Posted on 10/27/2001 9:24:19 AM PDT by Clive
The Special Air Service, Britain's elite troops, will go into Afghanistan armed with a formidable weapon designed in Canada.
The C7 assault rifle will be the weapon of choice for many of the SAS soldiers because of its accuracy and durability.
The C7, the standard rifle for Canadian troops, has proved a big hit with the elite soldiers; it outperformed Britain's own SA80 and the American M16 during tests by the SAS.
The SAS began testing the weapon two years ago and, impressed by its reliability and heavy firepower, bought enough to equip the entire regiment.
The weapon is manufactured by Diemaco, Kitchener, Ont., and costs upwards of $2,000 a gun.
Optional equipment includes a 40mm grenade launcher, attached under the main barrel. SAS troopers will carry about 20 of the anti-personnel and anti-tank grenades.
There is also a laser pointer and a night image intensification sight, also known as a Kite sight. A silencer can be fitted on the end of the barrel giving the gun sniper capacity.
The magazine holds 30 rounds and the rate of fire is 700 to 940 rounds per minute. According to its specifications, it has a range of 400 metres.
A special forces source said: "This weapon is worth its weight in gold. You just don't want something that is 'spray and pray' and you want a weapon you can absolutely rely on when you pull the trigger."
The C7 is ideal as a weapon for the close-quarter battle that the SAS is likely to experience in the caves, ravines and built-up areas of Afghanistan.
A spokesman for Diemaco said: "The thing about the C7 over the M16 is its durability. The barrel life is much longer and its general longevity better. Small but significant changes, very minor changes, make it function better in poor conditions -- mud and poor climatic conditions."
The C7 was designed in the mid-1980s and was based on America's M16. It has since been sold to the U.K., the Netherlands and Denmark.
We have come a long way from the Lee Enfield Number 4 Mark 1 Star.
Magazine is 30 rounds
More info here....
http://www.diemaco.com/smallarmslocker.htm
BTW... looks good, but I am still looking.
A frikken' slingshot could do that. The SA80 is a total POS. Ask any Brit that has to give up his SLR what he thinks of it.
Besides all its other problems, what kind of stupidity allows a standard rifle to be invented, manufactured and bought in huge quantities by a world power that can't be shot lefty?
"Ya see first you righty tighty down that silencer thingy to make it go bang better, then you use the laser pointy thingy to aim the whole stuff."
Jeez, reporters from the religion beat shouldn't be in charge of writing about weapons. Silencers=sniper "accuracy" and a laser sight=an executive laser pointer that you use with your overhead projection presentations.
Is it mandatory that all journalists include at least one major screw up per article about guns?
Or maybe this author went to an Illbay Debating Class?
The picture posted by Redcloak in relpy 3 is the C7A1.
The Canadian Forces standard weapon is the C7A1.
plus a dozend extra 30 round mags and a buttload of ammo from J&G. Someday I will learn to reload and then won't have to order by the case.
It's a law I think.
Does it have a lighted reticle? What is the scope's bottom power?
Credit where it's due; a long time coming, but still a Stoner design.
What's your best MOA group at various ranges?
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