POTD: F88 Austeyr – Champion Shot of the Australian Defence Force

by Eric B

Published: March 11th, 2021

potd f88 austeyr champion shot of the australian defence force

Photo Of The Day – We take a look at the Australian F88 Austeyr, which is of course easy to misinterpret as an Austrian Steyr AUG STG-77. The pictures are from the 2020 Army Skill at Arms Meeting Champion Shot, a competition to test the skills of shooters through realistic and challenging scenarios.

An Australian Army soldier from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment seeks cover during the moving target serial of the Australian Army Skill at Arms competition at the Greenbank Military Range, Queensland.

Below you can read the PR from March last year.

Champion Shot awarded at Australian Army Skill at Arms Competition

The Australian Army is proud to announce the 2020 Army Skill at Arms Meeting (AASAM) Champion Shot of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has been awarded to Lance Corporal Nicholas Latham from 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.
AASAM is an important annual event for Army and the ADF which demonstrates the highest levels of fitness and proficiency at arms.
The competition tests the skills of some of our elite shooters through realistic and challenging scenarios requiring them to demonstrate sound judgement and rapid decision making.
It also provides a unique opportunity for soldiers, sailors and airmen to test their technical skill as part of the ADF team.
The Champion Shot medals were presented to the following service winners after the final event of the competition on Thursday 19 March.

Australian Army: Lance Corporal Nicholas Latham from Townsville’s 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

Royal Australian Navy: Sub Lieutenant Jerome Dillon-Baker from Nowra’s 723 Squadron.

Royal Australian Air Force: Flight Lieutenant Rohan McBride from RAAF East Sale’s Officer Training School.

Shooters competed in both team and individual events, including assault courses, simulated close-quarter fighting, moving targets and night time marksmanship matches.

Photos by CPL Chris Beerens, Australian Army.

F88 Austeyr – I think the name is absolutely brilliant.

#Australia #F88Austeyr

Eric B

Ex-Arctic Ranger. Competitive practical shooter and hunter with a European focus. Always ready to increase my collection of modern semi-automatics, optics, thermals and suppressors. TCCC Certified. Occasionaly seen in a 6x6 Bug Out Vehicle, always with a big smile.

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12 of 46 comments

Mark on Mar 11, 2021

Its weird, the top photo shows the F88 with the integral factory shell deflector (for firing from the off side shoulder) while the second pic shows the rifle without the shell deflector.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

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- See 5 previous
- Mark on Mar 12, 2021
  
  @Mark https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
  
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- Jono102 on Mar 12, 2021
  
  @Mark They have only recently started to be issued to Army units so some have them, some don't. They trialed ones previously but didn't like them and these ones are 'apparently' a development from that.
  
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- Mark on Mar 12, 2021
  
  @jono102 Thank you for that update. I have the aftermarket Corvus shell deflector on my AUG and it works great. And a few dudes on bullpup forum have just glue a little block of wood by their ejection port, and also found that to work.
  Surprised there'd be any issue with the factory designed shell deflector, especially since that was one of the major design upgrades.
  
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- Jono102 on Mar 12, 2021
  
  @Mark The EF88's never actually had a factory designed shell deflector where as the later F90/export versions did. The ADF didn't put much effort into it till after they were in service for a bit.
  
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- 360_AD on Mar 12, 2021
  
  @jono102 Likely a small detail they didn't think necessary until units started using them in urban warfare.
  
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- Jono102 on Mar 12, 2021
  
  @360_AD Before the EF88 came into service (like other bullpup equipped forces) they trained around the issue with the F88 during urban operations and training. Unlike the F88 the EF88 had the ability to have one fitted but they weren't a priority to the Aussies at the time and the versions available were deemed not to be up to scratch. One of the driving pushed behind it on the F90 was to make it more marketable.
  
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Brett baker on Mar 12, 2021

"UNLEASH THE EMUS"!

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- See 3 previous
- Tassiebush on Mar 12, 2021
  
  @Brett baker Just so you know, here in Tasmania we made emus extinct well before the thylacine!
  
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- Kevin O'Neill on Mar 13, 2021
  
  @Tassiebush And it's probably worth pointing out that we keep the emus alive on the mainland so we can eat them - Australia, the only country in the world that eats both the animals on its national coat of arms!
  
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- Tassiebush on Mar 13, 2021
  
  @Kevin O'Neill My neighbour used to live in QLD and delights in stories of knocking their heads off with neck shots using his heavy barrel ruger .308. Love that man and his mentality!
  
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- Noob on Mar 15, 2021
  
  @Kevin O'Neill And both animals are anatomically unable to take a single step backwards.
  
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POTD: F88 Austeyr – Champion Shot of the Australian Defence Force

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