How Heckler & Koch transformed unreliable L85A1 assault rifle into a battle-winner
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- čas přidán 30. 04. 2024
- With the experiences of the Gulf War to draw on, Heckler & Koch managed to turn the unreliable L85 into a fully functional assault rifle, but the update from L85A1 to A2 was not the end of the story.
In 2018, the A3 variant was rolled out, introducing a new raft of features that offered some real quality of life enhancements.
HK's second update package featured a modification to the body of the rifle, including a welded full-length rail for optional add-on kit such as a vertical foregrip, laser, infrared designator or torch.
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Another video with Jonathan Ferguson, the Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armoury Museums in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history. amazing!
Its a nice suprise to see Jonathan Ferguson, the Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armoury Museums in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history on another on of my watched channels.
It’s a lot of fun watching Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of firearms and artillery at the royal armoury museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history, talk about weapons
Lol came for this comment
1985 L85A1 Unit Cost: 500£
2000 L85A2 Upgrade Cost: 400£
2007 L85A2 Rail Upgrade Cost: 400£
2018 L85A3 Upgrade Cost: 1700£
Your elected officials are "Owned" just like our's in the U.S. Also you guys can't offset costs via civilian sales. Ironically American civis likely would buy L-85 variants if offered.
If that is true (Except for the A3), that's a steal. (I think the A3 costs come down to man hours)
Inflation
@@kenb.1096 Welfare contract and corruption too.
There is nothing more bizarre, unfathomable and insane as British MoD procurement. They ignore the successes of the past and endeavour to repeat all the mistakes.
Someone in the MOD had a real thing for bullpups, it's a shame after finally getting the kinks ironed out they are moving to AR 15 type system - but are shelling out for all the extras this time.
I love that SLR in the back
A real man’s gun
Heavy artillery
Man stopper, not a pea shooter
SA80 program is the perfect story of why Politics should only set the requirements and not get involved in development and production.
A rifle I like as much as my own country's Type 20 rifle.
whats the serial of that rifle? We produce those UID marks something looks off with that tag. It should have the NSN and Serial as human readable and from the photos it looks like it just has the serial.
Is it still the same rifle as the A1 or is it just using the same serial number, with almost every part replaced at some point?
Why was the Surefire-type flash supressor removed and replaced with the older, less effective version?
As above, why did it Have to change back on arrival to UK shores ?
Because the blank firing attachment couldn’t be fitted to it
And I presume neither could the old SA80 bayonet either.@@tomstravels520
Always surprised me why they didn’t just dust off the EM2 project and update it instead of wasting money on the Wish version.
By all accounts it was a fine weapon sabotaged by politics.
EM2 needed expensive engineering, but it was good, and larger ammunition too! More stopping power.
@@davidbarrett1487 even changing the calibre to 5.56 it would probably still made a better weapon instead of what we got . What we have now is the equivalent of spending £1000000 to modify an old Lada . Sure it’d be a lot better than what it was but you could just get a brand new car for far cheaper.
@@durkin9664 Yes, it was a nice looking & machined as they used too! I don’t know the barrel lengths etc so I can’t say on performance with different sizes. The L1A1 FN was beautifully made at RSAF ENFIELD and very powerful at stopping opposition, but it was old school.
There is nothing inherently mechanically wrong with the SA80.
It was entirely down to bad manufacturing, and qaulity control.
If the manufacturer of the sa80 tried making the EM2 it would of ended even more poorly.
@@davidbarrett1487. I think the new US army rifle calibre equivalent of the British .280?.possibly could save money????
This video would get much more views if the title said it has Jonathan Ferguson in it
2 cigs and a lighter inside the handgrip for smokebreaks during squarebashing lol
Deja vu, huh.
❤👍
At least you know that when you see the l85 on the battlefield its probably the british. Every other army uses such similar looking ar designs that you would struggle to tell them apart
Well, as long as it's not the Rangers or RM Commandos. It should probably tell the British something that their special forces and elite units, along with almost all of NATO, prefer the AR-15 design
@@USN1985dosit’s called different roles and responsibilities. The AR platforms have their own benefits especially for maritime and SO. The bullpup design has benefits for conventional forces. Let’s not forget the M4 had issues in Afghanistan with the distance of engagements, and the poor US marines were going door to door with the m16 in Fallujah, also relatively speaking you get alot more options for accessories with the ar platforms. Just to touch back on the m16, the SA80 has a longer barrel.
@carwyngriffiths The M16 A2 has a barrel that is 10 mm shorter than the SA80. Like the SA80, it does fine with long distance shooting, but it does not handle as well in confined spaces.
@@natquesenberry6368 mhm, fantastic rifle for its intended role mind.
You can't polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter.
Noooo ways brits get rid off keymode handguard on A3 and get mlok :DDD !!!! finally positive news :D
Keymod was only in testing because they were nicking it off the G36 handguard production line.
Who is it that’s so eager to keep this thing? Can we just move over to an AR platform already like we should’ve done in the 80s
why cant the country that gave us purdy /holland and holland and some accuracy internatonal just design their own decent erganomic battle rifle with a decent "better than .556 round , seems silly , like keeping metal armour after canons were invented
Brits bought H & K and sent our engineers to H& K. They were determined to shut RSAF ENFIELD LOCK & flog the land. Most guns can have faults, which are rectified by the manufacturer. Massive anti story to suit the politicians. ENFIELD had a great history of small arms manufacture, what a terrible insult to Enfield, and remember all guns produced go through huge destructive tests of extreme nature? The rifle was ahead of its time with a very long barrel & highly accurate. They shut the Gunpowder works at Waltham Abbey too! The land joined with ENFIELD LOCK right along the RIVER LEA.
Thanks for the info
The whole "L85 is so accurate" thing is just cope. Its accuracy is not more remarkable than any other 20" 5.56 rifle. (The orignal M16 also hade a 20" barrel.)
The Austrians had the AUG, a bullpup rifle with 20" barrel and integrated optic in 1977, before the L85. It is still by many to be considered the best bullpup design.
@@BarrowX The AUG lol, junk.
@@BarrowX do you think barrel length dictates accuracy (or more importantly, precision)?
Lots of ill-informed comments here. Perhaps consider reading up on the subject (Jonathan has written a definitive history) before shooting from the hip, as it were.
That SLR should still be the standard rifle, hell there is even a 5.56 variant of it.
The SA80 series has its faults but the SLR/FAL was rather inconveniently long, not very modular, not very accurate and the larger/heavier round meant really limited ready ammunition loads -- 5x20rnd IIRC, whereas current SOP is 6x30rnd. It was a solid bordering on mediocre choice in the early 50s but significantly surpassed by the 80s.
The CAL (the 5.56mm version you mention) was an absolute flop because it had most of the faults of the SLR/FAL and there were a lot better options by then.
On paper the SA80 was a decent option in the mid 80s but the A1 was hampered by incomplete development, lacklustre QC and ignorant subcontracting of parts, sometimes using inappropriate manufacturing techniques. The A2 upgrade ironed most of these issues out, albeit 2 decades too late.
All those improvements but still none of them for left handed soldiers?
Well you could, it would hurt a lot though lol
They did make a version and then decided not to implement, probably because of costs and also the complicated ness of the extremely unreliable and fall to bits A1.
It can be fired impromptu from the left hand by tilting the rifle so that brass ejects downward. Otherwise, it was thought better to just train all troops to fire right-handed as that would simplify parts procurement and better use training resources. Why it didn't incorporate a downward or forward ejection mechanism a-la the RFB or F2000, is because this weapons design is quite old - as is the M16/M4.
Which politician got a backhander
Where is he today.
SLR all the way……had to say it….😂😂😂
Did you guys learn about “open standards”?
And, how one, size fits “all”?
That takes time. In IT , you “cut a path” you go “de-facto”. You want to roll it out to all? You go “De-Jure”.
De-Jure takes longer, which is why those who want to move ahead go de-facto. They align their supply-chain to de-facto. And, if they’re smart, they keep an eye on dejure.
As long as you are right handed it's a winner. If you're a lefty, too bad. That's a big flaw.
Ive notice this weapon has no iron sight,flip up or fixed is that a sensible idea .
Can be fitted easily to the rail.
The standard sight on the A3 has a red dot CQB sight on top
SLR ❤
So 40 years after it was initially planned to enter service you now have a version with all the bugs worked out “allegedly”. What’s the next step why adopt a rehashed version of the AR16/M16 that first came into service round 60 years ago!
The A2 has been in service since 2001, 23 years and working well...
Keyhole. I see what you did there.
Looks a heavy monstrocity, you people are clueless. What is wrong with the C8 carbine that the SAS use?
A cynical man (or woman/other) might wonder why Forces News are extolling the A3 less than a year before it reaches its end of life and the MoD will have to payout for a new service rifle. I hope that the cynical man (or woman/other) is just being cynical and that 'someone' is not looking to extend the service life of the SA80 even further than it has already by telling us all how good it now is?
Never understood why we need a gun of our own. Why cant we simply buy what has been tested to death by the US? Whats the point of reinventing the wheel when the Americans have done all the hard work?
scrap the hole weapon and go straight to KS-1 rifle
That would be the best option but I’m sure the RM paid £5k per KS-1 package can’t see that being rolled out to everyone most likely the C8 or C7 will be the general replacement still a massive improvement in my eyes.
It's Whole my friend, Whole not hole.
HK416 will be selected to replace L85A3 mark my words.
ks1 is THE BEST ar15 style rifle, and amazing for special operations ect. to expensive to give to everyone. HK416, or even just demarco c8's would do everyone else best i reckon
Looks weird with all the different colours
I know. Looks like it's been cobbled together.
Remember is you vote conservative this is what you vote for
what a sad history this weapon has, and then you need the Germans to make it fire! Where has the English weapons industry arrived? You can't defeat the Russians like that!
The idea is to wittle down self reliance so that an EU defence force/army can be formed out of 'necessity'.
That's the primary reason the traitorous MP's have been totally shafting the armed forces since Blair - their machinations of an EU Army. They create the problems when they have the solution to them on the back burner so that people are manipulated at the polls to vote for the predetermined solution.
I did respond, but comments are being censored.
My chuckle for the day
The worst rifle ever made.
You tested them all have you?
@@tomstravels520 completed LV 10 boss.
@@rogerlivsey7046 that’s a very different response to what you said 20 mins ago then quickly deleted. I doubt being in the army you fired that many different rifles