(04-28-2021, 10:30 AM)Ninurta Wrote: The shorter bullpups are more maneuverable for house-to-house fighting, which used to be the domain of SMGs, but I've never been a big fan of having rounds explode in the chamber right next to my cheekbone. So, I'll pass on this design, good though it might be.

Apparently IMI changed it's name to IWI. I dunno why they trashed the Galil, which last I heard was made when they called themselves IMI. Galils rocked. They had the advantages of both the M16 and the Kalashnikov, and they had the shorter SAR version (still not a bullpup, though) for close combat.

Maybe they are hoping for foreign licensing for production. As far as I know, the only country that licensed the Galil was South Africa, producing it as the R4 and R5 rifles, with minimal changes, one of those changes being a longer pull length to accommodate larger framed people. The AK family is pretty notorious for it's short pull length, which can make it awkward to handle under pressure. I slapped an inch and a half recoil pad onto my AK-74, not because it was a bear for recoil, but just to adjust the pull length out to accommodate my monkey arms.

It was good to see they retained the gas piston arrangement for operation rather than the direct gas system. That was the only gripe I had with the M16 family. Now if they could just figure out a way to keep cartridges from exploding directly under your cheek in a bullpup, and maybe relocate the mag release to somewhere forward of the trigger guard, it might be a workable concept.

While the short overall length is just the thing for urban warfare, the trade-off is in the chance of shooting a finger off when you miss the forward grip on such a short weapon.

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