Semiauto SA80...anyone have experience?

[bouletbill]

Thankyou Peter , but I have never seen any advertised in France ! I suspect a surplus SA80 could be a tad pricey for someone on a shoestring budget like me . I was saving my centimes for an L1A1 which seem quite available at the moment , though the sub-calibre kits are apparently somewhere in the hens teeth dept.. My immediate problem is trying to extricate my .455 MkV Webley out of Bisley without spending more than it's worth . All things have to await their turn .

[Peter Laidler]

Of L1A1 sub cal kits, it's just the magazines that are rocking horse manure prices. Or so I've been informed!

[AmEngRifles]

Peter, couldn't find Charlie in an internet search??

On the Prexis PL-85, for that price, I would want a completed, ready to go weapon. Sheesh! $2,900.00 US (1,817 GBP). There are a ton of things I could get for less. Hell, I could get a semi auto Bren for $2,900 and wouldn't have to final finish anything! And in the lower echelon of semi auto look-a-likes, they all only run as fast as the man on the trigger.

I tend to buy like governments. Show me a good weapon, but you better be competitive with the pricing. If I can launch a 5.56x45 bullet from a quality rifle for $600 unit price, then I am going to be hard pressed to justify $1,200 a unit to launch the same bullet. I understand how bean counters think, but also appreciate a weapon has to be utterly reliable if one is to go in harms way with it.

[bouletbill]

Some of us want value for money , some of us (not me) just want and they are rich enough to pay . It's called supply & demand . I can't think of any other reason why a Bren that costs 250squid de-activated in the UK jumps to 2,900bucks in your back yard , with no more than a bit of fire-select mod'ing !

[breakeyp]

In the late 1980's, a Canadian dealer cut a deal with Enfield for the manufacture of about 24 semi-auto SA80s (parts removed and altered to Canadian Gov't approval) which he imported and sold off rather quickly. Enfield played the game as they wanted to develop commerical sales. Further dealings fell apart when the issue was raised in the British house as to why were commercial sales being sought when the military did not have all they weapons as needed. So there are some floating around in Canada. A friend obtained one along with the SUIT sight. I could have shot it but being lefthanded it didn't seem worth the bother.

[Peter Laidler]

That's absolutely correct PB. Mnay of these single shot SA80's, that we call the L98A1 version, filtered their way back to the UK and are quite popular in shooting circles here. Alas, the L98A1 version has now been withdrawn from Cadet Forces in fabvour of an A2 version that is identical to the standard Army issue SA80/L85A2 except that the Cadet variant only fires in the semi auto role. I've got one - as you'd expect......., and it always attracts a bit of attention. But that's as far it goes because we can't have the self loading version privately

[breakeyp]

Peter the ones that came into Canada were not single shot but full functioning semiauto and were of the intial production level. I wonder if they are the only unaltered SA80's left in original condition?

[Peter Laidler]

Ah........, original configuration....... The Canadian Govt let them into the Country because they knew that within a year they'd be next to useless. There was a semi auto version available for commercial sale here too and a few did get into private hands. But shortly afterwards, semi's were banned. That was a true stroke of luck really because the Government had to buy them in so the public owners never got to know just how, er....., I need to be careful with my choice of words here........, er...., yes, dire they were.

I imported a single shot SA80 back from Canada (with odd serial number range). But I have to say that there are no complaints about it now and it's certainly coping with the hard work it's being asked to do in the 'warm climates'