Meet the Bullpup Rifle: The Powerful Gun That You Need to Know About

[American123]

Bullpups are awesome! The Tavor is a very well designed machine. The overall length is outstanding when considering a full 16-18" barrel is housed in an OAL the same or less than a AR SBR, even better when you consider the noise shooting .223 in an SBR compared to a longer barrel and even better when you consider the velocity gain using a 16-18" barrel compared to a 10.5 or less.

The mag change difficulty is extremely over exaggerated and generally promoted by people who have little to know experience with them, or tried it one time and never applied themselves long enough to be good at it. There is no discernible difference in speed reloading an AR compared to the Tavor when both are practiced.

Some people don't care for the looks, but since I don't use the thought process of a teenage girl to govern what guns I like based on how they appear, I care far more about the function of a firearm than their aesthetic appearance.

The Tavor isn't without its faults, however, often they can be remedied. The trigger from the factory is pretty heavy, swapping it for the giessele trigger makes it fantastic. It's on par with some good aftermarket AR triggers.

The layout does not lend itself as nicely to be a dedicated bench rest shooter, but anyone who gets into the Bullpup game likely isn't planning on using it for that role.

I have both, Tavor and AR and I've used both in competition successfully, they both have their merits, but for what the Tavor was designed for. Compact and maneuverable platform with full length barrel, it beats the 16" AR hands down.

 

[Basedgreaser]

For those that are designed from the ground up, clearing is not a problem to me; the process is the same. For conversions it can be a real issue to almost impossible without taking them apart. The P90/PS90 is super easy to takedown if necessary, but not as easy to clear as the AK (86s).

Fair enough, from what ive seen the mdr and the f2000 would be nightmares. For other designs perhaps just a training difference or manipulation difference

 

[The Heretic]

The p90 is a small cartridge, viable bullpups for non niche roles would generally have to be atleast 556 or up to be accepted by the market

Yes - I have PS90s specifically for that niche role.

The other downside of most bullpup rifles for infantry or DMR or whatever, is that the mag hangs down - like on other rifles - and the sights are high up. This means that the typical soldier needs to put their head up further out of a foxhole/etc., exposing them more to enemy fire. Laying prone is more difficult. This is somewhat true of most infantry rifles with mags longer than 20 rds, but more so on bullpups.

For home defense, SHTF, house clearing, CQB, bullpups have significant advantages. I am an old man so I don't think I will be hanging out in foxholes very much. Shooting prone maybe - but my neck injuries make that hard - it puts a strain on my neck.

 

[rdb241]

P90/PS90 has a good system; the mag is on top and horizontal. Mag changes are ok to good IMO. Ejection is out the bottom which is usually good - unless you have a long sleeve shirt on with the cuffs open; in which case you can get hot brass down the sleeve - DAMHIK.

The cool thing about a PS90 mag is that it is 50 rounds with out a mag change. They are cool. I have a gen-1 PS90.

 

[The Heretic]

Fair enough, from what ive seen the mdr and the f2000 would be nightmares. For other designs perhaps just a training difference or manipulation difference

Yes to both the MDR and FN F2000. The latter looks bulky and I wouldn't want to have to work clearing either. For a while I was going to buy an MDR, but they delayed it so long and had so many problems I lost the inclination. I am waiting to see how the Tavor 7 works out.

 

[Helocat]

Ooofh almost painful to read with all the click bait. Love my PS90. I need to get off my bubblegum and get the Form filed for SBR, barrel is standing by for it too. They do look goofy with a 16" barrel.

Only bullpup I own. Looked at the Travor but their accuracy reports keep me from buying one. If a .300blk showed up used.... well I might buy it then.

 

[blaster1145]

I have found every article from nationalinerest.org to be nothing more than click bait.

THIS, fer sher!!!! Tools.

 

[NWShooter44]

Who ever wrote that article is insane. There are far better bullpups on the market that can out perform a Keltec anything. FN PS90, FN F2000, Tavor, British Enfield. Even the US made MSAR. A 10/22 in an after market stock made the top 5? really?

100% Agreed!

Loved my ps90!

 

[Boboclown]

At least they recognized the AUG as the #1 bullpup though, everything else being wrong. Tavor should be #2.

I may have over looked this, but why no SA80's in the civilian market!
I don't care if the AR is more reliable or whatever, the SA80 is just a cool gun!
Probably my favorite bullpup out there!

The PS90 is cool too, but without a stamp they're pretty goofy looking!

It isn't known as the most reliable, and the only reason it was kept was because NIH syndrome. Maybe the new ones are more reliable than the original, but that wasn't a high bar to beat.

 

[dwaineshort]

Yes to both the MDR and FN F2000. The latter looks bulky and I wouldn't want to have to work clearing either. For a while I was going to buy an MDR, but they delayed it so long and had so many problems I lost the inclination. I am waiting to see how the Tavor 7 works out.

I love mine and it's easy to clear malfunctions you just take off the the ejector chute.

 

[DeanMk]

I wonder how different the world would've been, if the US Army had adopted a bullpup version of the M14 (in 7.62 NATO), instead of inducting the M16...



(not necessarily ^^^the Juggernaut Rogue^^^, but some kind of bullpup platform, anyway)

 

[The Heretic]

I wonder how different the world would've been, if the US Army had adopted a bullpup version of the M14 (in 7.62 NATO), instead of inducting the M16...

View attachment 590899

(not necessarily ^^^the Juggernaut Rogue^^^, but some kind of bullpup platform, anyway)

Or followed what the Brits suggested; a 6-7mm 120 to 140 grain projectile at 2600 fps in a bullpup (or not). Something still quite lethal, adequate range and less recoil than the 7.62x51.

 

[Boboclown]

I wonder how different the world would've been, if the US Army had adopted a bullpup version of the M14 (in 7.62 NATO), instead of inducting the M16...

View attachment 590899

(not necessarily ^^^the Juggernaut Rogue^^^, but some kind of bullpup platform, anyway)

They were gonna dump 7.62 NATO one way or another for an intermediate cartridge. Only thing that changes is when they would adopt it, and what rifle it would have been. Or maybe just when they would have adopted a new round.

The Brits had something with the .280 British, and even the Russians went intermediate. The Germans were onto something when they didn't have the STG-44 chambered in a full power rifle round.

 

[DeanMk]

Good point. I'd forgotten about that.
Even McArthur wanted to ditch .30 cal for .276 cal in the 1930's.
...so yeah, it was eventually gonna happen.

 

[Boboclown]

I mean, we could have kept .30 CAL, and still gone intermediate. Granted it wouldn't shoot as far, but normally at those distances 7.62 NATO is still the preference (though some DMRs are chambered for 5.56).

 

[American123]

Americans love .308 - and 30 cal in general. Every gun manufacturer who makes a rifle pretty much always carries a .308 - there's just so much foundation already built for it, and there are generally never complaints about it 'underperforming.' Until we have weapons that fire something other than smokeless powder propelled projectiles, we will likely always have the .308

Heck the military even went back to it for the DMR role in many instances because the 5.56 wasn't cutting it at extended ranges.

 

[H2O MAN]

Old military bullpup design, T-31