Quote:
Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic
As for the lower quality of the Aussie made version, yeah, it caused a small scandal here. The government tried to cut the cost of the AUG by using cheaper materials (specifically some of the plastics) and also, so we were told when we got them issued, by making the hammer out of plastic instead of metal.
Now as for the plastic hammer, whether that's true or not, there were reports of hammers cracking and even breaking under the stress of repeated firing. There was also a problem with the buttplate, being a certain type of soft rubber it had a tendency to get softer and very sticky if petrol, kerosene, insect repellent and so on got on it.
As far as I know, all these problems were fixed and the later production was of a much higher quality, certainly by the time we got ours delivered to the unit the only problem we encountered was with the buttplate and with the wear & tear on the aluminium receiver from constantly removing the barrel. Part of the drill to check if the weapon was clear was to remove the barrel and hold it up with the body for inspection, this was changed later on and the NCO inspecting would insert a finger into the chamber to check it was empty.
The drill may have changed since I was in - about 17 years ago now, scary how time flies - if they've made the receiver more robust.[/url]
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From what I've read the Aussie Steyr variant had quite a few differences to the Austrian rifle. The Aussie has a bayonet lug fitted to the barrel, the Steyr Aug does not. The Aussie is also supposed to be different by cocking handle design, bolt assists, and sight rail and reciever modifications.
The safety catch on the Aussie also only has two positions, safe and fire. Shot control is done through trigger manipulation. Firing automatic or firing a single shot depended on how hard you pulled the trigger. Oddly the NZ version of the Steyr has a three position safety catch: semi-auto, safe, auto, even though I think it was built in Australia.
The safety catch on the Aussie also has reliability issues, with a tendency for the catch to lose its ability to lock in either of the positions risking compromising the safety of the weapon leading to improved maintenance schedules to check the condition of the safety catch on weapons.