daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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crowbag said:Really? What is your reasoning? The SA80 A1 I used in depot was terrible, but I found the SA80 A2 to be excellent – and easier to hold in a decently alert position (when patrolling etc.) than a C7. The kicker for me has to be the HK UGL versus the 203 – I found the C7 w/203 to be cumbersome as hell, but the A2 w/UGL to be comparatively easy to handle.
Curious to hear your thoughts. I suppose beyond the stats it comes down to personal preference…
I have not carried the newer version but hauled the old SA 80 around a lot in NI (back when the earth was cooling a ground fire was always light to moderate). It was like carrying an 11lb pistol in your right hand. Torture, especially for someone with little girl wrists like me. The SLR was much easier to carry for longer periods of time as you share the load between hands. A longer barrel also lets you scan, cover arcs and engage from cover better than the 'assault pistol', which forces you into the open more often.
It was also minus a forward bolt assist, so in some cases its puny return spring caused 'dead man's click' in some firefights, which certainly eroded our confidence with the weapon. We issued out the Bren Guns to help address this confidence problem.
In Norway it was handy, being short, but more prone to finicky stoppages than the good ol' SLR for the heroic ski troops of the high arctic and low temperatures. Or the C7/ M16 for that matter, which I trialled during one winter deployment.
And I note that no one else in the world has bothered to waste their money on the SA 80, even after the various (horrendously expensive) HK rebuilds.
Again, the UK SoF, and anyone else who has a choice in the matter, use the C7 and it's variants vs. the SA80. A true test of relative uselessness.