This is my rifle. There are NOT many like it

During a firefight in Afghanistan in 2007, British soldier Pte Cole's SA80 rifle was hit three times by 7.62x39mm bullets! It continued to function and he continued to return fire, despite the fact that the scope, bodywork and pistol grip was ripped off the gun. Express and Star report ...

The first 7.62 mm Kalashnikov round hit the weapon head on, narrowly missing the barrel and tearing apart the bodywork, while the second blew the sight off and the third smashed into the side, ripping through the inside of the gun and blasting out of the pistol grip.

Miraculously none struck Pte Cole, already wounded twice in the battle, and last night he saw the remains of the weapon for the first time since it saved his life in the Taliban ambush two years ago.

The remains of the rifle is now proudly display at the 4th Battalion HQ.

[ Many thanks to Daniel E. Watters for sending me the link. ]

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Steve Dec 18th 2009 news, rifles Tags: , , , , , , 7 Comments

7 Responses to “This is my rifle. There are NOT many like it”

  1. Matt Groomon 18 Dec 2009 at 1:45 am link comment

    Hey! The SA 80 IS good for SOMETHING!

  2. Joe Con 18 Dec 2009 at 2:18 am link comment

    Thanks for the nice story. When I first read it, I was thinking M4. It was not until I went to the link for a pic of the weapons that I noticed it was an SA80. Might have been the related post underneath.

  3. Steveon 18 Dec 2009 at 2:40 am link comment

    Joe, good point. I have updated the post.

  4. Vitoron 18 Dec 2009 at 3:55 am link comment

    Hooray the SA80! I think it’s get more flack than it’s deserved since HK fixed most of it.

  5. Texas_Daveon 19 Dec 2009 at 12:23 pm link comment

    Gotta Love our English allies,

    What they lack in numbers and helicopters their troopers make-up for in courage and determination…

    Now if only the SA-80 could do something well besides stop bullets….

  6. Matt Groomon 19 Dec 2009 at 4:13 pm link comment

    Not cool, Texas_Dave! Everybody knows that any Brit worth a…ahem… uniform can beat some Jihadist bastard to death with that worthless hunk of steel they call a rifle! I mean it weighs, like, eleven pounds and I think that’s what they sell for over there!

  7. Destroyeron 18 Jan 2010 at 5:12 pm link comment

    at least the SA80 is good for something…

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