Thread: At least it's a nice colour green - NZDF choose AR to replace Steyrs

Originally Posted by 300CALMAN

Well from what I know the Army did want the AR-15 to start with (remember they had M16 A1s) but Colt was not prepared to allow local licensed manufacture and yes they were expensive. There was also the question of the Government of the day and the fact that they were an American product. The Steyer is technically advanced and has some nice features but it has fiddly small parts (seen the piston and gas adjuster!) and oddities like the sling swivel mount which holds the but pad and trigger mechanism in-place. It is one thing to shoot something on the range and another to look after it in the field. Apparently it is not that popular with many of the troops (probably those who have used ARs).

I'm happy enough with the move to the LMT don't get me wrong but the media has painted a picture of how the steyr is "not liked by troops" or "Cant hit the side of a barn" or whatever but the bottom line is that it has serverd us more than well over the past 29 years! As for small parts, it breaks down in to 4 main groups for field cleaning... there is no need to be messing with it any more than that when on patrol. Sure going to miss the bullup too.