History of The SA80

History of The SA80 Rifle : 

History of The SA80 Rifle Written By L/Cpl Cook

Production History : 

Production History First designed in the 1980’s Commissioned in 1985 Originally developed by "Enfield Royal Small Arms Factory" (now BAE Systems Land Systems Munitions & Ordnance) Reliability issue so refurbished by Heckler & Koch (Back Then HK was a division of British Aerospace) Refurbishment was started in about the year 2000 SA80 is a worldwide known rifle Likely to be the Primary British Infantry Rifle Until 2015

Variants : 

Variants Four Variants: Individual Weapon L85 IW (Now upgraded to the L85 A2) Light support Weapon L86 LSW Assault Carbine L22A1 (this weapon is a carbine version) L98A1 CGP (Cadet General Purpose) this is a manually operated version Another variant with lead filled barrel, known as L98A1 DP (Drill Purpose). Hand guard has white stripe All Fire Same Round 5.56mm x 45mm NATO 30 Round Mag All Can Mount: Iron Sights SUSAT (Sight Unit, Small Arms, Trilux) CWS (Common Weapon Sight) A “Next Gen” Night scope

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L85 A2 L86 LSW L22 A1 L98 A1 CGP L98 A1 DP Iron Sights SUSAT CWS

Configurations : 

Configurations Config is Bullpup With Pistol Grip Mechanism in Buttstock Mag Loads Behind Pistol Grip Long, Free Floating barrel High Accuracy Compact Dimensions Resemble Bullpup EM-2 (prototype) Looks Similar to other Bullpup assault rifles Few Mechanical Similarities

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OOPS, WRONG RIFLE

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SA80 1985 EM-2 1948 That’s Better

Short Range Combat : 

Short Range Combat Can Have Iron Sight Which Incorporates Carrying Handle Iron Sight Mainly Used On Jungle Ops Also Used When Short Range Combat Is Expected Mostly Fitted With The SUSAT Making The Weapon Easier To Use

Weapon Reliability : 

Weapon Reliability Many Criticisms during field tests Complaints were: Answers Were: Mag Release Catch Easily Knocked Quick fix was glue housing around it Weak Gas Mechanism To avoid dropping out gaffa tape applied Weak Spring in mag Amount of rounds shortened Bad mag lips Check for dents and cleanliness on every mag being used Lack of suppressive LSW fire due to small mag and barrel overheating when 125-155 rounds fired in burst Fire in Smaller Burst/Alternate Between 2+ LSW’s

Redesign : 

Redesign Took many years of minor fixes Some problems gone Bigger ones still existed 1997 MOD commissioned HK to redesign SA80 Very Expensive 92 million GBP 183.73 million USD 116.79 million EUR

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The SA80 – Its A Good Bit Of Kit Video