IWI Galil ACE - Wikiwand

The IWI Galil ACE, also marketed as IWI ACE (or simply ACE), is a series of assault rifles and battle rifles originally developed and manufactured by Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) produced in 5.56×45mm NATO, 7.62×39mm and 7.62×51mm NATO.

Quick Facts Type, Place of origin ...

IWI Galil ACE
Galil ACE 22
Type	Assault rifle Battle rifle
Place of origin	Israel
Service history
In service	2008–present
Used by	See Users
Wars	Colombian conflict Mexican Drug War
Production history
Designer	Israel Military Industries
Manufacturer	Israel Weapon Industries (Formerly Israel Military Industries) Also produced under license by: FAMAE (Chile) Indumil (Colombia) RPC Fort (Ukraine) Z111 Factory (Vietnam)
Produced	2008–present
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Cartridge	5.45×39mm 5.56×45mm NATO 7.62×39mm 7.62×51mm NATO
Action	Gas-operated, rotating bolt
Rate of fire	620–880 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity	600 to 915 m/s (1,970 to 3,000 ft/s)
Effective firing range	300 to 500 m (330 to 550 yd)
Feed system	Detachable box magazines 35-, 50-round Galil magazines STANAG magazines AKM magazines (ACE 31, ACE 32) 25-round 7.62mm Galil magazines (ACE 52, ACE 53) SR-25 pattern magazines (ACE-N 52) AK-74 magazines (IWI US Galil ACE 5.45×39mm)
Sights	Tritium front post and rear diopter iron sights, or Picatinny rail for various optical sights

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Design details

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Perspective

The IWI Galil ACE series is based upon the original design of the Galil, but instead utilises a modern design to increase its accuracy and lower its weight, while maintaining the original Galil's ergonomics, ease of maintenance and reliability under battle conditions.^[1]

In the design, emphasis was particularly placed on increasing the reliability and accuracy under adverse battlefield conditions.

Weight reduction

The original Galil was built with a machined solid steel billet action in order to increase the structural integrity and survivability of the weapon.

Unfortunately this resulted in a weight of up to 9.6 lb (4.4 kg), depending on its variant, which was one of the primary criticisms from the Israel Defense Forces.

The Galil ACE has a significantly reduced weight. IWI redesigned the action to integrate the steel with polymer, which is much lighter than the fully steel receiver of the original Galil.^[1]

While the upper receiver is machined steel and the receiver top features a MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail, polymer has been introduced to the lower receiver of the weapon to reduce the gun's weight.^[2]

Accuracy

According to American Rifleman: "Although this rifle is clearly based on the AK design, it demonstrated a superior level of accuracy potential compared to several of its cousins. The best single group of [5 rounds at 100 yards] of 0.83″ and five-group average of 0.98″ was produced using the Federal Premium 123-gr. [8.0 g] Power-Shok soft-point load" (testing done using 7.62×39mm 16-inch barrelled variant).^[3]

Trigger

The Galil ACE adopts the Galil Sniper trigger instead of the original Galil trigger, in order to improve accuracy compared to the standard Galil.^[4] This is a two-stage trigger,^[2] which IWI have modelled on the two-stage trigger of the M1 Garand.^[5]

According to American Rifleman, the two-stage trigger is "clean and smooth with a 4 lb. 13 oz. [4.8 lb_f, 21.4 N] trigger pull according to a Lyman digital trigger gauge".^[3]

Gas tube

The gas tube, unlike the AK-47 system, is mounted on the rifle via a dovetailed slide machined on the receiver upper-front block. This avoids any movement of the gas block influencing barrel vibration, which would degrade accuracy.^[1]

Long-stroke piston system

The rifle uses the Galil's long-stroke piston system. The long-stroke system is found in the M1 Garand, AK-47 (upon which the Galil's internal mechanism design borrowed heavily) and more recently in the IWI Tavor.

Barrel

The barrel is chrome-lined, cold hammer-forged, with a 1:7″ twist for 5.56×45mm NATO, 1:7.5″ for 5.45×39mm, 1:9.5″ for 7.62×39mm, and 1:12″ for 7.62×51mm NATO.

Sights

The Galil ACE has a fully adjustable iron sights with tritium front post and two dot tritium rear aperture. It also features a Picatinny rail for mounting various optical sight.

Stock

The standard buttstock found on the Galil ACE is a six-position telescopic stock that can be fitted with an optional cheek-piece to improve the sighting of the weapon when using an optical sight. An optional right folding version of the standard buttstock is also available.

The forearm consists of MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rails on the bottom and both sides for mounting accessories such as aiming optics. The side forearm rails have central grooves to provide routing channels for electric wiring used by pressure switch activated accessories. The forearm comes with quick detachable polymer covering panels that can be mounted to protect the rails when a side or bottom rail has no accessories mounted to it. The gas tube above the barrel also has a Picatinny rail mounted on top that is aligned with the rail mounted on the cover over the receiver.

Last round bolt catch

Another addition by IWI to the original Galil is the last round bolt catch (for variants of the ACE in 5.56×45mm NATO only). The bolt hold-open feature is a common request of military customers, to reduce reloading times during combat.^[6]

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Variants

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More information Variant, Calibre ...

Variant	Calibre	Barrel length	Length (extended)	Length (retracted)	Weight (unloaded)	Feed system	Muzzle velocity	Range	Cyclic rate of fire
ACE 21	5.56×45mm NATO	216 mm (8.5 in)	730 mm (29 in)	650 mm (26 in)	3.00 kg (6.61 lb)	35-round Galil magazine	710 m/s (2,300 ft/s)	300 m (330 yd)	680–880 rounds/min
ACE-N 21	5.56×45mm NATO	216 mm (8.5 in)	730 mm (29 in)	650 mm (26 in)	3.05 kg (6.7 lb)	30-round NATO magazine	710 m/s (2,300 ft/s)	300 m (330 yd)	680–880 rounds/min
ACE 22	5.56×45mm NATO	335 mm (13.2 in)	847 mm (33.3 in)	767 mm (30.2 in)	3.40 kg (7.5 lb)	35-round Galil magazine	850 m/s (2,800 ft/s)	—	680–880 rounds/min
ACE-N 22	5.56×45mm NATO	335 mm (13.2 in)	847 mm (33.3 in)	767 mm (30.2 in)	3.45 kg (7.6 lb)	30-round NATO magazine	850 m/s (2,800 ft/s)	—	680–880 rounds/min
ACE 23	5.56×45mm NATO	463 mm (18.2 in)	976 mm (38.4 in)	896 mm (35.3 in)	3.60 kg (7.9 lb)	35-round Galil magazine	915 m/s (3,000 ft/s)	500 m (550 yd)	680–880 rounds/min
ACE 31	7.62×39mm	216 mm (8.5 in)	730 mm (29 in)	650 mm (26 in)	3.00 kg (6.61 lb)	30-round AK-47 magazine	600 m/s (2,000 ft/s)	—	680–880 rounds/min
ACE 32	7.62×39mm	409 mm (16.1 in)	927 mm (36.5 in)	847 mm (33.3 in)	3.50 kg (7.7 lb)	30-round AK-47 magazine	680 m/s (2,200 ft/s)	—	680–880 rounds/min
ACE 52	7.62×51mm NATO	409 mm (16.1 in)	954 mm (37.6 in)	874 mm (34.4 in)	3.60 kg (7.9 lb)	25-round 7.62mm Galil magazine	800 m/s (2,600 ft/s)	—	620–680 rounds/min
ACE-N 52	7.62×51mm NATO	409 mm (16.1 in)	954 mm (37.6 in)	—	3.60 kg (7.9 lb)	SR-25 pattern magazine^[7]	—	—	620–680 rounds/min
ACE 53	7.62×51mm NATO	511 mm (20.1 in)	1,055 mm (41.5 in)	963 mm (37.9 in)	3.8 kg (8.4 lb)	25-round 7.62mm Galil magazine	860 m/s (2,800 ft/s)	—	620–680 rounds/min

Gen II

IWI US introduced the Gen II line in 2023 which introduced a free-floating M-LOK handguard and M4-style compatible buttstock.

Civilian variants

In October 2020, IWI US began production of an "extremely limited edition" 5.45×39mm variant of the Galil ACE, available with a 16 in (410 mm) or 8.3 in (210 mm) barrel, producing a total of 545 rifles in each size. They are compatible with AK-74 magazines.^[8]

Foreign variants

Galil Córdova

The Córdova is a Colombian Galil ACE variant produced under license via an agreement between Indumil and IWI.^[9]^[10]

Chilean variant

The FAMAE has been producing licensed Galil ACE variants since 2014^[11]^[12] as the Chilean Armed Forces' service rifle.

Peruvian variant

The Peruvian government has plans to produce the ACE under license, establishing a factory to produce up to 2,000 rifles per month.^[13]^[14]

Ukrainian variants

The RPC Fort has been producing licensed Galil ACE variants since 2014:

More information Variant, Original model ...

Variant	Original model	References
Fort-227	ACE 22	^[15]
Fort-228	ACE 31	^[16]
Fort-229	ACE 52	^[17]

Vietnamese variants

The IWI has established a $100 million factory in Vietnam via the Z111 Factory, to produce an unspecified number of Galil ACE assault rifles for the PAVN.^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]

All ACEs used in Vietnam have the charging handles located at the right side of the rifle^[22] and replaced the Galil ACE handguards with traditional Galil-style handguards with Picatinny rail on top, replaced standard ACE buttstock with FN-FAL Paratrooper stocks, with modifications for simpler production and ease of use, the original fire selector replaced with AK-style fire selector. The new rifle has its new designations STV-215 and STV-380, the number indicated barrel length.^[23]

Besides the 7.62mm STV series of service rifles for the Vietnam People's Army, the Vietnamese industry also developed multiple assault rifle designs based on the Galil ACE that it has acquired the technologies and production right:

More information Variant, Description ...

Variant	Description	References
GK1	Testing configurations and technology demonstrators based on the Galil ACE with influences from the Kalashnikov rifles and AR-15–style rifles. Did not enter mainline service.	^[24]
GK3
STL-5,56VN	A resemblance of the IWI US Galil Ace Gen II. Chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO, it features a M-LOK handguard, AK-style charging handle just like the STVs, and an adjustable folding stock similar to the Orsis T-5000's one.	^[25]
SHMT-M1	Amphibious rifle utilizing the ACE design platform and chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO.	^[26]