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Posted: 7/17/2006 1:03:08 PM EDT
| Does anyone by chance know what type of rifles the British Army is using right now. I just happened to see a story about them and their battles in Afghanistan and their rifles look pretty sweet. |
| I'd be interested to find out what the exact technical problems with the SA80 were. It's supposedly based on the AR18, which has Stoner written all over it (though it isn't one of his designs, it does incorporate a lot of his work). And just what did HK do to fix these rifles? |
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www.army.mod.uk/equipment/pw/pw_sa80.htm You too can hire HK to fix all your rifles. G |
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Keep in mind that a lot of the hatred for the new rifles was just people who were reluctant to abandon the powerful .308 out of the L1A1, as I am sure many people didn't want to abandon the M14 for the "poodleshooter" M16 back in the day. Granted, there absolutely were some issues, and the HK "fix" addressed them - but it's not like it was a "bad" rifle. I remember training with with British troops after the new rifles were introduced (in the late 80s), and on the tactical shooting ranges, they KICKED our asses - even though traditionally, our riflemen were significantly better than them. All I am saying is that the SA80 wasn't quite as bad as people sometimes make it out to be, but it definitely had some room for improvement. And the fact that Brit special units choose M4's says a lot! |
Back in the day??!! Hell!! Their still griping about it! 
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The bad reputation the L85A1 earned is no longer deserved. HK has completed the upgrade to A2 spec and the weapons are performing much better. The L85A2 is an accurate and reliable weapon which is serving quite well and the British soldiers have an 88% confidence rating in this weapon, which is the same confidence rating American soldiers have in the M16/M4. Most impressive is the LSW's which have been adapted to SAW/DMR work. It allows for accurate semi-automatic fire and the ability for suppressive automatic fire. While the L85A2 and LSW are performing well since their upgrade, they are soon to be replaced. The tooling to produce these weapons is long since gone and the debacle has left a bad taste in important mouths. It was rumored that the G36 was going to replace the L85's, but testing showed that wasn't the solution it was cracked up to be. Elite units in the MOD have been using M16's for decades but a wide spread adoption of the M16 is extremely unlikely. It appears that the L85's will be replaced in the next 3-5 years. What exactly will replace it is unknown, but because of the relationship between the MOD and HK, it will most likely be German. |
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