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Ed your kit is out of date :P


Nutster
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M_P, do you have anymore photos of the LSW? I saw a prototype 2/3 years ago, but it got scrapped due to costs. The rail on that one looks a bit like the prototype B&T made a few years ago.

 

@Ian I can't fault your reply, although you seem to have a lot more faith in the government and the Foreign Office than I do.

(Although as someone who is forced to read Clausewitz's writing non-stop, I much prefer Admiral Hamilton's take on Clausewit's work, "Politics is the continuation of war by other means" )

I guess my main problem is that I'm worried that MoD is doing what it always does - think that all future conflicts or wars will be the same as the current war that they are fighting, and plan accordingly. ("we won't need X ever again! Let's scrap them. Oh crap...") Sensible procurement and the MoD rarely go together in the same sentence...

 

Getting back to the topic of painted weapons... - Joe, if that's the case, why just leave the rifle as a large block of tan? All you've done it change it from flat black to flat tan. Why not actually try to paint it camouflaged? Seriously, I'm sorry if I'm missing something obvious, but it just seems utterly pointless to change the colour from one solid block to another block. Then again, I learned my fieldcraft from the Navy, so I'm probably seeing it from their perspective.

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Cost might play a factor, more likely is the lack of common sense further up the chain :P

 

Solves all your questions Hugh, who knows what the MOD are thinking sometimes... :L

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I have faith that the politicians will do what politicians always do, Hubert... feather the nests of those who put them in power and/or keep them there. What soldiers do or don't have to do the job they are commanded to only matters to politicians twice - when it comes to allocating the contract for the kit and if/when the lack of it becomes a news item.

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I've got two others but they're so out of focus you can hardly see anything-I'll post them up later if you want?

I thought it looks more like the b&t l85 ris than the dd one so that makes sense

 

Either PM them to me or post them here, whichever you think is most relevant - I'm curious to see what it looks like.

The proto I saw a few years back was a modified DD rail. The bipod was removed, but the outrigger was still there but with some RIS bolted on. It had a Harris style bipod on the front and one of those folding fore-grips.

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on the tan of the rifle, do we expect any less of the head sheds of the armed forces? I believe the kit is getting better but some things are not adding up.

 

but armed forces personnel have always shall we say upgraded their kit.

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Well I was told the rumour by a friend who's a reg, still means it won't happen for ages I know, but it is probably going to happen. Apparently its not a very popular rifle.

 

And if you thought the A2 was bad you havent heard the hype over MTP yet.

I've heard very few complaints about the L85A2 (or the SA80 as it's known by anyone who isn't an airsofter), it's an accurate, reliable weapon which with the DD RIS is about as adaptable as a soldier needs it to be. A lot of the rumoured gripes from serving personnel about the SA80 is a really old throwback from the A1 which was pretty much universally hated for being a bag of turd. It's only significant down-side really is the weight, it's heavy for a 'modern' weapon.

 

Same goes for MTP, I've heard no complaints about the pattern or the newer style PCS cut of the current issue stuff. I personally wear PCS MTP very regularly for work and have done in climates varying from 40C+ off the coast of west africa down to -10C in the Antarctic and I have no complaints with it at all.

 

Needless to say, the SA80 WILL be replaced, one day. At the moment there area absolutely no steps being taken to even research a suitable replacement and with the budgeting crisis the MOD is in at the moment I wouldn't expect to see a new standard rifle for the UK armed forces for probably a decade or more.

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Longer probably, James. Although I expect that engineers are busy creating prototypes... Small arms manufacturers will have been doing very nicely out of the last decade so it's not as if they can't spare a few quid for R&D. People must live in hope, eh? As perverse as that sounds in this situation lol!

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