"New" SLR for the British Army

[SamHuntVic]

Did you blokes already know about this?
The SLR is due to return to the British Army!!! - Veteranweb
And yes, Aussie soldiers would certainly like a bit more grunt in their rifles.
Grant.

 

[User00053]

Should come in handy

 

[Stalker62]

Did you blokes already know about this?

I didn't know about this, but the SA80 (in all it's forms) has been a shocker.

 

[Koenig]

The SA80 A2 is actually pretty good. The A1 was awful granted. I’ve used both extensively and so can attest to the difference. The SLR won’t be making a return any time soon - old technology now. There are much better Battle rifles around, and most western countries are bought into 5.56mm in terms of logistics.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Did you blokes already know about this?
The SLR is due to return to the British Army!!! - Veteranweb
And yes, Aussie soldiers would certainly like a bit more grunt in their rifles.
Grant.

Debunked unfortunately, although it got some of the old and bold very excited for a while!

Think the A3 will be around for a while. Not sure what’ll be chosen next, although it won’t be home-grown! Will be interesting to see what calibre it is though.

 

[paul o']

L1A1 it is't but good old 7.62 that'll feck em every time . but as we are led by yanks by nose I recon it will be the 6.8 on a AR platform

 

[I. Farticus]

Something in 6.5mm would be my guesstimate. 120gr ammo at near 3000fps would drop anyone into their own shadow and light enough to hump plenty around

 

[nick.308]

thought the reason for 5.56mm was for lightweight ammo and universal ammo.
Doesnt matter wether its .30 cal or 5.56 it still kills. Most firefights are at hundreds of yards so isnt stopping power only needed for close quarter battle where sub machine guns are used instead anyway?

 

[Dave Lakes]

I didn't know about this, but the SA80 (in all it's forms) has been a shocker.

The A2 and A3 are really quite decent, and the later ancillaries like the foregrip/bipod made it even more useable. It’s bullpup design made it fairly compact, which was always handy for mincing into the Bastion cookhouse with ease!

 

[timbrayford]

5.56mm is designed to wound not kill the opponent .
The logic being that it takes more personnel to look after a wounded combatant than a dead one. Unfortunately this strategy falls flat on its face when you are facing drug filled religious zealots from the third world who place no value on human life, even of those closest to them.

 

[308tikka]

Theyre ok. Too heavy. Everything is a trade off.

If SA80 was amazing it would have export orders and would be in use in special operations. It isnt but it does a job.

The future is 6.8 but cases likely polymer, not full brass. Several options, none of which will be in service pre 2030.

We will lose the procurement battle again. Cheaper, better to buy COTS as can build a logistics chain and ammo production base. Thats what wins.

An updated HK G33 is all anyone really needs. Simple, accurate, cheap. Reliable.

 

[Lancaster]

Looks like there might be traction for a .270 bullet based cartridge, us old gits knew we were right sticking with it, despite what others said

 

[alberta boy]

The one I carried around didn't look that whizzy , but I liked it . The squad auto we were issued , the C2A2 , was a piece of junk , I hated packing that dog . I used to hunt deer with an Aussie L1A1 back before the earths crust cooled . It worked quite well . Sadly a prohibited weapon in this country now .

AB

 

[Pedro]

Do I remember stories in Afghanistan of insurgents starting to take pot shots at British troops with old and venerable .303s and the soldiers having problems returning effective fire because their 5.56 rounds didn't have the range? Or is this an apocryphal story? Whatever they go for next, I guess it needs to be able to do service as a battle rifle and include the ability to shoot at distance.

I also recall that one of the reasons for the smaller round was that injuring an enemy effectively takes that person out of contention and one or two others to see to him. Except the likes of the Taliban didn't stop to take care of their wounded and of course an injured enemy remains a potential threat, so British troops were asking for something with a bit more clout. Again, so I've been told.

(A little information can be a dangerous thing).

 

[baguio]

I didn't know about this, but the SA80 (in all it's forms) has been a shocker.

Can you please expand on what was wrong with each variant?

 

[Foxyboy43]

Do I remember stories in Afghanistan of insurgents starting to take pot shots at British troops with old and venerable .303s and the soldiers having problems returning effective fire because their 5.56 rounds didn't have the range? Or is this an apocryphal story? Whatever they go for next, I guess it needs to be able to do service as a battle rifle and include the ability to shoot at distance.

I also recall that one of the reasons for the smaller round was that injuring an enemy effectively takes that person out of contention and one or two others to see to him. Except the likes of the Taliban didn't stop to take care of their wounded and of course an injured enemy remains a potential threat, so British troops were asking for something with a bit more clout. Again, so I've been told.

(A little information can be a dangerous thing).

Absolutely correct. There are many accounts of allied troops being pinned down by what turned out to be Lee Enfields and Mosin Nagants which excel at distances well beyond the range of the many .224s currently in use. From memory the various .224s were designed for engagements upto 600 (?) yards because “research” showed that most firefights were well below that distance - allegedly! However when you look at the terrain in Afghanistan it is pretty obvious that “urban” fighting is not how any intelligent enemy would chose to fight. A pretty fundamental flaw in thinking - know your enemy and the terrain is as strong now as it was when the then best army in the world was repeatedly outshot at long distance and at great cost by the Boers and their Mausers - well over 100 years ago.

 

[BRYAN]

The next one will likely be in 6.5cm bullpup made by Blaser.

 

[Dave Lakes]

Theyre ok. Too heavy. Everything is a trade off.

If SA80 was amazing it would have export orders and would be in use in special operations. It isnt but it does a job.

The future is 6.8 but cases likely polymer, not full brass. Several options, none of which will be in service pre 2030.

We will lose the procurement battle again. Cheaper, better to buy COTS as can build a logistics chain and ammo production base. Thats what wins.

An updated HK G33 is all anyone really needs. Simple, accurate, cheap. Reliable.

Agreed, and over engineered. It’s really a bit of a sports car where a 4x4 was needed. Super accurate and (despite rumours) eventually quite reliable, but at the expense of weight and simplicity.

The rationale at the time when asked “why not just buy M16’s or similar” was that we needed total control over the supply chain of our key arms. Completely agree with the sentiment, but where are we getting the raw materials to make our own rifles? Off the shelf next time, there are plenty of great options out there.

 

[8x57]

Did you blokes already know about this?
The SLR is due to return to the British Army!!! - Veteranweb
And yes, Aussie soldiers would certainly like a bit more grunt in their rifles.
Grant.

This is an old story that's been hanging around for some time now.
The British army went for the L129A1.

As for the Sa80 it's still a load of junk despite all the upgrades which have improved it considerably from the first versions. If it's any good why do the special forces dump it in preference to one of the AR derivatives at every opportunity and why are the Royal Marines moving over to the C7.

Royal Marines will get a new Colt C7 assault rifle and a complete rebrand

The Royal Marines will get a new Colt C7 assault rifle and a complete rebrand. The need for a full rebrand of the British Royal Marines comes as commanders of the 350-year-old Corps seek to end the blurring with Army counterparts and adopt a more “commando raid” approach, with smaller units...

special-ops.org

We couldn't even sell the Sa80 to the Falklands islands defense force, and no police forces have adopted it they all went for H&K or more recently Sig Sauer versions of the AR platform. Though a couple of police forces did use the Steyr Aug at one time, I seem to remember Avon & Somerset police using them some years back.

 

[Dave Lakes]

This is an old story that's been hanging around for some time now.
The British army went for the L129A1.

As for the Sa80 it's still a load of junk despite all the upgrades which have improved it considerably from the first versions. If it's any good why do the special forces dump it in preference to one of the AR derivatives at every opportunity and why are the Royal Marines moving over to the C7.

Royal Marines will get a new Colt C7 assault rifle and a complete rebrand

The Royal Marines will get a new Colt C7 assault rifle and a complete rebrand. The need for a full rebrand of the British Royal Marines comes as commanders of the 350-year-old Corps seek to end the blurring with Army counterparts and adopt a more “commando raid” approach, with smaller units...

special-ops.org

We couldn't even sell the Sa80 to the Falklands islands defense force, and no police forces have adopted it they all went for H&K or more recently Sig Sauer versions of the AR platform. Though a couple of police forces did use the Steyr Aug at one time, I seem to remember Avon & Somerset police using them some years back.

Other countries don’t use it because it’s about twice the price of other options (small numbers, no commercial version) and when we eventually move away from it there will be bugger all spares and aftercare as opposed to something mainstream from Colt for example.

SF have never used standard kit, and certainly won’t use the SA80 as the green foregrip clashes with their piercing blue eyes so it would never work.

The bootnecks couldn’t spell SA80 despite 20 years of trying, so have finally had to accept defeat and move to the C7 which they are having better success with.

In all seriousness I’m not saying it’s any better than other options, but it’s absolutely fine these days, certainly not junk. I do agree we should’ve got something off the shelf to begin with though.