I always find the range of opinions on the SA80A1 fascinating. Guys who I've spoken to who used it in the early days (and even a few more recent ) are generally not fond of it (I really should ask my father in law what he thought, but he spent most of career with SLR so I can probably guess! Generally I gather the A2 is a much more refined weapon, but I can see there being a much more hasty refit program in the T2k timeline and by circa 98 a mix of A1's and A2's in service.
A question for those with maintenance knowledge - could the refits have been done in a field workshop by the REME, if the factories were destroyed?
I can see militia, ad hoc scratch forces etc being armed with a much wider assorted random mix of whatever is available with preference being given to keep regular and TA units in much more standardised equipment sets. It's a no-brainer to have SLR and LMG common to reserves, any sa80's being switched out to the regs.
The AR 18 is interesting, I wasn't aware of that.
I might throw some in for the oddity value. Maybe a container ready to be shipped out has been found on the back of an abandoned truck on the way to Dover and seized by a local warlord...
I know there were quite a few Stalwarts in private hands - a mate of my dad's had one early 90's iirc, he loved it, and I remember seeing quite a few at vehicle rallies etc - so they plus the ferrets sold privately (of which there were a lot) would be fair game. There's even a guy who has a 432 parked on the roadside in Manchester...
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