Interest in FAMAS G2 (NATO mags) with pic rail???

[SteyrAUG]

To stoke the bullpup salivation, let me remind you of the 2017 stories of the Aussie bullpup coming to the US market. There were multiple stories of Lithgow USA selling semi-auto versions or the Lithgow F90 ATRAX soon, very soon, early 2017.

Follow by total radio silence. Nada. No reports of any further progress on that. But we can hope.

Oh well, SHOT Show 2019?

Bart Noir

We aren't missing anything, the Aussie F88/F90 is a low budget version of the AUG with a poor service record. Why would anyone just not buy an AUG A3? I'd be more interested in an Aussie L1A1.

[Aries144]

I found the weight savings of the Lithgow attractive. What was wrong with the Aussie AUGs? Bad QC? I seem to remember reading rumors, but never details.

I'd buy an F2 Famas, particularly with a pic rail. Watching Ian McCollum on Forgotten weapons has really sparked an interest in me for post WW2 French small arms. The Famas and an ownable version of the AA-52 machinegun would both interest me. The only detail that bugs me is that both weapons apparently need steel case ammunition.

My experience with Wolf and Barnaul .223 is that it wore out a barrel roughly 3-4x faster than any brass case ammunition would have, so I won't use it in anything with a expensive or hard to replace barrel anymore. My best guess on that, with a couple of sources for reference, is the powder the Russians use is the primary culprit. I think it's a powder with a higher flame temp, like most stick powders stateside. Faster throat erosion.

https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/bra...el-cased-ammo/

I can't find the other reference after 15 minutes of googling, but it was here on M4carbine. A guy made a long post in the general AR or technical forum about a mid 20th century test performed by the US military. It was testing .30 ball or 7.62x51 in machine gun barrels and showed the difference in barrel life between steel jacketed and copper jacketed projectiles. It turned out that, while the failure mode was different between steel jacket and copper jacket, the biggest factor in barrel life was the powder, not the projectile. Ball powder resulted in barrels lasting twice as long until failure. They found the culprit with the powders was the higher flame temperature of the stick powder. I believe it even gave the names of the powders used. The stick powder was IMR. Ball powder was modern 7.62 canister powder, IIRC. WC something. Copper jackets failed the velocity threshold, but were still in spec for group size, the steel jackets failed by exceeding max spec group size. IIRC.

[call_me_ski]

The only detail that bugs me is that both weapons apparently need steel case ammunition.

I have heard it parroted (by both Vickers and McCullum, both of which also say their guns shoot well with brass)that they need steel case to run but I have never seen a French Soldier with anything but brass, those that I have talked to have seen nothing but brass, ATK is the french supplier for 5.56 which to my knowledge does not have the capacity to produce steel cased rifle ammo on that scale, and I have been unable to find a photo of french steel cased ammo googling in both english or french, so...

The whole steel case thing seems to stem from a TFB article with no sources. A publication known for its accuracy and strict journalistic standards..

[SteyrAUG]

I found the weight savings of the Lithgow attractive. What was wrong with the Aussie AUGs? Bad QC? I seem to remember reading rumors, but never details.

Basically yes. The F88 specifically, don't know if anything was remedied with the F90 but I wouldn't want to bet on it.

[Aries144]

Interesting! Thank you Steyr. Thank you Ski.

[kaltesherz]

I have heard it parroted (by both Vickers and McCullum, both of which also say their guns shoot well with brass)that they need steel case to run but I have never seen a French Soldier with anything but brass, those that I have talked to have seen nothing but brass, ATK is the french supplier for 5.56 which to my knowledge does not have the capacity to produce steel cased rifle ammo on that scale, and I have been unable to find a photo of french steel cased ammo googling in both english or french, so...

The whole steel case thing seems to stem from a TFB article with no sources. A publication known for its accuracy and strict journalistic standards..

The FAMAS I fingered in Afghanistan (10 years ago) all were loaded with steel cased ammo, appeared to be 55 gr as well.