Why "conventional" combat rifle over bullpup?
- Thread starter simonov jr
- Start date
The Vietnam War was won by conventional North Vietnamese infantry and armored forces only after US air support was removed from ARVN forces in '73.
The VC, the only true "guerilla" forces involved, were in essence vaporized following Tet. After that, it was NVA regulars, conventional infantry using not unknown tactics to either side, who carried the water for the Communist side.
The "untrained peasants fighting the superpower to a standstill" garbage is yet another myth of the Vietnam War.
The VC, the only true "guerilla" forces involved, were in essence vaporized following Tet. After that, it was NVA regulars, conventional infantry using not unknown tactics to either side, who carried the water for the Communist side.
The "untrained peasants fighting the superpower to a standstill" garbage is yet another myth of the Vietnam War.
Harley Quinn
Moderator
The bull pup
I like the name, Bull Dog, Pit Bull, Bull pup, must be english.
Harley
I like the name, Bull Dog, Pit Bull, Bull pup, must be english.
Harley
Technical issues:
1. Trigger: Especially since everyone is using STANAG compliant mags, it's hard to set up the magwell and receiver reasonably close to the grip; this forces the grip farther forward (unusually long pull of stock), and also means that trigger mechanisms have to be a lot longer than conventional setups. The SAR-21 gets around this by using a rigid transfer plate, and the F2000's trigger is reportedly decent.
2. Ejection: The F2000 has the best solution so far by simply ejecting forward, but that makes some people leery. What if you get mud in it?
3. Kabooms: The SAR-21 takes the smart way out, and the section where your face would go is made out of lots and lots of Kevlar.
Ergonomic issues:
1. Reloading: It's slower for people who are used to receiver-forward designs, but it really seems to be a matter of training.
2. Balance: This one's weird. A good bullpup is almost center-weighted, but this means that people who are used to receiver-forward balance (forward-weighted) think it's ass-heavy. In design, you have to be careful to not to put too much stuff in the back anyway.
3. Sight axis: sights are often pretty high above bore axis. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though, since it means that the bore axis goes lower into your shoulder and the weapon becomes more controllable.
***
I think it would be interesting if someone tried making an entirely new, straight round (similar to the 5.7x28, but bigger) so that they could do a top-feeder similar to the P90. Go to a quad-stacked column past the feed ramp, and you could get a LOT of capacity into the thing without making it impossible to fire from prone.
1. Trigger: Especially since everyone is using STANAG compliant mags, it's hard to set up the magwell and receiver reasonably close to the grip; this forces the grip farther forward (unusually long pull of stock), and also means that trigger mechanisms have to be a lot longer than conventional setups. The SAR-21 gets around this by using a rigid transfer plate, and the F2000's trigger is reportedly decent.
2. Ejection: The F2000 has the best solution so far by simply ejecting forward, but that makes some people leery. What if you get mud in it?
3. Kabooms: The SAR-21 takes the smart way out, and the section where your face would go is made out of lots and lots of Kevlar.
Ergonomic issues:
1. Reloading: It's slower for people who are used to receiver-forward designs, but it really seems to be a matter of training.
2. Balance: This one's weird. A good bullpup is almost center-weighted, but this means that people who are used to receiver-forward balance (forward-weighted) think it's ass-heavy. In design, you have to be careful to not to put too much stuff in the back anyway.
3. Sight axis: sights are often pretty high above bore axis. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though, since it means that the bore axis goes lower into your shoulder and the weapon becomes more controllable.
***
I think it would be interesting if someone tried making an entirely new, straight round (similar to the 5.7x28, but bigger) so that they could do a top-feeder similar to the P90. Go to a quad-stacked column past the feed ramp, and you could get a LOT of capacity into the thing without making it impossible to fire from prone.