New Brit Sharpshooter Rifle is “Hoofing”
I have no idea what hoofing means, but it is apparently what the British Army's new AR-10 style L129A1 is, as described by Commando Sergeant Baz Evans in a UK Ministry of Defense Press Release (via. Kit Up blog ) ...
"I have fired over 1,000 rounds on the rifle in training; accurately hitting targets over 800 metres away. The new Sharpshooter rifle provides quick and accurate fire, with the flexibility of using it in the assault rifle role as well. It’s hoofing."
Lewis Machine and Tool who manufacture the rifle had it prominently displayed at SHOT Show.
This lady was kind enough to pose with the rifle!
@Nicholas,
Do you know if the HK417s in use with the British SAS have a stepped up bolt face, fluted chamber and adjustable gas regulator? There are over 20 different builds of the HK417 and I was just curious if the HK417s in use with the SAS have any similarities to the US standard production version.
major Taylor comment about the riffle was just a joke.all the special forces have no complain about the riffle as we all know the riffle hoofs but it will never be compared with L-M7
Well, all the countries who uses to use the M14 and L1A1 variants could have saved their money and just retrofitted to modern standards the best of the weapons they had left.
An older M14 or L1A1 worth a $1000 or less could be totally refitted and ready for service for less than $1000 again, and this in an economic climate that is not suited to costly purchases and the fact that the Lewis Sharpshooter costs nearly USD $5000 per unit in it’s basic form.
I can hear to told-you-so’s right now, and rightly so.
As a recently deployed and returned serviceman who will deploy again not too far from now, I cannot wait to get my hands on the Sharpshooter, but would accept in an instant the old L1A1 I used to carry and be perfectly confident with it.
The L1A1 rifles all wore out, basically.
The lack of effectiveness at range with some L85 is because they have succumbed to the trend towards short barrels: 5.56mm bullets that are not stable, slow down quickly as they present more side than nose to the airflow.
The British army’s definition of a sniper rifle is currently 8.59mm (ie: .338″ Lapua, which is a .338″ KT by another name and without a belt.)
Fighting in Belize, Borneo or Guyana might change that definition in, oh, days. In fact, the LM7 is one of probably only two weapons being used in Afghanistan that would be any help in secondary jungle, but it wouldn’t suddenly become a sniper rifle rather than a marksman’s rifle.
Jungle sniping has to be done from alarmingly close to the enemy, and if you get a shot over 300 yards, you’re a genius. But it is still possible to snipe, you just need something that makes no flash and little noise, which has the minimum of bits sticking out, and if it must have an adjustable stock, it has to be a single-pole telescopic affair. Otherwise, you will get a twig, or worse, sugar cane, stuck through it at an inopportune moment.
The LM7 qualifies on a lot of grounds: there’s not too much sticking out, and no obvious twig traps. But no 7.62mm is free of bang and flash. Something is needed, more like a modern De Lisle. This could be an LM7 chambered for something similar in power to 7.62mm but with a fatter bullet, allowing powder gases more expansion in a given length of barrel, hence less flash and bang (silencers as such too cumbersome). Heavier bullet more likely to keep a straight line in a twiggy environment.
British infantry (as opposed to the SAS) actually like automatic shotguns in jungle, (and indeed, in the Afghan green zone near the rivers, like a jungle miles long and a hundred yards wide) for several reasons:
You have to move your hand quite a long way to cycle a pump, this can be visible. Pumps tend to jam if you cannot move the action all the way, briskly and firmly, this is easy on the range, harder when you’ve carried a load all day in sweaty heat and you’re taken by surprise and very, very frightened.
The pump action itself picks up twigs.
They like to be able to keep a bead on the target(s) and pop off a couple of shots, this is easier with a self-loader than with a pump.
The SAS prefer pump actions, but this is mainly for opening doors with in hostage situations. The infantry are fighting with them, the SAS are not.
The British Infantry’s book on fighting with shotguns was largely written by Lt Colonel Riley Workman, in Burma during WW2, and in Kenya against the Mau Mau. (Don’t tell Mr Obama, he will be cross!)
Colonel Workman was murdered a couple of years ago, as he came to the kitchen door of his cottage in North East Hertfordshire, ironically by someone firing a shotgun loaded with SG buckshot, which is the standard British army fighting load. (No-one arrested for this, but one of the two probable suspects now in jail for killing the other suspect. There is no honour amongst poachers.)
The only thing that’s changed, since Workman worked out how to fight a jungle war with shotguns, is that they now use a Bennelli military shotgun instead of ROF-modified Browning automatic shotguns used in Kenya, and Malaya. This is available with a box magazine, but the British army uses a traditional tube magazine, mainly to let the man carrying the shotgun slip through thickets without getting caught up and noticed.
This may sound weird, but in jungle fighting, a shotgun can be very nearly a sniping weapon. The flash is less than a rifle, unless the barrel is stupidly short, and the bang is no worse. Even at seventy yards, the enemy may remain confused as to where you are. Unfortunately, the rest of your squad might also be pretty vague about where you are.
This is relevant because, it doesn’t seem as if Mr Chavez is going to let the century get very much older without trying to annexe chunks of Guyana. Not because he wants the resources, but because he wants extraction routes so that he can more efficiently rape the natural resources of his own country and get the loot (and the cocaine) out to the sea more easily.
And with pretty much all of the British Army either amongst the poppies in Afghanistan, or continuing to garrison Germany, one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nations, which can surely look after herself, Mr Chavez may think that Guyana’s commonwealth allies will be unable to come to her aid. He’s probably wrong, but won’t be happy till he’s tried.
Wholesale return to 7.62? I don’t think it will happen, no cash for it right now anyway.
Why is it so easy to get flamed by others on this blog? Where are the manners…… This is a great blog, but general lack of respect and inevitable pissing contests bring it right down. Are your skins so thin?
Rusty
UK SAS very satisfied with HK417. UK Army and Royal Marines equally pleased with LM7 (L129A1). Only real difference between them is piston system of HK417 versus DGI and added benefit of a monolithic rail in the LM7.
Versus the old L1A1 SLR, the HK417 reduces felt recoil substantially due to a very well damped buffer. I imagine that the LM7 is the same.
Interestingly, despite being a 7.62 mm rifle, the LM7 weighs almost the same as the 5.56 mm L85A2 5.56 rifle. Many voices within the UK advocating a wholesale return to 7.62 mm for all standard infantry weapons. Whatever, expect the British Army to buy many more of these weapons.
Personally, I’d like to see a 7 mm version (British .280/30) of both the LM7 and HK417. This ammo is just as effective as 7.62 mm to 2,000 metres.
Lance did you really mean L1A1? SAS have been using C7/8 etc for years. There are shots of them using HK 417 in ‘Stan recently why on earth would they use an L1A1?
If it’s reliable, light-weight, accurate, puts the target down with one round and has a “decent” size magazine, who cares what it looks like? Leave the pretty guns for the civilians.
@ Lance : The SAS is using the HK417 for thier DMR.
Still a very nice piece of kit.
George, Of course I know about the M110, do you think I’m stupid and do not know the nomenclature or weapons in the inventory? I was in the Army, 1/11th ACR.
That was my point, the M110 is an expensive rifle probably 3 times or more the cost of the LMT AR-10. They also serve completely different missions. One is a dedicated sniper system and the LMT model is a marksmen rifle on the squad level that can be used as an assault weapon, even, with it’s shorter barrel for CQB.
Big Daddy-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M110_Semi-Automatic_Sniper_System
Dang, it’s not very pretty.
I sure hope they aren’t using MIM parts in those rifles.
‘Hoofing’ in this context essentially means ‘big and powerful’.
Still I see the SAS useing older L1A1 over this for battle perposes.
Not as nice as a M-21 but a BIG improvent over the L-96.
Since the DOD does use both the 5.56mm and 7.62 I cannot see why a mix within an infantry squad would be an issue. Especially in certain terrain. But unless the weapon has gadgets, costs double what it should and not work 100% the DOD would never buy it.
So simple just an updated AR-10…..yet so effective. The KISS principle at it’s best. The Army always talks about KISS but never really practices what they preach because they do not listen to the people who actually have to fight. They listen to everybody but them in most cases.
My hat is off to the Brits for their decision to just buy the best weapon for the job. They kept it simple and it’s paying immediate dividends on the battlefield.
There’s a lesson here to be learned by everybody not just the DOD. Too bad most will ignore it.
Hoofing means “outstanding”, “excellent”
“Hoofing” in this context means “moving or operating very quickly and without external impediment”.
Hoofing usually means “running”; as in “I was hoofing it for the bus”.
http://www.aboutlanguageschools.com/language/slang/royal-marines-slang.asp
hoofing – good
Hoofing = Fantastic, brilliant
I got this when I searched for hoofing on Urbandictionary
>>used by bootnecks or matelots, to define various situations when one word will suffice and those around will know what context the word is used in. A typical multi-tasked word!!! Hoofing – great, brilliant, good, amazing, (sarcastic).
Hoofing means the dogs bollocks IE, THE SHIT.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoofing
hoofing
used by bootnecks or matelots, to define various situations when one word will suffice and those around will know what context the word is used in. A typical multi-tasked word!!! Hoofing – great, brilliant, good, amazing, (sarcastic).
a: what a hoofing run ashore! = we had a very good night out!
b: “you’re being charged for being adrift”(late to work, by your boss = muttered answer would be “that’s bloody hoofing” – sarcasm.
Nice rifle, but the rail system is not made by Daniel Defense – the LMT L129a1 actually sports a monolithic upper receiver
DD makes the rails for the L85. Please keep blogging, I really enjoy reading this blog.
wol, LOL, my memory failed me. Thanks.