C8 For British Forces?

Gun Plumber said:
I had the privledge of firing the SA-80(avec scope) in Bosnia and it was a POS. Bits that would tear skin and heavy. Everyone liked my C7A1 so much better (they liked their scope though). Then in Kosovo I was part of a firepower demo and I had a C8. I thought that they were going to burn out the barrel. Troops from 15 different countries were lined up to shoot it! I tried out the new and inproved SA-80 or L-85 and, although they had made significant improvements, they were mostly just fixing the s**t that should never have been wrong in the first place. It was still heavy and prone to breakage and failure. A breeze to field strip and clean (thankfully as it was a daily req). Now with the C8 FTHB I don't even see why we need the C7. Maybe the C7 combat target rifle varient as a Section Sharpshooter but the C8 H-Bar is super accurate, light and tres usable. IMHO.
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We are stuck with the 20" barrel because of DND muzzle velocity requirements...
 
It took HK to fix the SA80. Small Arms review did a story on it a while back. The list of changes that HK did to the SA80 was amazing, like 14 major ones. Everything from ejectors to chamber dimensions.

Rich
 
Rich LPS said:
It took HK to fix the SA80. Small Arms review did a story on it a while back. The list of changes that HK did to the SA80 was amazing, like 14 major ones. Everything from ejectors to chamber dimensions.

Rich
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90 million pounds. Still doesn't work any better than it did before.
 
I wonder what (Diemaco) Colt Canada's share of the world market is both in military and police circles.
They do make excellent rifles, to bad they won't make sporter versions for civvies.

Personally, I prefer the C8 to the SA80, Sig550 and G36.
Having fired the latter two extensively, and a couple of mags through the SA80 in the nineties.
More for the weight and balance of the arm I prefer the C8.
To many experts so I won't waste folks time go into detail, just that the C8 is an excellent rifle.
 
Just wondering... The gas system on the C8... Is it a carbine length gas tube or a middy-length gas tube? Remember that the longer gas tubes have a reputation of the longer dwell/pulse/timing. :cool:

I cannot remember the size of gas tube when I played with an OD green coloured C8(A2???) with the heavier front end in July 2010 at NICSAC. :D All I know is that I was drooling on the new system. That's all!

Thoughts ?

Barney
 
Juster said:
The British Army got the M16 issued before the US Army. The cocking handle isn't perfect on the SA80. Apart from the used tin tray construction I liked the SA80 better than the SLR.
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if your going to say that can you back it up with actual proof?

u.s. army adopted. and fielded the m-16 in vietnam! as far as my information goes the britts, were still using the L1-A1 fal varriant at that time!
and they didnt realy adopt a small caliber rifle as standard, though the sas did use a few ar-18's and may have had a few m-16's laying about for testing!

feel free to add some actual sources to substantiate your claims!
 
Gun Plumber said:
I tried out the new and inproved SA-80 or L-85 and, although they had made significant improvements, they were mostly just fixing the s**t that should never have been wrong in the first place. It was still heavy and prone to breakage and failure. A breeze to field strip and clean (thankfully as it was a daily req). Now with the C8 FTHB I don't even see why we need the C7. Maybe the C7 combat target rifle varient as a Section Sharpshooter but the C8 H-Bar is super accurate, light and tres usable. IMHO.
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sums it up for me
 
Hungry said:
Just wondering... The gas system on the C8... Is it a carbine length gas tube or a middy-length gas tube? Remember that the longer gas tubes have a reputation of the longer dwell/pulse/timing. :cool:

I cannot remember the size of gas tube when I played with an OD green coloured C8(A2???) with the heavier front end in July 2010 at NICSAC. :D All I know is that I was drooling on the new system. That's all!

Thoughts ?

Barney
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Carbine length.
 
kickassnikov47 said:
ias far as my information goes the britts, were still using the L1-A1 fal varriant at that time!
and they didnt realy adopt a small caliber rifle as standard, though the sas did use a few ar-18's and may have had a few m-16's laying about for testing!

feel free to add some actual sources to substantiate your claims!
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soldier-allied-gurkha-borneo.jpg

The M16 (no bolt assist) was officially adopted by the US Air Force and the British Army.
 
The SAS first used the AR-15 in Borneo.

Edit: These rifles entered service in 1965, which would be after the first combat use of the M16/AR-15 in Vietnam.
 
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Juster said:
Not really. I have a picture of a guy with longish hair and a marine beret with an M16 (no bolt assist) in the Falklands.
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The AR15/M16 had no forward assist or casing deflector. The rear aperture sight had no windage setting. The US Air Force first got issued the AR-15 before the US Army adopted it. Eventually it got improved and became the XM16E1, which had the forward assist.

In 1962 the DoD purchased a thousand M16s and sent them to South Vietnam for fielding testing. There, American SF/LRRP units and South Vietnamese military employed the M16 for field trials. This all happened a couple years before the Vietnam War and another year after before they were officially adopted by the US Army, Marines, etc.

They may have even been field tested by other armies and soldiers even well before the South Vietnamese but likely in a very small number by very few.
 
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