The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Blackstuff wrote:I couldn't think of a worse rifle to have as a straight-pull, the position of the cocking handle must make it terrible to operate

Ever shot one?
Except for the quirky bolt release and magazine catch it is one of the nicer to operate and ergonomic straight pulls out there, some would say better than some straight pull AR15. I liked shooting it in my cadet days.

They made some clever changes to help with primary extraction, one of those changes was to move the bolt handle further forward and onto a rail. The bolt handle was also levered giving even more help to un-stick a fired case from the chamber, an external rod connected from the bolt handle back to the bolt itself. It worked surprisingly well albeit smaller cadets struggled with it especially how you held the rifle to lock the bolt back for inspection, it was technique over strength in that respect.

It was a pity that it wasn't sold into the civilian market, the few that are in civilian hands in the UK came from odd sources. A guy at my previous club had one dressed up with parts to make it look like an Afghan spec L85A2. It was very accurate, if my memory serves me right his was one sold to Canada for marketing and came back.

Fedaykin wrote:[
It was a pity that it wasn't sold into the civilian market, the few that are in civilian hands in the UK came from odd sources.

Being an odd source can get you into trouble.

I'd love a straight-pull one....

When they swapped my L1A1 for the L85 I was overjoyed... better balanced, easier to handle, and more accurate.

As 2 IC of a squad I had the added advantage of a SUSAT, which gave me confidence I could hit anything out to 600yds.

BamBam wrote:

Fedaykin wrote:[
It was a pity that it wasn't sold into the civilian market, the few that are in civilian hands in the UK came from odd sources.

Being an odd source can get you into trouble.

Well indeed, the one I saw came from Canada (I think if memory serves) via legit sources. As far as I am aware none owned by the MOD were released when the L98A1 was replaced with the L98A2. Real shame IMHO but on the other hand they were well used and I bet the MOD didn't want the liability.

The few that are legally in UK hands were those that British Aerospace/RO sold to other countries as samples. So for example Bae sell sample rifle to Canadian Army, Canadian army many years later decides to get rid of it as the thing is gathering dust, rifle ends up surplussed out at an auction, civilian dealer buys it as a curio and finally UK collector hears of it and sorts out the suitable paperwork to import it back.

Fedaykin wrote:

Blackstuff wrote:I couldn't think of a worse rifle to have as a straight-pull, the position of the cocking handle must make it terrible to operate

Ever shot one?

Thankfully not, I didn't think it possible to make the gun look any worse but there you go! Now where's the eye bleach?

You would genuflect if they sprayed it black.

dromia wrote:You would genuflect if they sprayed it black.

Best not to genuflect, but simply to admire.

Just a thought, wonder what happened to the L98 straight pull rifle that was an issue.

Stored away in a police lockup somewhere, soon to be for sale maybe.

dromia wrote:You would genuflect if they sprayed it black.

Black you say....... Nah its the boxey-Chinese-workshop looking body, broken looking trigger and cut-out piece of a coke can trigger guard that puts me off. Plus the handguard and lets not forget its not black.

Blackstuff wrote:

dromia wrote:You would genuflect if they sprayed it black.

Nah its the boxey-Chinese-workshop looking body, broken looking trigger and cut-out piece of a coke can trigger guard that puts me off. Plus the handguard and lets not forget its not black.

The Chinese QBZ-95 is much better, not boxey-English-workshop looking......and it's black