SA-80 Part 7: The Cadet Rifle with Forgotten Weapons
Perhaps wrapping up what must have been a gun nerd’s dream visit to the UK Royal Armouries National Firearms Centre, Ian at Forgotten Weapons has moved from the main SA-80 rifle into the sub-variants, which is a fascinating topic in and of itself. In this video, Ian has his hands on a Cadet’s rifle which is fundamentally a lever/bolt action SA-80.
Designed as the name implies for cadets, the rifles feature two notable changes from the front-line ready weapons systems. We’ve already mentioned the change to a lever/bolt action weapon, but have not covered the other major and obvious difference – the weapons lack optical sights, instead opting for a “carry handle” set of iron sights. Other minor differences include a lack of flash hider, replacement of the semi-auto system with an oil bottle, and removal of the full-auto selector.
Interestingly, the weapon is largely stock. The bolt carrier, bolt, receiver internals, and barrel are all the same as frontline weapons. The lever/bolt action is welded onto the side of the rifle and by using the combo, provides for excellent primary extraction making up for the camming surface of single-piece bolts common on true bolt action weapons.
For the full details on the rifle, check out the video from Forgotten Weapons below!
One of TFB's resident Jarheads, Nathan now works within the firearms industry. A consecutive Marine rifle and pistol expert, he enjoys local 3-gun, NFA, gunsmithing, MSR's, & high-speed gear. Nathan has traveled to over 30 countries working with US DoD & foreign MoDs.The above post is my opinion and does not reflect the views of any company or organization.
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Assuming that the Brit use of "Cadets" is the same as Canada's, these are for kids - like JROTC, not cadets at an officer training academy. Just wanted to clarify.
When Canada used the C1 (FN FAL) the Cadets were allowed to use the same weapons, but when we went to the C7 (M16A1.5), the Cadets had to keep using the C1s, because we were not allowed to let them touch a full-auto weapon, ever. Like not even unloaded on Cenotaph duty.
yes its a voluntary youth organisation for 12-18 year olds, a little like the scouts with a military uniform and ethos along with outdoor activities. Many british shooters started out using firearms in the cadet forces.
https://armycadets.com/
the L98 was generally hated as a rifle by the cadets as they replaced the .303 enfield and 7.62 SLR L1A1 that were used by cadets previously (I have memories of firing the 303 as a 13 year old and finding it a little harsh at that time!).
you could argue that the L98 was more suitable for youngsters to learn to shoot with, but as a fair number of cadets eventually go on to serve in the military it makes poor sense to teach them with a manual version of the service rifle. In recent years it has been phased out for a replacement which is Semi auto and as you can imagine is far more popular with the kids.
I have only ever seen one L98 in civilian hands in the UK and that was allegedly a parts-bin special, somebody paid quite a lot for it due to its rarity i believe.