The SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980s) is a British family of 5.56mm small arms. It is a selective fire, gas-operated assault rifle. SA80 prototypes were trialled in 1976 and production was completed in 1994.
The L85 rifle variant of the SA80 family has been the standard issue service rifle of the British Armed Forces since 1987, replacing the L1A1 variant of the FN FAL. The improved L85A2 remains in service today. The remainder of the family comprises the L86 Light Support Weapon, the short-barrelled L22 carbine and the L98 Cadet rifle.
The SA80 was the last in a long line of British weapons (including the Lee-Enfield family) to come from the national arms development and production facility at Enfield Lock. Its bullpup configuration stems from a late-1940s programme at Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield to design a new service rifle which was known as the EM-2, which though similar in outline, was an entirely different weapon.
| L85A1 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Assault rifle Light Support Weapon |
| Place of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1985–present |
| Used by | Bolivia, Jamaica, United Kingdom |
| Wars | Northern Ireland 1991 Persian Gulf War Bosnian War Kosovo War Sierra Leone Civil War Afghanistan Iraq War |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1970s–1980s |
| Manufacturer | BAE Systems Heckler & Koch Prexis Law Enforcement International Ltd |
| Produced | 1985–1994 |
| Number built | Approx. 350,000 |
| Variants | L85A1 Rifle L85A2 Rifle L86A1 Light Support Weapon L86A2 Light Support Weapon L22A1 Carbine L98A1 Cadet Rifle L98A2 Cadet Rifle PL-85 LEI SA80 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 3.82 kg (8.4 lb) (L85A1 empty) 4.98 kg (11.0 lb) (L85A1 with SUSAT sight and loaded 30 round magazine) 6.58 kg (14.5 lb) (L86A1 LSW) 4.42 kg (9.7 lb) (L22A1) |
| Length | 785 mm (30.9 in) (L85A1) 900 mm (35.4 in) (L86A1 LSW) 709 mm (27.9 in) (L22A1) |
| Barrel length | 518 mm (20.4 in) (L85A1) 646 mm (25.4 in) (L86A1 LSW) 442 mm (17.4 in) (L22A1) |
| | |
| Cartridge | 5.56x45mm NATO |
| Action | Gas-operated, rotating bolt |
| Rate of fire | 610–775 rounds/min |
| Muzzle velocity | 940 m/s (3,084 ft/s) (L85A1) 970 m/s (3,182.4 ft/s) (L86A1 LSW) |
| Effective range | 450 m with iron sights, 650 m with SUSAT (L85A2) 850 m (L86 LSW) |
| Feed system | 30-round detachable STANAG magazine |
| Sights | Telescopic SUSAT or ACOG scopes, aperture iron sights |
Operating mechanism
With the exception of the L98A1, the SA80 system is a selective fire gas-operated design that uses ignited powder gases bled through a port in the barrel to provide the weapon's automation. The rifle uses a short-stroke gas piston system located above the barrel, which is fed gas through a three-position adjustable gas regulator. The first gas setting is used for normal operation, the second is for use in difficult environmental conditions, while the third setting prevents any gas from reaching the piston and is used to launch rifle grenades. The weapon uses a rotating cylindrical bolt that contains 7 radially-mounted locking lugs, an extractor and casing ejector. The bolt's rotation is controlled by a cam pin that slides inside a helical camming guide machined into the bolt carrier.
Features
The family is built in a bullpup layout (the action is behind the trigger group), with a forward-mounted pistol grip. The main advantage of this type of arrangement is the overall compactness of the weapon, which can be achieved without compromising the barrel length, hence the overall length of the L85 rifle is shorter than a carbine, but the barrel length is that of an assault rifle. However, the adoption of this layout also means the rifle must be used exclusively right-handed since the ejection port and cocking handle (which reciprocates during firing) are on the right side of the receiver, making aimed fire from the left shoulder impossible.
The SA80 family is hammer-fired and has a trigger mechanism with a fire-control selector that enables semi-automatic fire and fully automatic fire (the fire selector lever is located at the left side of the receiver, just aft of the magazine). A cross bolt type safety prevents accidental firing and is located above the trigger; the "safe" setting blocks the movement of the trigger.
The L85 rifle features a barrel with a slotted flash suppressor, which also serves as a mounting base for attaching and launching rifle grenades, attaching a blank-firing adaptor or a bayonet.
The weapons are fed from a STANAG magazine, usually with a 30-round capacity. The magazine release button is placed above the magazine housing, on the left side of the receiver. When the last cartridge is fired from the magazine the bolt and bolt carrier assembly lock to the rear.
The weapon's receiver is made from stamped sheet steel, reinforced with welded and riveted machined steel inserts. Synthetics were also used (i.e. the handguards, pistol grip, buttpad and cheek rest were all fabricated from nylon). A Picatinny railed handguard was also developed for the type.
Sights
Rifles used by the Royal Marines, British Army infantry soldiers (and other soldiers with a dismounted close combat role) and the RAF Regiment are equipped with a SUSAT (Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux) optical sight, with a fixed 4x magnification and an illuminated aiming pointer powered by a variable tritium light source (as of 2006 almost all British Army personnel deployed on operations have been issued SUSATs). Mounted on the SUSAT's one-piece, pressure die-cast aluminium body are a set of back-up iron sights that consist of a front blade and small rear aperture. Rifles used with other branches of the armed forces when not on operations are configured with fixed iron sights, consisting of a flip rear aperture (housed inside a carry handle, mounted to the top of the receiver, replacing the SUSAT sight) and a forward post, installed on a bracket above the gas block. The rear sight can be adjusted for windage, and the foresight—elevation. In place of the SUSAT a passive night vision CWS scope can be used, and also—independent of the SUSAT—a laser pointer.
Weapons used by some Royal Marines, Infantry, Ministry of Defence Police and other soldiers with a dismounted close combat role in operations in Afghanistan have had the SUSAT replaced with the Trijicon Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG).
Accessories
The L85 is supplied with a sling, blank-firing adaptor, cleaning kit and a blade-type bayonet, which coupled with the sheath can double as a wire cutter (the sheath contains a small saw). The rifle can be adapted to use .22 Long Rifle training ammunition with a special conversion kit. The rifle variant also accommodates a 40 mm under-barrel grenade launcher such as the Heckler & Koch AG-36 40mm grenade launcher.
SA80 Variants
There are 4 main variants that make up the SA80 'family': the L85 IW Rifle, the L86 Light Support Weapon, the L22 Carbine and the L98 Cadet rifle. The family has currently undergone two major models, LxxA1 being the first issue weapons, and the LxxA2 to distinguish weapons that have undergone H&K upgrades. (the 'L' designation is for "Land Service".)
L85 Rifle
The L85 rifle (full name Rifle, 5.56mm, L85A2), in its improved A2 version, is the standard individual weapon for the British armed forces.
On operations the rifle is often fitted with a LLM01 Laser Light Module. The L85A2 can also mount the L17A2 UGL 40 mm underbarrel grenade launcher. The addition of the underbarrel grenade launcher adds another 3.30 lb (1.49 kg) to the L85A2's weight.
Magazines issued with the L85A1 were aluminium, and not very robust. There are now three types of magazine issued with the L85A2, the most recent being the plastic Magpul EMAG purchased as an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR), the other two are of steel construction with a stainless steel follower. The main variant is for live ammunition, and the other is exclusively used for blank ammunition. The blank variant is identified by yellow stripes on the magazine, and is designed to prevent the loading of live rounds. As blank rounds are shorter than live rounds, live rounds will not physically fit into the blank magazine. Blank rounds will fit into the normal magazine, but their slightly shorter length creates problems with jamming.
From 2007 an upgrade including the provision of ACOGs, a new handguard incorporating Picatinny rails (with optional hand grip/bipod), and a new vortex style flash eliminator is being introduced for use by selected units.
L86 LSW
The L86A1 LSW is a magazine-fed automatic weapon originally intended to provide fire support at a fireteam level. It has a longer barrel than the L85A1 rifle and a bipod, shoulder trap and rear pistol grip, together with a shorter handguard. The extended barrel provides an increased muzzle velocity and further stabilises the bullet, giving a greater effective range. The weapon is otherwise identical to the L85 version on which it is based, and the same 30-rd magazines and sighting systems are used. Like the L85 rifle, it has a rate-of-fire selector on the left side behind the magazine housing, enabling either single shots or automatic fire.
The increased barrel length, bipod and the optical performance of the SUSAT gives the weapon excellent accuracy. From its inception, the L86 was a target of criticism on much the same basis as the L85. The LSW has the additional issue (shared by any light support weapon derived from a rifle, for example the heavy-barrel FN FAL) of its inability to deliver sustained automatic fire as it does not have a quick-change barrel, and is not belt fed.
The primary use of the LSW has shifted to that of a marksman's weapon within many infantry sections, capable of providing extremely accurate precision fire at ranges of over 600m. The role of a light support weapon is instead filled with the L110A1 FN Minimi which is a belt fed weapon with a quick-change barrel.
The L86A1 was upgraded to the L86A2 at the same time as L85A1 rifles were upgraded to L85A2 standards, undergoing the same set of modifications.
L22 carbine
Based on the L85A1 a compact carbine known as the L22A1 was also developed with a short, 442 mm barrel (the weapon's weight, with the optical sight – 4.42 kg, length – 709 mm). The forward handguard was replaced with a vertical grip. The weapon uses the same SUSAT sight as found on the full size L85. The weapon has been upgraded with a Picatinny rail accessory rail instead of the fixed front grip. These carbine variants are used in small numbers by armoured vehicle crews.
L98 Cadet General Purpose Rifles
L98A1
The L98A1 Cadet GP Rifle was a general purpose (GP) rifle used by the Combined Cadet Force and Sea, Marine, Army and Air Cadets in the United Kingdom. It was introduced in 1987 replacing the .303 Lee Enfield No 4 rifles and .303 Bren guns used for weapons training. The L98A1 rifle is now no longer in use, it began a phased decommission in early 2009. UK cadet forces have now received the new L98A2 rifles and LSWs.
The GP rifle was similar to the L85A1 but without the gas parts. It was a manually-operated, single-shot rifle it had a cocking handle extension piece mounted on the right side of the weapon which was cocked with the right hand, it was fitted with adjustable iron sights.
The L98A1 had a number of design features that caused problems. A stoppage occurred if the cocking handle was not fully retracted and released because the spent round failed to eject cleanly fouling the breech and preventing the loading of the next cartridge. This fault was often caused by poor cleaning as dirt, grit and rain easily foul and removed the oil from the exposed cocking handle slide making the action harder to cycle. The absence of the flash suppressor on the L98 also prevented the fitting of a blank firing attachment (BFA) thus increasing the safety distance from 1m to 50m.
.22 conversions
Two conversion kits existed which enabled the L98A1 to fire .22 LR rimfire cartridges instead of the standard 5.56 mm NATO cartridge. This allowed the weapon to fire live rounds on .22 ranges when full size military ranges are unavailable. Both kits consisted of modified working parts (springs etc.), a special magazine that is the same size and shape as the standard 5.56 mm magazine and a special adapter, shaped like a 5.56 mm cartridge, which was fitted into the L98A1's breech. This adapter contained a smaller breech into which the modified bolt inserts the .22 cartridge. The modified magazine locked into the magazine housing exactly like a normal one would. The first kit was fitted with the standard GP cocking handle and worked in exactly the same way as a single-shot L98A1 cadet GP rifle. The second kit (the L41A1 sub-calibre adaptor) was fitted using a L85A1 cocking handle. It allowed .22 rounds to be fired semi-automatically using direct blow back against the bolt to cycle the next round. The conversion was not permanent and either kit could have been removed from the L98A1 in the time it took to normally strip and reassemble the weapon.
L103A1 Drill Purpose Rifle
There was a Drill Purpose (DP) version of the L98A1, known as the L103A1. It was similar to the 'GP' rifle, however, modifications had been made in order to deactivate it: the barrel was sealed by filling it with lead, the firing pin was cut and welded down to the bolt face and the hammer was filed down, making reactivation uneconomical. The weapons were used by cadets for weapons training. The 'DP' could be identified by a white stripe on the hand guard and near the butt of the weapon with the letters 'DP' in the stripe. the bolt carrier assembly (bolt) was painted red and this can be seen from the breech on the right hand side of the weapon.
L98A2
The L98A2 GP Rifle was introduced in 2009, as a replacement for the L98A1 Cadet GP Rifle. The main difference between the L98A2 rifle and the L98A1 is the addition of gas parts making the weapon semi-automatic. Unlike the L98A1 the A2 has the same cocking handle and operation as the L85A2. The L98A2 can be fitted with the Safe Blank Firing System (SBFS) incorporating a Blank Firing Attachment (BFA) and a blank-only magazine, this reduces the danger area when firing blank from the 50m of the L98A1 to 5m.
L103A2 Drill Purpose Rifle
The L103A2 Cadet DP Rifle is used by cadets for practicing rifle drill and weapons handling. The L103A2 contains similar working and gas parts to the standard live firing weapon.
Key distinguishing features and marks on the DP show that it is not capable for live firing:
- The bolt carrier is painted red
- The top cover is painted white
- The cheek pad is painted white
- DP is painted in white on both sides of the butt
- The firing pin is clipped short
- The striker hole in the bolt face is welded shut
- The barrel is welded into the barrel extension (the receiver)
- A portion of the barrel is cut away internally
- The barrel is welded shut
- The rear of the bolt is painted red
- Locking lugs are removed from the DP bolt and their corresponding lugs in the barrel extension welded shut
- A large metal block is welded into the TMH to fit into the hole cut in the barrel, preventing the DP TMH from being fitted to a live weapon
- There is no front post for the iron sights
PL-85
A semi-automatic variant has been manufactured for the US market in limited quantities by Prexis as the PL-85. This rifle is very much like the L98A2 mentioned above but can be recognised by its A1 style cocking handle.
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