British Army's latest SA80: The L85A3, with firearms expert Jonathan Ferguson

Looks like I had a bit of "duff gen" on the reversion to HK steel mags - the EMAGs were to be replaced but if it was by HK steel mags that was only temporary. L85A3 and A2 should now be fed from M3 PMAGs, at least in infantry use.

This Jonathan seems like a knowledgable fella, he should write a book.

It is the year 2050 and the British troops have received the latest A4 version of the L85.

The L85 series makes me think the British army had far more animosity for left-handers than they ever did for Germans.

Copyright strikes? For your own book?

Great video as always. As an MOD armourer that takes a real passion to this system, and plays with it every day, this was very informative. I really appreciate the clarification on the "A2/3" body marks, as that throws a lot of people off. Here's some extra points that are worth noting: As a few have said, the SUSAT is far from gone, it still very much outnumbers the LDS, and is seen by many as the more easy to use system. The internals are not the same as the A2. While they are rated to be able to use A2 components, the Bolt and BCA get marked up with the serial of the weapon (as does the Barrel) in order to show that they are tested to A3 standards. If they do not match up, then they are likely A2 components fitted, though this practice (marking up the bolt and Bca) is being phased out now. The BUTT is different! Not a huge thing, but the butt screws used on the A2 are flatheads, while the A3 has hex screws. No living human knows why. The HAND-GUARD that you have is, interestingly, the post-mod version, as you stated. But the biggest change is not so much the shape of the holes, but the guards fitted near the safety. If you compare the older designs, the safety-bar is unprotected as can get caught in webbing, only to snap. The newer version has those two "buffers" either side that aid in things not getting caught up. Now here's your challenge if you want a real SA80 collection: L85A2/3 (IW) L22A2 (Carbine) L86A2 (LSW) L98A2 (General Purpose) L402A1 (SA80 in .22) L103A2 (Drill Purpose) L116A1 (Inert) L126A1 (Parade Purpose)

Thank you, Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK, for this review.

Sean Connery sees the scope marking: "Ahh, Schpecter."

pixel Jonathan Ferguson is something I did not expect. but very much welcome.

22:02 The lack of a flip up cover to clean the gas parts is a massive ball ache. The infantry lads always developed drills that might not be in the manual. Carrying a paint brush for cleaning crap and dust off was one. The other was cleaning the gas parts as soon as you safely and reasonably could after a contact. For all the L85's faults the ability to pop the gas parts out with the rifle in one piece for a quick ream out was a good feature.

I'd like to add a caveat/correction to the part about the quad rail and brown coating. It may well be standard for the army but not for other services, at least not in practice. In the various RAF armouries I've been in, there's still plenty of black coating, green handguard L85A2s sitting around. People going out on ops or guard duties are getting the "TES" fit (as it used to be known), quad rail and SUSAT but even these are still black not brown. Only the regiment so far have the new A3. And there's still plenty of polymer mags floating around.

I've still got scars on my hands from the A2 'cheesegrater' handguard. Using it with bayonet used to rip your hands to shreds if you weren't wearing gloves.

Your editor was having entirely too much fun with that book plug bit :p

I've always liked the visual design of the L85. It looks very unique and nice.

Love this family of rifles, iconic.

Everyone gives this rifle stick but I loved it in basic training. 20 inch barrel with an overall length comparable to something with a much shorter barrel if it wasn’t bullpup. The mag is right in the armpit so the bulk of the weight is far back making it snappy and smashed every single target at 400m, 300m and 200m dropped a couple on the closer ones as I got giddy I might get HPS (highest possible score) on the whole damn thing. Still hit I think 58 of 62 and found the bullpup nice to reload in prone as you can keep your elbows almost in plank position rather than having to reach forward passes the trigger mechanism. A well cleaned barrel and gas parts and the stoppages weren’t bad, handle for nice chopping forward assist. I’ve shot a fair few rifles, lmgs, pistols and shotguns and maybe it’s because we lived with that one. But I found it to be a damn good weapon system that is often misunderstood. My two cents

This feels like one of those 'What British people say' 'What British people mean' moments. :D

That Ian McCollum picked the SA80 as a weird weapon apparently still stings :D

Hi Jonathan, I can confirm Magpul E-Mag is still the standard in service magazine, some Gen 3 P-Mags are now also in service. However if a unit has a substantial stock of HK mags, they generally won't replace them unless there is a significant need

As I’m local to Fort Nelson I’ve been there many times, but went this weekend for the DDay 80 display, and I have to say it did not disappoint. It’s the only time I’ve been in a museum and when the videos play, everyone stopped to watch them both. It’s well worth a visit, but the silhouette’s were quite special