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The British army only just relented - the new SA80 is the first fully automatic rifle to be standard issue.
by iujyhgftrgh 16y ago
The British army only just relented - the new SA80 is the first fully automatic rifle to be standard issue.
- ZoFreX 16y agoThe LSW variant has always been fully auto and is 25 years old, and the L85 is to this day semi-automatic and is the main rifle in use in the British army. I don't see how they've "only just relented". Full auto isn't that useful anyway! The ability to empty your magazine in a second comes in handy less often than you'd think. In fact the US Army's M16 was changed from automatic to semi-automatic, so it seems there is a movement in the other direction.
- icegreentea 16y agoThat's not exactly true. The SA80 isn't exactly new. It was in use during the Falklands for example. And the British Army used a version of FN FALs before the SA80s were adopted, and those were also automatic rifles. Now, I'm pretty sure 'automatic' fire was burst limited. But that's pretty much nearly universally accepted as a good idea in main infantry rifles.
- iujyhgftrgh 16y agoIt was standard issue from about 1985/1986 - before that they used self loading rifles ie. one trigger - one round.