ATI Galeo (Galil ARM) Fix

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Working the ATI Galeo and addressing magazine problems. by Brian R Smith American Tactical, Inc. makes a Galil-style rifle called the Galeo. This 5.56mm rifle is a semi-automatic clone of the ARM version of the Galil using newly-machined receivers, barrels, and parts from demilitarized rifles. Some Galeo rifles have issues with magazine fit and this article describes the problem and possible remedies I had a chance to find after a customer brought in his Galeo after it exhibited a couple of functionality issues.

The Galil, invented by Ysrael Galil and made by Israeli Military Industries, was based on the Valmet Rk62 military rifle, which itself was closely derived from the AK-47. The Galil entered service in 1972, replacing the FN-FAL as the Israeli main battle rifle. Variants include the AR (Automatic Rifle), ARM (Automatic Rifle Machine Gun) with bipod, and SAR (Short Automatic Rifle). Aside from Israel, Galil rifles were adopted in varying quantities by dozens of countries, with South Africa being the most referenced.

Semi-automatic IMI-made Galil AR and ARM rifles have been imported beginning in the mid-1980s by Magnum Research, Action Arms, and Springfield Armory, Inc. New manufacture receivers assembled with parts kits were produced by assembles surplus Galil ARM parts kits with provisions for a bipod onto milled receivers of their own manufacture. The assembled Galeo rifles are fitted with aside-folding stock, available with either wood or black polymer handguard panels. Century Arms (Golani) and now ATI with its Galeo.

ATI Galeo rifles are assembled on newly-made receivers using new production barrels and the rest of the components sourced from ex-Galil ARM parts kits from which usable, Good+ condition parts are selected. The metal bits on the completed Galeo exhibit a finish that at a glance visually appears to be gray-green phosphate, but glossy, and I believe it to be a flavor of Cerakote or a similar coating product. The tubular aluminum folding stock has a darker, almost black coating with the appearance of nitriding.

Not saying it is nitriding; it just looks that way. The ATI Galeo ships with one Tapco Intrafuse 30-round polymer magazine, which functioned 100% with brass and steel cased 5.56 and .223 ammunition. The customer’s complaint was that only one of six surplus steel Galil magazines he had obtained would latch in place and function. The other five would either not fully latch or would partially latch and fall out if sharply nudged forward at the bottom end.

Writing parenthetically for a moment, with the recent business decision of Freedom Group/Remington Outdoor to curtail operations of the former Tapco subsidiary (along with Bushmaster, DPMS, and others), whatever Tapco Galil magazines that remain in the primary and secondary markets are all that will be available. No more are being made and there are no suitors for what remains of the Tapco operating unit.

For owners of any 5.56-chambered Galil rifle, it becomes advantageous for still-available surplus steel Galil magazines to fit and function in their rifles. For true IMI Galil and Century Golani rifles, surplus steel magazines have not been widely reported to be problematic.

Not so with the ATI Galeo; American Tactical, Inc. designed it to use the Tapco Galil polymer magazine and put a cautionary disclaimer on their website against the use of surplus steel magazines, saying in so many words that the Galeo is not warranted to function using steel magazines: "Due to variations in manufacturer specifications and wear conditions, American Tactical cannot guarantee these rifles will operate with surplus Galil magazines.

If you are attempting to use surplus magazines in your Galeo rifle, American Tactical recommends perform-

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Far The bottom edges of the front tab are aligned at the same elevation, which highlights the higher tab of the Orlite, the reason this and the surplus steel magazines did not fully enter the magazine well. The tab on the left is 0.210" high, whereas the tab on the right is only 0.176" high. The higher tab on the left interferes with the ATI Galeo’s feed ramp, preventing insertion and lock-in. ing general maintenance and cleaning of the magazine before attempting to operate it.

Failure of a Galeo to operate with a surplus magazine is not covered under warranty, as we only recommend using new manufactured US made magazines with your rifle." A second reason for ATI to discourage surplus magazines is 18 USC Section 922r which requires a minimum number of US-made parts in a semi-automatic rifle "that has no sporting purpose" assembled using foreign parts kits.

The Tapco magazine counts as three of those critical US-made parts and use of a steel surplus magazine might cause the owner some degree of legal headache if the BATFE ever decided to start prosecuting 922r violations. But this isn’t the place for debating 922r. The manufacturer’s position and the law notwithstanding, my customer is the owner of a local tool and die shop and has access to metal 3D printing apparatus.

Being aware of the law he either produced himself or purchased additional parts necessary to increase the US-made parts count of his rifle by three so that surplus steel magazines could be used. He felt that "a Galil should be able to use real Galil magazines." In theory I agree, but in practice with his ATI Galeo, surplus steel magazines appeared to be problematic and the reasons for this are understandable.

First, it is reasonable to expect demilitarized parts kits to have varying degrees of use and wear, and perhaps individual parts may have been fabricated by more than one supplier. The Galil entered Israeli service in 1972 and was adopted in both 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm versions. The machinery used to manufacture parts may have included early CNC technology using either magnetic media or paper tape, but the machining and precision at that time was likely not comparable to that which is possible today, 50 years on.

Second, the ATI Galeo receivers are machined from a billet using modern CNC equipment, so the level of precision in the ATI receiver can be expected to be better than that of the components in the parts kits ATI has secured. Even though the Galeo rifle appears to be very well made, there is the potential for some portions or features to be less than nominal tolerance-wise.

In other words, when every component is newly manufactured, a higher level of precision of the individual pieces and the sum of those parts can be expected. Assembling used parts to anew receiver? That’s more of a challenge to perform if the end result is to be a fully functional and dependable firearm, and would likely require some individual fitting.

Disassembly Regarding the customer rifle, in order to troubleshoot the problem the Galeo needed to be disassembled so that the magazine well could be viewed from above as well as from a magazine eye’s view underneath. Fortunately, disassembly is almost pure AK. First, remove any mounted magazine and pull the vertical bolt carrier Far

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Far Below the sharp feed ramp lip is the front of the magazine well opening. The front lip of the magazine rests in the space between the magazine well opening and the feed ramp lip. handle to the rear to withdraw the bolt from battery so that the chamber can be verified to be empty. Next, press in the recoil spring catch button in the rear of the top cover and lift the top cover off. Push the recoil spring catch button forward to clear its slot in the rear of the receiver.

Lift the recoil spring assembly up and withdraw it out of the recess in the bolt carrier. Slide the bolt carrier to the rear and lift the carrier upward and out of the slots in the rear of the receiver rails. Withdraw the piston from the gas tube. The gas tube is loose and retained by slots at the rear, the gas block at front, and also by the top cover when assembled, so once the bolt carrier is removed the gas tube can be slipped rearward about an inch to clear its slots and the gas block.

No further disassembly is necessary at this point but the handguard can be removed by rotating the front handguard retainer lever to release the front retainer, and then by sliding the retainer forward to release the handguard. For detailed disassembly of the Galil/Galeo fire control group, refer to online posts or videos. I started the discovery phase of the customer’s magazine problems by inserting the empty Tapco Galil polymer magazine that came with the rifle.

The front tab readily engaged the gap between the receiver and the cartridge feed ramp’s lower edge. The magazine was easily rotated to the rear, pivoting up so that the rear tab snapped into place, retained by the magazine catch. Removal was just as simple, pressing the magazine catch forward which unlocked the rear tab, and then rotating the magazine down and forward so that the magazine could be withdrawn from the magazine well in the receiver.

Next, I took up the one surplus steel magazine the customer said would fit and lock into place. It did, similar to how the Tapco magazine latched in and could be removed. A second surplus steel Galil magazine would not fully rotate to the rear and up. The magazine catch lever remained forward instead of snapping back as it would on a latched magazine.

With that magazine inserted as far as it would go and held in place by friction of whatever interference was being caused, I examined how the magazine fit in the magazine well and in relation to other components in the vicinity or in contact with the magazine. That troublesome steel magazine was removed and the steel magazine that fit properly was reinserted. I paid close attention to where, and with what, it made contact in contrast.

The principal cause of the steel magazines not inserting was the height of the front tab on the upper front wall of the receiver. In other words, the top surface of the front tab projected up so far that it interfered with the bottom edge of the feed ramp. On the steel magazine that fit properly, the height of the front tab was 0.176". The tab height on Far This thin leading edge precludes any modifications to this particular weapon, and modifications were elected to be made to the magazines instead.

The mag release lever’s guard is to the immediate right of the magazine release lever, and is a characteristic feature of the Galil and Finnish Valmet rifles from which the Galil was copied.

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the magazines that interfered with the bottom edge of the feed ramp was as high as 0.210". Thirty-four thousandths higher. That amount of variation in surplus steel Galil magazines was surprising, but giving it some thought, IMI-made Galil rifles probably were constructed such that the variation in the height of the front tab was tolerated. It’s inconceivable that surplus steel Galil magazines didn’t fit Israeli-made Galils, unless these were rejects… but one must work with what one has. So, what to modify?

Because the Tapco and steel surplus magazines functioned well, it did not make sense to modify the receiver, the feed ramp, or anything else on the otherwise-functional rifle when the problematic six of seven steel surplus magazines could be made to fit. Since a front tab height of 0.176" would work, the upper ends of the higher front tabs on the problem magazines were carefully ground down using a narrow-width fine circular stone to the point that they no longer interfered with the bottom edge of the feed ramp.

The ground areas were polished with abrasivefilled rubber polishing tips and the polished areas were touched up with Eastwood Zinc Phosphate (#10281Z, Eastwood.com, which is actually a paint formulated to cosmetically look like a dark gray zinc phosphate. Acetone was used to degrease the ground and polished areas before dabbing on the coating. As it happened, the Eastwood Zinc Phosphate was a near-perfect visual match for the OEM phosphate on the surplus magazines.

Even with properly-sized front tabs, the magazine catch would not fully engage on the rear tab on three of the six steel magazines. That is to say, the bottom end of the magazine catch lever remained forward, almost against the rear wall of the magazine, instead of snapping back toward the mag catch guard and trigger guard. After taking measure- Far The magazine is not latched and bumping the lower rear of the magazine with a fist knocks the magazine out of the magazine well.

Rather than polish each of those welds on the customer’s steel magazines, the sharp corners of the magazine catch upper edge were lightly rounded and then polished prior to refinishing. ments, it was found that the rear tab was thicker on that magazine. The fit of the magazine in the magazine well confirmed this; with the bolt and carrier installed, the bottom edge of the bolt barely caught on the case head of a dummy cartridge in the magazine.

So, the upper surface of the rear tabs on the affected magazines was carefully ground-and-tried until the magazine catch snapped to the rear when the magazine was seated in the magazine well. Again, the ground surface was polished, degreased, and coated with the Eastwood product.

All seven modified magazines were loaded with 30 rounds of Federal XM193 5.56 ammunition and Far Following this improvement, the rounded magazine catch readily and easily rode over the spot welds without sticking as the magazine was removed.

22 Pistol Grip Screw 23 Magazine Catch Spring 24 Mag Catch Pivot Pin 25 Trigger Spring 26 Pistol Grip Base 27 Grip Retaining Pin 28 Left Selector Lever 29 Selector Link Rivet 30 Selector Lever Link 31 Right Selector Lever 32 Receiver 33 Barrel 34 Gas Block 35 Gas Block Pin 36 Handguard Holder 37 Bayonet Lug 38 Front Sight Base 39 Front Sight Post 40 Night Sight Spring 41 Front Sight Pin 42 Front Sight Spring 01 Muzzle Cap 02 Flash Hider 03 Flash Hider Retainer 04 Bipod Mounting Screw 05 Bipod Mounting Nut 06 Stock Trunnion Roll Pin 07 Handguard Holder 08 Carry Handle Pin 09 Carry Handle 10 Handguard 11 Handguard Spring (2) 12 Magazine Catch 13 Trigger 14 Disconnector 15 Disconnector Spring 16 Hammer 17 Hammer Spring 18 Sear Spring 19 Hammer Axis Pin 20 Trigger Axis Pin 21 Pistol Grip test fired.

There were no failures of any kind during the testing. In typical AK fashion, the empty cartridge cases were ejected forcefully to the right side and forward, halfway to the neighboring county. In doing research for magazine fitment in the ATI Galeo Galil clone, I came across threads on a few online firearm forums mentioning functionality failures of Galeo rifles with surplus steel Galil magazines.

In reading the forum threads, ATI Galeo owners determined that early production rifles had receivers that were approximately 0.115-0.120" thick in the area where the rear tab on the magazine would contact the receiver.

Owners of later-production 43 Front Sight Set Screw 44 Gas Cylinder Assembly 45 Front Night Sight 46 Guide Rod 47 Recoil Spring 48 Guide Rod Ring 49 Recoil Spring Housing 50 Gas Piston 51 Gas Piston Retaining Pin 52 Bolt Carrier 53 Bolt 54 Extractor 55 Extractor Retaining Pin 56 Extractor Spring 57 Firing Pin 58 Firing Pin Retaining Pin 59 Firing Pin Buffer 60 Rear Sight 61 Rear Sight Spring 62 Rear Sight Ball Galeo rifles reported the receiver had been milled thinner, to approximately 0.100" thick in the area just to the rear of the magazine well.

The thinner receiver was credited by forum participants with allowing the rear tab of the magazine to be positioned 1/16" higher, thus raising the rear of the magazine up an equal amount in the magazine well and allowing for more positive stripping of cartridges by the bolt as the rifle is fired.

Some owners of Galeo rifles with the thicker receiver ground the receiver thinner in the area where the rear tab on the magazine contacts the underside of the receiver behind the magazine well, and reported improvement in functionality with ATI Galeo (Galil ARM) (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 63 Rear Sight Pivot Screw 64 Rear Night Sight Spring 65 Rear Sight Plunger 66 Rear Night Sight Pin 67 Rear Night Sight 68 Receiver Cover/ Rear Sight Base 69 Rear Trunnion 70 Stock Pivot Spring 71 Stock Pivot Screw 72 Stock Pivot Screw Nut 73 Folding Buttstock 74 Magazine Follower 75 Magazine Floorplate 76 Magazine Spring 77 Magazine Body 78 Bipod Mount 79 Bipod Assembly 80 Butt Plate 81 Butt Plate Screw (2) surplus steel magazines.

I mention this as a point of interest. The receiver in the customer’s Galeo was about 0.099" thick, and neither the customer nor I had problems with feed or functionality of the modified steel surplus Galil magazines in his rifle once they fit properly and locked in place. The steel Galil magazines were complete functional equivalents to the Tapco magazine.

While the Galeo was in my shop, the customer had obtained several more Tapco magazines and upon return of his rifle, those Tapco mags proved to function 100% as well. Out of curiosity and in an interest to "conduct the other half of the experiment" I had two Orlite polymer Galil magazines on hand in the "odds and ends" box to be sold eventually. Both of them would not rotate back and seat into place in the Galeo.

Upon inspection, the front tab of the Orlites was taller than the highest front tab on the steel Galil mags prior to grinding. I did not modify the Orlite magazines because the customer was not interested in them, but the reader should take note that the same high front tab issue appears to affect Orlite polymer Galil magazines.

In summary, I am not claiming that all ATI Galeo Galil clones exhibit this problem with the front tab of surplus steel magazines not fitting between the receiver and the underside of the feed ramp. The Galeo is assembled using a newly-made milled receiver of reference dimensions of unknown origin. The receiver could be an exact dimensional match to an IMI receiver using IMI dimensioned drawings. Or perhaps it was patterned from a IMI or other Galil receiver.

The Galeo receiver is fitted with anew US manufacture barrel, and the bulk of the remainder of the parts are from demilled Galil AR, SAR, ARM, and possibly some South African R4 parts kits. The variation in any ATI Galeo could likely be a function of variation in the demilled parts from which a given rifle is assembled. AG