Steyr AUG is one of the most advanced and reliable rifles in the world.
Australian Army was the first major nation to adopt AUG as its main infantry
rifle. During 184-96 when the initial trials began, many people were sceptical
about performance of this "plastic" rifle. The Steyr , which is manufactured
locally in Australia under a licence name F-88 is made of polymers which
resemble steel in their durability. The testing which was conducted on
the AUG actually cost nearly as much as developing the rifle itself! It
was the first "tourture-testing" of its kind. During this , the rifles
were fired underwater, immersed in mud for days and then fired, put in
ovens for days at a time and then fired , a Unimog was driven over one
F-88 30 times before anything snapped and even than the rifle was able
to fire, metal rods were hammered into the barrel and than the guns were
fired. Finally the Steyr AUG was given to the hardest climate on earth
- Australian outback - even there the rifles performed flawlessly. This
reliability can probably only be matched by the AK or in any case very
few weapons.
There has been several myths about Steyrs "melting" during firing - these
are largely myths. The only case which I am aware of a Steyr actually melting
was in 1995 in Singleton. It occurred during a battalion firing exercise.
After the shoot was over , one of the firing range safety officers collected
all spare ammunition he could find - 25 magazines in all. He fired them
one after the other on full-automatic. Needless to say the gun jammed due
to the barrel expanding from all the heat generated and part of the polymer
stock melted. It was than estimated that the rifle heated up to 500 degrees
Celsius - conventional rifles would jam long before that. Other than in
the extreme case stated above , the F-88 is not prone to "just melt".
An interesting features of F-88 are the integrated scope and the fire selection mechanism. The scope is factory set and embedded into the carrying handle - it magnifies 2.5X and has an aiming circle instead of the standard cross-hairs. This helps to shoot with both eyes open and aids in instinctive shooting.
F-88 has no actual selector switch. Safety is arranged by a button in the
side of the gun but the selector itself is integrated into the trigger
group. When the trigger is depressed half-way single shots are fired. When
the trigger is pressed all the way back full-automatic shots are fired.
This also aids in instinctive shooting - if a soldier is suddenly confronted
by an enemy at close range , he is more likely to squeeze the trigger all
the way back, while if the enemy is further away , deliberate aimed shots
can be fired. This is a potentially life-saving device.
Entire Steyr family:
