The SA80 rifle

It has always been very apparent to me that the only reason the British Armed Forces ended up with the SA80 was purely political. Whilst it is a short weapon with a very good sighting system, it has had reliability problems since its introduction.

What I want to know is has anyone ever heard of any SA80 sales to other countries???

Just so you know - I carried out operational trials on the SA80 in the early/mid 80's.........and yes I did recommend that we went for a different weapons system!

Why did they want the SA80? I could never find out why.
Anyways, I am pretty sure it wasn't sold to other countries. I bet they won't have 'em.

It's true that it is (or was) a pile of poo, but it has been significantly improved at considerable cost (making it the most expensive combat rifle in the world!).. But it would seem that no one else uses them. I have trawled Google and all references are to the British Army only..

Here is some info:

SA80

I'm not sure if the SA80 has been sold to other countries but I doubt it. It has some nice features and now is supposedly one of the best assault rifles in the world.

I'm not sure if that is true but well, it should be for all that money that was spent upgrading it. The British should have designed a great gun in the first place. Although, some say the SA80s troubles always come back to tghe fact that it was not designed as a 5.56mm gun.

I'm sure you knew all that anyway. Here are links I hope you will find at least mildly interesting.

Replacement for SA80

www.quarry.nildram.co.uk...

No it wasn't originally a 5.56mm chambered weapon. The original 'bullpup' design dates back to the early 1950's, but the British government decided to go with the FN L1A1 Self Loading Rifle.

I believe that the bullpup was going to be chambered for the 7.62mm NATO round, which the US was using at the time.

As I said it was a political decission - a UK designed and built weapon for the UK military.

What I want to know is has anyone ever heard of any SA80 sales to other countries???

Jamaica uses the SA80,

www.jdfmil.org...

The SA 80 Individual Weapon is made by Heckler and Koch (UK) and fires NATO standard 5.56 x 45mm ammunition; and has been in service with the JDF since 1992.

[edit on 5-12-2004 by UK Wizard]

i heard from sources at last camp that the A2 is going to be much better, HK upgraded it and seems to be well recieved.

SA80 was originally going to be for a Britsih developed 4.48 (i think) round, but we HAD to re-barrel it for NATO 5.56 for politcal reasons. Grrr, it never makes a weapon good.

A2 is more reliable, but not up to satisfactory standards yet. Hell, if H&K can't fix it, who can?

M16 was originally gonig to be 7.62 on another note, but the plastic broke so it was re-barreled to 5.56. Which was why it was so unreliable in the 'Nam. NEVER go for a rebarreld weapon when another is availible.

Originally posted by BillyTheCat
No it wasn't originally a 5.56mm chambered weapon.
I believe that the bullpup was going to be chambered for the 7.62mm NATO round, which the US was using at the time.

As I said it was a political decission - a UK designed and built weapon for the UK military.

The bullpup design does date back to the fifties, but to a 4.85 mm weapon called the EM2, made by enfield and very very like todays SA80.

And yeah, it was a political decision (H&K being owned by UK shareholders in the majority at the time), but we could have license built something ,like we did with the SLR, possible the M16, or the AUG (as the aussies do). A 5.56 AK derivitive would be good though.


Link with 7.62 M16 info

Ah, yes, 4.85. Sorry.

5.56 AK derivative? AK-74 anyone? And the new Chinese rifle is being exported with 5.56 capacity, and its a bullpup! Awesomeness!

The SA80 A2 is still a POS.

Want to know who uses the best assault rifle in the world. One word. Russia.

Combat proven, tough, reliable, easy to shoot and maintain.

Simple as that.

[edit on 5-12-2004 by rustiswordz]

Originally posted by Teh_Gerbil
Ah, yes, 4.85. Sorry.

5.56 AK derivative? AK-74 anyone?

And the new Chinese rifle is being exported with 5.56 capacity, and its a bullpup! Awesomeness!

ok. But AK74 is in 5.56.39 whereas NATO is 5.56x45.

But yeah, a 5.56x45 (.223) version of an AK would be great. I was watching the news and a group of 4 US marines were having a gun fight using AKs themselves.