Comments by "" (@neutronalchemist3241) on "Enfield L85A1: Perhaps the Worst Modern Military Rifle" video.

  1. Only in 1977, altough many assault rifles had already been designed for it, since the parent cartridge was already in use by the US. The French, that had to replace the ageing MAS 49/56, adopted the FAMAS right after, in 1978. British and Italians adopted a 5.56 Assault rifle in 1985 (L85-A1 and Beretta AR 70/90), and the Germans waited until 1995 for the G36.
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  2. 1) It had been put in service in 1985 with a 1945 mindset, where ease of mass production was all that mattered. See the overuse of simple stamped metal parts, the non existence of ambidextrous features... 2) it had been adopted without a real competition. There were not alternatives, so no better design to compare it with.
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  3. FAMAS any day. Ergonomically it's on another planet even in respect to the A2, and, at least with the rounds it was designed for, it's reliable.
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  4. If a service rifle would require to right-hand soldiers to shoot from the left shoulder, we'll simply call it crap regardless of all the other considerations. The fact that the L85 requires 10% of the soldiers to use it from the wrong shoulder makes it 1/10 crap.
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  5. Peter Pang The supposed fact that lefties in HM armed forces didn't complain about an AR that requires them to shoot from the right shoulder doesn't make this less of a defect. It's the problem to have to work around the tool instead of having the tool to work for you. Really the fact that British soldiers are not used to complain about their equipment probably covered many of the defects of this weapon until it was too late.
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  6. And the will to adopt an indigenous design anyway, even if, in the mid '80s, there were better options around, even among the bullpups.
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  7. Apart for the problems, compared to the FAMAS and the AUG, despite those had been adopted earlier, the L85 seems to be a weapon of a previous generation. Stilistically, constructively and ergonomically, it seems more a close relative of the AK47 and the Sturmgewer 44 than a weapon of the ’80s. Remove the plastic parts, and it could easily pass for a last ditch weapon of the Third Reich.
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  8. Infact. It's a rifle designed for "old school" mass production that entered in service when the era of mass produced individual weapons was at it's end.
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