A question for our British friends out there.

[denishc]

 Now the the war in Iraq is winding down I have a question for our British friends.  The shape of the M-16 and AK-47 rifles make them easy to identify, but what is the weapon that I've seen the Britihs infantry men carring in all the news footaage?  It resembles more of a sub-machine gun than a rifle.  Who manufactures it and what size round does it chamber?

 One more thing to our British friends out there........ thanks for all your help.......... from an American.  

[Craig.]

http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/pw/pw_lsw.htm

try that it has all the weapons used by the british infantry
you could be on about the SA80 though, but my knowledge is limited when it comes to the army, i am an airforce person myself hope it helps some

[HawkerTempest5]

Craig is correct, the standard British rifle is the SA80. It uses the same size round as the M-16 and I understand that the clips are interchangeable.
I'm not sure who makes them, but Heckler and Koch did the recent mods on them.

[BFMF]

I always wondered what the standard British rifle was

[Fozzer]

I always wondered what the standard British rifle was

In my days* it used to be the Lee Enfield bolt action .303 rifle.
The standard issue for the Army.
(Very heavy)...!

Cheers...
Paul...(ex R.E.M.E.)

*...over the top lads, let's get the Hun... ...!

(England).

[Smoke2much]

Are you sure it wasn't the brown bess Fozzer?

Will

[Fozzer]

Are you sure it wasn't the brown bess Fozzer?

Will

I don't think so Will...
They'd just changed over from muskets when I joined up just after the Battle of Waterloo... ...!
LOL...!

Cheers...
Paul.
(England)

[Crumbso]

Its actually made by good old lee-enfield.

Some bad teething problems at first but the recent H&K (also british owned by Bae) mods make it a damn good rifle.

Thats me out.

[Fozzer]

Its actually made by good old lee-enfield.

Lee Enfield... ...!
The same firm which made my first motor bike in 1950, the Royal Enfield 350 Bullet.... ...!
...the motif on the timing cover was of three Lee Enfield rifles...!

Cheers...
Paul.
(England).

[Woodlouse2002]

Well Fozzer you are fortunate. The Lee-Enfield is the finest bolt action in the world.

The SA-80 or L85A2 was an extreemly reliable weapon when hand made. Unfortunatly when mass produces by machines it lost it quality and became notoriously unreliable. Fortunatly the MOD have plans to replace the SA-80 in the near future.

Its just lucky that we own the the second best gun manufacturer in the world (best I consider to be good old FN makers of the .50 cal machine gun and the Five Seven which is a damn sexy pistol) that means that we should be able to get a fine assult rifle to replace the SA-80...

[Tequila Sunrise]

I've heard that even after the mods its still a peice of sh!t, I've seen the damn things melt after firing 20 rounds on semi-auto

[ozzy72]

Denish, as was answered the SA80 'bullpup' rifle is the one you are interested in, it is replacing the L1A1 SLR (self loading rifle), personally I prefer the SLR (a derivative of the FN FAL, only not capable of fully automatic).
There is also a heavy barrelled version called the LSW (Light Support Weapon), basically the same, just with a bipod and longer barrel. This will replace the FN MAG (L7A2) GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun), and the Enfield Bren gun (a personal favourite, and the best light machine gun ever made, accurate to 800m).
If you want a great infantry weapon however you can't beat the M203 (M16 with a 40mm grenade launcher attatchment, and one of my favourite toys, after the H&K MP5).
I find the SA80 to be about as useful as a chocolate oven glove unless it is cleaned after every magazine shot off! It goes wrong far too easily, and bits break or fall off of it.... Expensive piece of junk!

Ozzy

[BFMF]

With all my gaming 'experience', I prefer the M-16

[Crumbso]

I've done my BTS with the SA80 and would like to say I think its very good. Comfortable and accurate.

[Woodlouse2002]

Well I know an exmarine who served in Oman who says that the only really good assult rifle is the AK47. The M16 is good but not that good. Especially as the new versions don't have Automatic fire.

I personally reckon the the Bren gun will stay in service for a few years yet. The long barreled SA-80 is just as notorious and doesn't have interchangeable barrels so it will melt really quickly.

Giving my "gaming" experiance little beats the Thompson. Its a good chunky sub-machine gun and not much goes wrong with it.

The army should really go back to the SLR. It was powerful (7.62mm) and accurate and reliable. The fact that is only semi auto means nothing. You can pull the trigger about 3 times per second and thats all you need. Atleast with semi auto you actually take time to aim. They can save the money for the guns on the ammo they'll save!