"Brit Small Arms" Topic

Not having been Forces, am curious about 'Cold War' Squaddies felt about British Forces small arms?
SLR heavy… and ammo… but range and V Heavy Hitter. No full auto. Good for clouting or sticking. (Remember 77 Jubilee and being suprised to see SLR with wood stock!)
Stirling… good as light Auto for MPS or Officers, etc. Better than Sten, anyway!
Gimpys and Mod Brens… well liked.
SA80… early dropped to bits… but improved. Lighter, more ammo and Auto. Shorter range than SLR and not as H Hitter.
SF went with German or US… as to taste.
Just curious?

SLR. I did find it heavy but one gets used to it.
A very useful weapon.

The more awkward thing is carrying spare GPMG ammo.
I found the GPMG to very useful.
SMG not really part of a frontline fighting consideration.

Given a choice I would rather have had US webbing, boots, MREs and M16 rifle. Much lighter.

martin (infantry)

I had to use SLR.

It was like carrying a 20lb broomstick.

I'm sure anything it hit would be knocked down but a bit too big for close in work, eg in buildings.

Also the wooden stocks: I've seen them smoking with the heat after being used a lot on the range. Also had to use our berets to hold them with or else they'd burn your hands. And no we weren't even issued gloves.

Later models were all plastic and lighter and cooler.

Overall: we were supplied with whatever was cheapest. Other nations always had better kit than us.

Loved me SLR, complete with wooden furniture, until about 84. From 8 it was SMG for a few years until SA-80, a weapon that has improved with maturity but still lacks to hitting power of an SLR. The Small Metal Gun was a waste of space. On a European Battlefield, the SLR would have been a good weapon, as used by a good old Infantry section, now with smaller fireteams the weight of fire might be less than an SA-80, although after Afg there is a move to look at larger calibre wpns.

Survival aids did very well selling extra kit, and my belt kit contained various types of pouches, no kidney pouches. But well packed I could last up to 48 hrs on what I carried.

GPMG – superb, also liked the LMG,

Tally Ho!

Don't forget that the UK ;picked up nearly a hundred thousand M16 for Malasia and Borneo. They were mass issued to troops in 'Konfrontasi' from 1966 onwards. So you were just as like to carry one of those as an M16 if your unit was posted there.

I saw one of the original issue SA80 in BATUS in 1989 and it made the old Sten gun look like something that was lovingly crafted. They have been trying to imporve it for the last forty years and it is still sub par in most opinions.

As a R Sigs officer I was issued with 9mm Browning pistol: during the build-up to Falklands (most of my Troop went, in the end I didn't) I was desperately wondering how to acquire an SLR…