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Small Arms Weapons of the Army

Members of the British Army are able to call on an amazing armoury of weaponry to fulfill the task of taking and holding ground when deployed on operations.
This armoury includes grenades, rifles, machine guns, mortars and anti-armour weapons to name but a few.

The following Small Arms and Support Weapons are currently in use by the British Army.

Pistols

There are two types of pistol in use by the British Army. They are:

The Browning Pistol (L9A1). The Browning, firing a standard 9mm round, has been in use with the British military since WWII. Mainly used for self defence, or in CQB situations, it is a proven robust weapon with an effective range of approximately 50 metres.

The P226 SIG Pistol (L105A1, L105A2 and L106A1). The SIG Pistol has been purchased as a replacement for the Browning but is only on issue to ‘some’ units. It was acquired as an urgent operational requirement for use in Afghanistan.

Like the 9mm Browning the SIG is used for self defence or in CQB situations – should the need arise!

Rifles

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The following rifles are currently in service with the British Army:

SA80 A2 L85 Individual Weapon. The replacement weapon for the 7.62 L1A1 SLR (Self Loading Rifle) the SA80 was introduced into service with the British military in the mid 1980’s. Firing a 5.56 × 45 mm round it has a 3 positional gas operated system allowing for normal firing, firing in adverse conditions and for launching rifle grenades – where the gas port is totally shut.

When first issued SA80 did not meet the high reliability standards required of an individual weapon that was designed to be used in battle conditions. It was not uncommon during ‘Range Days’ for a minimum of 50% of the weapons fired to be ‘laid’ to one side as unserviceable and no longer fit for firing! This high level of unserviceability and reliability, combined with the shorter ‘stopping power’ range compared with the SLR, did not endear the weapon to the soldier using it.

The weapon was used operationally during the First Gulf War, August 1990 to February 1991, where again reliability and maintenance were questionable. Improvements were made to the weapon in 1997 with further improvements being made between 2000 and 2002. These improvements saw a much more reliable automatic rifle that is now known to be one of the most reliable and accurate standard service rifles in service, so much so that the British Army Team won the 2003 International Meet at the NSC Bisley after firing over 60,000 rounds with no stoppages!

SA80 sighting systems include the SUSAT (Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux) giving 4 x magnification and Iron Sight consisting of a fore and rear sight – giving an effective range of 400 metres.

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