The Indian government manufacturer Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) displayed a FAL based rifle chambered in 7.62x39mm. The TRICHY Assault Rifle (TAR) is designed to utilize the Indian A7 cartridge, a locally produced 7.62x39mm. The internal operation retains the piston system and is the tilting bolt design found in the FAL. I am unaware if it has the same gas adjustment capabilities.
The weapon was designed to be modular and reduced in weight. Some key features include a perforated flash hider, FN style folding stock, an optic mount, polymer handguards, and polymer pistol grip. The TRICHY rifle can also be equipped with a grenade launcher.
The rifle is 37″ long (940 mm) and 27.16″ with the stock folded (690 mm), with a weight of 7.9 lbs (3.6 kg). Rate of fire is 800 rounds per minute from a 30 round magazine – this is a faster rate of fire than the AKM (600 r/m) or the FAL (600-700 r/m). I suspected this increase of rate of fire would be problematic for the shooter, and I quickly found an article on it in the Times Of India.
Source & Further Reading:
- Defense.gouv.fr DEFEXPO 2014 New Dehli, India (French) 2014.02.21
- The Firearm Blog Trichy Assault Rifle 2011.03.25
- Ordnance Factories Board Wikipedia
- Ordnance Factories Board Official Site
- The Times of India Indian ‘AK-47’ too fast for its own good 2012.01.14
Know where I can find a parts kit for one of these or an SA-4800? Looks awesome
I don’t think you’ll be able to procure any kit of this rifle. The Trichy Assault Rifle shown over here is one of the two prototypes of Trichy Assault Rifle developed by OFB. During the developmental phase of TAR the OFB developed two prototypes.
One was based on the FN FAL, it even used the tilting breechblock operation of FN FAL. Other prototype was based on the Bulgarian AR-M1 milled receiver AK.
Although both of them passed the initial trials the Indian govt. opted for the AR-M1 based prototype because the FN FAL based prototype didn’t meet the budget constraints specified by the Indian govt.