The old java bean...

[Mikey]

You'd think the easiest thing for HK to do would be to make the extractor/ejector ambidextrous.

[Captain Seafort]

You'd think the easiest thing for HK to do would be to make the extractor/ejector ambidextrous.

How exactly are they meant to do that with an existing weapon? The only way to do it is to eject the casing downwards, which causes problems with magazine placement. Some (like the FAMAS) can swap the ejection port round, but that only helps lefties, not firing round cover.

[Mikey]

It's not that it's an extant weapon, it's that it's an extant bullpup weapon. Replacing the extractor would be a lot easier in a typical (fore of the butt) receiver. I forgot that the L85 was a bullpup rifle.

[Captain Seafort]

It's not that it's an extant weapon, it's that it's an extant bullpup weapon. Replacing the extractor would be a lot easier in a typical (fore of the butt) receiver. I forgot that the L85 was a bullpup rifle.

If it had been designed to be swappable, then reconfiguring the working parts wouldn't have been too much of an issue - the FAMAS can be changed from right-handed to left-handed configuration in a few minutes in field. The more serious issue (as with the vast majority of bullpups) is that you'll get an earful of hot brass if you swap sides mid-firefight. The SA80 series has the added bonus of ripping half your face off if you try it.

[mwhittington]

And the FN P90 solved that by putting the ejection port on the undercarriage of the rifle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_P90

[Mikey]

The P90 solved a lot, but that's comparing apples to school buses. The L85 is an assault rifle, the P90 is a small-cal PDW.

[thelordharry]

You guys...coffee and guns is all you ever talk about!!!

[Lighthawk]

You guys...coffee and guns is all you ever talk about!!!

And booze...and women...and how certain individuals are morons...and sometimes we even discuss Trek. Sometimes.

[Mikey]

I met a guy who combined two of our favorite topics - he's a friend of my father-in-law's, and at my in-laws' 50th anniversary party, he presented my father-in-law with a bottle of Kalashnikov vodka.

[Mark]

We need strippers demoing guns, while serving booze AND coffee. THAT would be a thread I'd wanna see!

[Tsukiyumi]

I'll work on it.