SA 58

The FN FAL (French: Fusil Automatique Léger, English: Light Automatic Rifle) is a battle rifle designed in Belgium in 1953 by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal.

During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with the notable exception of the United States. It is one of the most widely used rifles in history, having been used by more than 90 countries, many of which were engaged in anti-communist proxy conflicts, leading to the rifle becoming popularly known as "the Right Arm of the Free World”.[4][page needed] It is chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO, although originally designed for the intermediate .280 British. The British Commonwealth variant of the FAL was redesigned from FN's metrical FAL into British imperial units and was produced under license as the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle.