The Future

Serious competition

Due to come back in to service is the L81 rifle. The L81A1 was a slightly modified Parker-Hale M82 rifle but was taken out of service in 1995 for maintenance. It is being reborn as the L81A2 rifle.
A step back in complexity, this weapon is very much like the No.8 rifle in operation, though scaled up. It fires the 7.62mm round and is capable of considerable accuracy

The future?

It is planned to replace the L98A1 Cadet GP rifle with a semi-automatic version of the L85A1. The basic L85A1 rifle can fire semi-automatically (one bullet each time you pull the trigger) or fully-automatically (It keeps firing until you release the trigger or the magazine is empty. The big advantage will be that the rifle will load the next round itself - most of the problems encountered when firing the L98A1 are due to incorrect operation of the manual cocking handle. This replacement will not take place for several years.

 

"Shooting: The Steps" (2003). Retrieved 05 March 2004 from The Air Cadet organisation Website Web site:
http://www.aircadets.org/thesteps.html
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