> British soldiers had a barely functional, unreliable, rifle for years (the SA80) This is true, although the problems were all with the original A1 variant wh

> British soldiers had a barely functional, unreliable, rifle for years (the SA80) This is true, although the problems were all with the original A1 variant which, from everything I've read and watched, was absolutely an under-designed PoS. The subsequent A2 upgrade programme addressed these issues but it took about a decade longer than it should have done before it was implemented.