The SA-80 Family Comprises of 4 different variants of the same basic 5.56mm firearm. It is a bullpup, selective fire, gas operated weapon that is issued to the British Army, the Royal Marines and the RAF Regiment.
L85 IW
The L85 is the basic model used by most British infantrymen. It comes equiped with a SUSAT scope and can be fitted with a bayonet and/or Under slung Grenade Launcher. A newer version also has a forward grip and attachment rail
L86 LSW
The L86 is the fire support variant with a longer and heavier barrel, rear hand grip and a bipod. Originally it was used in the Squad Support role, but was replaced by the FN Mimi (the M249 SAW). It is now used in the designated marksman role.
L98 Cadet Rifle
The L98 is the variant of the SA80 that is used to the Cadet Forces in the UK. The main difference is the removal of a fully automatic fire mode. The A1 version also had to be cocked after every shot but is being replaced in 2009 by the A2 variant, which is semi automatic.
L22 Carbine
The L22 is the shortened carbine version of the SA80 that is issued to tank crewmen. It is 70 mm shorter than the L85 due to the lack of space inside armoured vehicles, but still has the optics of its bigger brothers. Most of them are based off L86A1 which have been phased out
The SA-80 series is known by many people for it unrelabilty based on the performance of the L85A1 in the first Gulf War. All of these issues have been fixed for the A2
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