OT: Not a good place for a firefight

[perardua]

Originally Posted by Ramjam

That's the problem with us Brits, it's either a 9mm or a 5.56. There is nothing in between.
Shotguns are not a offical weapon of the British armed forces which does seem abit silly when you what abit more firepower than a 9mm but don't want to go over the top with a SA80 (like on a nuke boat).
But with all the cut backs the British forces are facing at the moment it could be worse. The guards could be armed with pick-axe handles like they were back when I started to serve.

I was going to point this out too - for the most part L85s are the most common weapon used for any purpose in the British forces, including on ships. Generally, if you're not in an infantry role of some kind, you won't see anything other than a rifle or maybe a GPMG. It's only in the last few years that pistols have become a big thing for us (as I've mentioned before, my squadron went from about 8 pistols to 160 pistols when we deployed).

Shotguns are used by the British forces, however, and have been for years. You see them a lot in jungle warfare training, and infantry sections in Afghanistan generally have a shotgun each for the pointman due to the close quarters that can be found in Helmand.

[Abbott Shaull]

Originally Posted by perardua

I was going to point this out too - for the most part L85s are the most common weapon used for any purpose in the British forces, including on ships. Generally, if you're not in an infantry role of some kind, you won't see anything other than a rifle or maybe a GPMG. It's only in the last few years that pistols have become a big thing for us (as I've mentioned before, my squadron went from about 8 pistols to 160 pistols when we deployed).

Shotguns are used by the British forces, however, and have been for years. You see them a lot in jungle warfare training, and infantry sections in Afghanistan generally have a shotgun each for the pointman due to the close quarters that can be found in Helmand.

Yeah it amazing how many unofficial weapons can get around...

[perardua]

No (or very few) unofficial weapons in British units, as a rule - our lack of a gun culture makes it hard to do. It's just that new, additional weapons are issued out of a pool for ops - someone in the MoD decided everyone in the squadron needed a sidearm, so we all got pistols (which the majority of us chose not to carry). As soon as we came home, those weapons were handed over to the next squadron.