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Never fired it.
My favourite 5.56mm Assault Rifle is the H+K 33.
Good all rounder.

Gore.

Cleaned it, oiled it like the book said, cleaned mags, loaded with 25 rounds to be safe, stuck on dashboard in the morning and 3 stopages in 5 rounds... It's had it's chance ... IN THE BIN.

Adendum: Absolutely nothing stopping them buying off the shelf, many tried and tested systems out there "M16-A2" and family for starters... but then of course theres the government back handers and the propping up of companies that MPs have interests in...

Harsh... but ultimately... Fair!!!

There have been a number of comments about the SA-80 being awkward
for a left handed person, well if you think that is bad then you should have tried the .303.

Lol BBR, that's a pretty bad record there alright! I dunno how many thousands rounds i fired through my issued SA80A1 during training, but I only ever got 1 stoppage, and it was because of a bust mag. I dunno what was up with the rifle I got, it just never jammed!! Even when we were crawling around in mud, on the other hand, most guys were pulling their hair out over stoppages. I guess it's the inconsistency shown above that makes it so unreliable. Hopefully the A2 is better for everyones sake, haven't fired it myself. Just goes to show that there is at least 1 SA80A1 out there with a good record, even if it has never seen combat, lol.

Tab, I think the SA80 is awkward for anyone, even if they are right handed! SA80A1 was definitely very awkward for me when I was used to firing the Steyr AUG. Steyr is simple as hell to operate and very user friendly..the cocking handle is on the left hand side for example, compared to the SA80 having it on the right.

RobT wrote:Is it the rifle that the french foreign leigon use?

Damn straight. As they are part of the French Army they get the same weapon that frog soldiers get. Seem to remember reading somewhere that in training they happily drag their weapon through mud and generally chuck it about tho...

I think the FAMAS can be fired left or right handed... maybe someone's already answered this though.

Craig

Okay Jagger, but have you tried the .303

So if the 80 was replaced tomorrow, and there was no political mendeling, would the FAMAS be a serious contender?

Certainly haven't Tab. The SA80 is a pretty nice weapon to fire, just saying compared to other bullpups, Steyr in my case, i've found it abit awkward in comparison. Maybe they've made it more user friendly with the A2, but I haven't had the chance to fire one.

Not fired it but done all the rest. Personally I think it's very nice, especially when you have to hold it in the ready position for a while. I've not used other assault rifles but with other conventional rifles and such that have the weight more to the front I find myself getting tired much quicker than if the weights at the rear like the SA80. I don't find it awkward at all, possibly in the prone possition but once you get use to it I think it's fine. Stripping and cleaning couldn't be much easier either, exept maybe if you put the gas block in the wrong way and have to hide from the armourer for the rest of your life

Everyone I know whos used the A2 version say it's pretty good and a lot better than the A1 in terms of reliability. No complaints about them so far from Iraq anyway.

Josh, traditionally bullpups were just designed to be short for close quarter fighting and for use in armoured vehicles, and these days the disadvantages of them are more limited as technology develops. FN have worked out how to have casings eject downwards and/or forwards so you can use them from either shoulder, and it's quite common to have an ambidextrous cocking handle.
That said most forces seem to prefer conventional weapons (combined rifle/cannon weapons aside), the TAVOR is only being adopted by Israel for political reasons and most other countries I can think of are sticking with conventional rifles, the US being the most obvious. It really needs first hand experience to explain why though, so I'll leave that to someone else .

I have spent some time at the invitation of 1 Para the other year to try some of thier weapons. I found the SA80-2 a great weapon, well balanced, very accurate, with a good range, and those sights, I loved them. I would have loved to have that bit of kit when I was in action with them . Also by having the magazine towards the rear of the rifle you get the extra barrel length with out making it awkard for movement. Also this weapon has now been well tested under battlefield conditions and there are very few other European counties that can say that.