Hmmm... did Colt buy HK years ago without us knowing it??? 
Story
MoD calls in 200,000
rifles
Richard Norton-Taylor
Saturday June 24, 2000
Two thirds of the 300,000 standard rifles
used by British armed forces are to be
withdrawn from service in an extensive
£80m modification programme, the
Ministry of Defence announced yesterday.
It is the latest twist in a saga which has
caused the ministry acute embarrassment.
Soldiers have been complaining since the
1991 Gulf war that the ministry-designed
SA 80 rifle is prone to jamming
It was also described as "unreliable and
insufficiently robust" in a leaked report
from British commanders in Kosovo last
year.
In 1995, the MoD ordered full-scale tests
to be carried out. Heckler & Koch was
asked to study the weapon and reported
back in 1998. A final report was handed to
the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, last
December after what the MoD described
as comprehensive climatic trials.
The weapons will be stripped in Britain but
are likely to be remade by Heckler &
Koch's plant in Oberndorf, Germany,
which designed the modifications.
Changes will be made to the weapon's
barrel, bolt head, hammer, firing pin,
magazine, springs, and cocking lever.
Heckler & Koch is a subsidiary of Royal
Ordnance, which is owned by the British
company BAE Systems. The rifle entered
service in the mid-1980s when Royal
Ordnance was part of the MoD. Critics of
the weapon blame the problems partly on
the ministry's determination to produce a
British-made gun rather than buy foreign
models.
Baroness Symons, the defence
procurement minister, said that 22,000 of
the modified weapons will be delivered by
the end of next year.
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited June 24, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited June 24, 2000).]
Story
MoD calls in 200,000
rifles
Richard Norton-Taylor
Saturday June 24, 2000
Two thirds of the 300,000 standard rifles
used by British armed forces are to be
withdrawn from service in an extensive
£80m modification programme, the
Ministry of Defence announced yesterday.
It is the latest twist in a saga which has
caused the ministry acute embarrassment.
Soldiers have been complaining since the
1991 Gulf war that the ministry-designed
SA 80 rifle is prone to jamming
It was also described as "unreliable and
insufficiently robust" in a leaked report
from British commanders in Kosovo last
year.
In 1995, the MoD ordered full-scale tests
to be carried out. Heckler & Koch was
asked to study the weapon and reported
back in 1998. A final report was handed to
the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, last
December after what the MoD described
as comprehensive climatic trials.
The weapons will be stripped in Britain but
are likely to be remade by Heckler &
Koch's plant in Oberndorf, Germany,
which designed the modifications.
Changes will be made to the weapon's
barrel, bolt head, hammer, firing pin,
magazine, springs, and cocking lever.
Heckler & Koch is a subsidiary of Royal
Ordnance, which is owned by the British
company BAE Systems. The rifle entered
service in the mid-1980s when Royal
Ordnance was part of the MoD. Critics of
the weapon blame the problems partly on
the ministry's determination to produce a
British-made gun rather than buy foreign
models.
Baroness Symons, the defence
procurement minister, said that 22,000 of
the modified weapons will be delivered by
the end of next year.
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited June 24, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited June 24, 2000).]
