifle and are getting to know it) and it will purr along with 100% reliability and won’t leave you feeling like you have been trying to break a horse...

H&Ks are cheaper to make no question and was probably their biggest sales pitch back in the day, most nations went with them as they would not shell out for a FAL. Or in Germany's case, the Belgian's had a long memory and would not licence them production (yet they had not such qualms with the Austrians.

The PSG1 was very popular the world around but I suspect this was mostly because at the time of it's popularity it was the only true precision (if you call a PSG1 that really) semi rifle in the game. These days the AR10s have that mantle well and truly. The PSG was the first rifle eliminated from our sniper trials in the 90s, followed by the SR25 (that we ended up buying as a DMR in the 2000s and then replaced with the H&K417 (or is it 416 - well the 7.62 version) we eventually went with the AI that in service is the SR-98.

Each to their very own on such matters, I was lucky enough to own both SLRs and M14s here prior to 1996 and have lots of time at the butt of a G3 (most recently a G3K). Without doubt I would grab the SLR (FAL) over either of the others UNLESS it was for range/target shooting, then it would be the M14.

Andy