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).

It was my understanding at the time that:

NZ was offered a very good deal, i.e. cheaper than the Absolutely Useless Gun, on the M16A2; because the USMC had yet to adopt it BUT the Aussies put the kibosh on that because they wanted the AUG manufacturing rights. Din Collings later advised me that the AUG purchase was finally swung by a butter deal.

The Steyr is lower quality in every way than the L1A1 and M16A1/2! Critical parts can become unserviceable after fewer than 1,000 rounds. The cocking handle is exposed and vulnerable to breakage. The rifle is excessively vulnerable to dust and dirt and, so far as I am concerned, the decision to adopt it was a treasonous act, constituting deliberate endangerment of NZ military personnel and those whom they are assigned to protect.