Sa80

rtaylor1956

rtaylor1956

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Just a question, in the UK I was stuck with a bloody awful rifle for a while the SA80, it was frought with problems even before it went into mass production, millions of pounds have been spent trying to put right the faults to no avail, a large number of the rifles were also produced for training purpose in .22 with many coming to Canada, has anyone any idea where they are and can we purchase them???

In .22 they are a lot of fun:runaway:
 
Never heard of a .22 version, except for a replacement bolt, similar to some US .22 conversions for ARs. The straight pull / no gas system "cadet" rifle was still in 5.56mm as far as I know.

I do think that there are one or two registered in Canada, but no nore are importable or available to the best of my knowledge.
 
Enfield_SA80_DP.gif

L98A1

Bullpup therefore this was banned in an OIC in the 90's in Canada.

The UK has sent thousands of these 5.56 L85 (SA-80) rifles to be repaired and retrofitted by Heckler & Koch in Germany.
 
I was told, by my memory, there were like 50 SA80 imported into Canada.

The HK SA80A2 is one of the most reliable rifle outthere - I think about 250,000 of rifles were converted out of the 500,000 in inventory.

The SA80A2 has a new piston, new charging handle, new bolt and a new hammer. Specifically, the center of mass of the hammer was shifted more to the center to alter the locking time. There were also some tolerance problem with the original piston.

I heard that one of CGN sponsor is getting a SA80 for some studying soon......
 
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I watched a Brit officer unload an SA80(whatever variant), clear for inspection and make safe in a matter of seconds. He didn't seem to hesitate.

The troops I spoke to were indifferent. They used what they were given. When I looked at those SA80s in pieces, I saw a lot of little pieces. Whatever the improvements, it is not the POS initially delivered.
 
When H&K did the fix, they basically re-built the inside of the gun. New bolt, all kinds of internals, and "machining to clear feed and ejection paths". The cost was such that the Brits could have bought completely new rifles for the same money, and essentially, they did.

Supposed to be better by an order of magnitude, but the suspicion still lingers. Look how long it took the M-16 to outlive its early bad reputation.

Bottom line, the rifle was rushed into production without enough development and "soldier proofing". The QC was awfull too, and the mid-stream privatisation of Royal Ordinance didn't help much either.

I would have liked to see how the original 4.85 version functioned, since it looked considerably different, and not as cheaply made.
 
I allso was issued the SA80 never has any \FTF FTE issue with it, very good on the range.
Had a crappy trigger like most issued guns, did not get to use it is the sand box but i did carry it where it would rain allmost non stop for weeks at a time. no issue.
Not that i found it heavy, but it was heavy for a assault weapon.
The issues stem from the fact they stole the consept for the bankrupted stirling gun company and the AR18.
The brits should have gone with the sig or the m16.
bbb
 
Kenogami Gun Shop got around 30 or so of them in the early 90's. They sold all of them for $2500 ish. The last one was cut in half and sent to the states. They were complete with optics and semi auto. I loved going into that store. Havent been back in a long time unfortunately.
 
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