L85A1/A2/A3 - SA80 Assault Rifle

[Lord Jim]

Cheers for the info. The only thing I think the M4 Carbine has going for it is it is very cheap. In every other way it is surpassed by other weapons including the L85A2/A3.

[ArmChairCivvy]

MILAN came into service and the widespread adoption of the LAW 66 and LAW 80.

Good to draw the line between "team" weapons - with its heavy rounds the CG falls onto that side of the fence - and those that can be carried by individuals as extra "insurance"
- the newest and lightest Spike has crossed the border (but does not on its own remove the need for the 'extra insurance')

Bearing in mind the header for the thread: in infantry sections/platoons you also need 'riflemen'

[Lord Jim]

Well after all the tinkering H&K have done, the L85A3 should do the job until the next generation of small arms comes on stream with a possible new calibre. Saying that it seems the A3 outperforms many other 5.56mm rifles, if the 600m effective fire range is true, matching some 7.62 equivalents. I wonder if the DMR might get improved sights similar to those on the Sniper Team No2 weapon to extend its accurate range out beyond that of the L83A3. With the 600m range the British Army now have the weapon they wanted in Afghanistan.

[Little J]

Found this, thought it may prove of interest (and in some ways a little scary )

[ArmChairCivvy]

OK, SUSAT came through, from that.

LSWR was called what? in service ?

[Lord Jim]

Well the last I read the OSD for the L85 was supposed to be 2025 but obviously that has been pushed back. I have also read that we have more than a passing interest in the US Army's next generation small arms programme, actually contributing to it, with the aim of maintaining commonality with them. Whether this is aimed more at the ammunition or the actually small arms I cannot find out, but the proposal from SIG for the carbine and automatic rifle together with the GPMG chambered for the Norma Magnum round under going trails would be a good place to start, for a new generation of small arms and support weapons for the British Army.

As it is though except of weight, the L85A3 matches or surpasses most of the latest 5.56mm rifles in or entering service, when it comes to range, accuracy and even reliability. But it still has the cloud of the issues with the A1 version hanging over it unfortunately.

[Tinman]

We will follow the why America chooses, tbh I really like all of them, I’m particularly interested in the 0.338 belt fed machine gun.

[Little J]

It appears that a year after the introduction of the newly upgraded SA80 A3 the British Army is introducing a series of small but significant tweaks to improve weapons handling. The changes come following user feedback on the SA80 A3 / L85A3 rifles which have been overhauled by Heckler & Koch in a contract worth £15 million (or nearly $19 million).

The August 2020 edition of the British Army’s Soldier magazine included a short article detailing upcoming changes to the British Army’s service rifle. The article notes that the modifications are user driven, with feedback collected since the weapons were first fielded in 2018.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/202 ... es-tweaks/

https://edition.pagesuite-professional. ... 6cf0fd2868

The dumb arses have realised that HKey is just stupid... Only took them a couple of years though

[The Armchair Soldier]

Looks like an L85 has fallen into Taliban hands:

[downsizer]

I'm sure I've seen that picture before, and I'd suggest that weapon is from a while ago as from at least 2012 they were sprayed a sandy colour as TES for close combat troops. Unless of course it was stolen from a unit that didn't go outside the wire.

[Little J]

Signed off work, bored... Decided to do some crude photoshopping...

[ArmChairCivvy]

The modularity could be taken much further (skip the words, the piccies in this tell the story):
https://www.armytimes.com/off-duty/gear ... f-it-does/

[mr.fred]

I will see you your Tavor and raise you a Grot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FB_MSBS_Grot

[ArmChairCivvy]

Nice, with the sniper/ marksman version, too (missing from the picture).
- I wonder why it will take Dragunov out of service, but not the Sako TRG-22
- perhaps they want to rid themselves of the 54R round and stick with the .308 Winchester?

Little J will now add(?) an easy-carry (in a std hunter's sling) bulpup marksman rifle to those three version above - with a folding stock