h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Njan: In our shooting team we always have our left hand as far forward as possible, with the index finger around the front of the grips next to the barrel for better stability and control. We use the thumb and index finger of the right hand for toggling the safety catch.

237325: Thanks for the info! We could have done with that when editing the article, but now it's a little difficult for us to do that, unfortunately. I've got no idea how the term "bullpup" came about, either.

If you're laying an ambush or initiating a contact, you have plenty of time to gently and quietly lay off the safety catch before you take aim.

If you're being ambushed or bumped, the accuracy of the first couple of rounds isn't an issue at all - you just need to lay down some fire so you can find a decent firing position.

Only really applies on the SA80 though... if you can find a course that lets you use them, do it. Now.

Cdt. Sgt. James Freedman, CC Winchester College CCF RM Section.

Yeah, im a cadet too, L/Cpl Blackford, Crowborough detachment, Sussex ACF. Just some quick stats on the L98 A1 Cadet GP rifle. It's muzzle velocity is 900mps and it is a damn sight heavier than the SA80. I used one one a CQB range, and the difference is amazing. I have also fired the LSW, and while being quite a beast to lug around, after three years of having to cock a hunk of junk after every shot, letting a full mag go at a group of unsuspecting cadets in about 8 seconds, ooh that felt sooo good.

To be fair to the SA-80 now, they do have custom made 40mm grenade launchers fitted to the grip now, called the UGL (underbarrel Grenade Launcher), which has seen real combat service in Basra over the last couple of years, and is well liked, by all accounts. There's also custom made barrel lights, a bit better that bodge taping a maglite under the barrel!

FWIW, having fired the original SA-80 a lot a long time ago (like over ten years since I last touched one), two odd things about shooting I found worked for me.

Firstly, when shooting prone, I found it better to stick my left arm horizontally under the barrel and stick my fingers down towards the ground, making a bipod, basically. Resting the forestock over that I found I could maintain the position better than holding the forestock in my hand. Our infantry PSI would have kittens to start with, but when you can hit a figure 12 (half-man sized, to the uninitiated) target one time out of two at 500 metres using iron sights, he tended to leave me alone.

The second was when doing an advance to contact on a range, i.e. walk forwards and engage targets as they pop-up, when engaging from the kneeling position, I got best results by sticking left leg forwards, knee up close to my chin, and parking my arse on my right foot under me.

Two advantages I found.

One, the slight V formed by the back of the pistol grip and the bottom of the magazine sits very stable on my knee, with similar shooting results to the homemade bipod, as above.

Two, it keeps your arse dry!

Last little tip for the lazy out there, I don't know if the SUSAT mounting has changed since, but on the old ones, the lugs on the screws that fixed the SUSAT in place were vertical when it was fully tightened. On long tabs, to take the strain off your arms in carrying it, simply hook the lug into the top pocket on your smock/combat jacket and hey presto, the weight gets transferred to your shoulders not your arms!