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If only to put a bit more news on this forum, the NZ Defence force finally received new rifles - MARS-L (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Mac ... ol_Company), replacing the old Steyrs we've had since the 80s!

Thank goodness!

Ya' know, I can't help myself.
I'm going to be that guy...

I've heard lots of criticism about the Steyr AUG in Australian and New Zealand service and one of the prime arguments I see from the media is that "We've had these rifles since the 1980s". 30 years is a completely normal length of service for a military rifle. The L1A1 SLRs that the Australian and New Zealand forces were using before the AUG, were in service for about the same length of time. However the .303 SMLE rifle that the SLR replaced in Aussie and Kiwi service had been in use for 40 years and in for some models of the SMLE, it was closer to 50 years.

I'm always amused that the media completely misses the fact that the MP5 variants in use with Aussie and Kiwi special forces have been in service for about 40 years now but they aren't howling for them to be replaced.

LOL

Don't worry, as someone who has spoken to a number of people who have fired the AUG, they universally hate it

There must have been significant differences in the New Zealand experience with the rifle compared to the Australian experience. I was in the Australian Army Reserve for a decade and I carried the F88 Austeyr for the last few years. I never found the rifle to be that "hate-worthy". True I'd prefer to carry the SLR but that's more to do with the range benefits that the 7.62mmN offers in the Australian bush compared to the 5.56mmN of the AUG. The F88 certainly had some problems in the early years, e.g. the optical sight would fog up in humid conditions but that could be fixed by using a more suitable inert gas and ensuring the airtight seals were actually airtight.

As I understand it, the New Zealand version of the F88 was altered from the original design in having a fire selector instead of the two-stage trigger that the Aussie version retained. The New Zealand model also had a different crosshair for the sight compared to the Australian version. As I recall it, New Zealand got some of the first production rifles from Lithgow and local rumour** has it that the earliest production was done with the cheapest materials and so resulted in premature wear and tear. I'm wondering if those differences made the rifle less useful and less "liked" in New Zealand service?

** Local rumour also claims that the first lot of AUGs producted at Lithgow were sold to New Zealand so that the government could fund the issue of the Auscam uniform

Without trying to step into the realms of conspiracy, it's certainly possible that the New Zealand experience was used as a bit of a test run before mass issue of the AUG to Australian forces, as I recall, we did get them a little after the New Zealand forces. I also seem to recall that my issue F88 Austeyr was manufactured in 1990 or 1991 and by that time, any teething problems should have been well and truly worked out. However I'm left to wonder if the changes made to the initial design for New Zealand may be the root cause?

In 1995 I was issued an original R604 M16(no "A1") serial number 54,XXX. It was 10 years older than I was! If you kept it in semi it worked, burning up the left over blanks on "Fun" setting got interesting.....

Hehehe, I can relate to that. Although maybe not as dramatic, the second L1A1 SLR issued to me was manufactured one year before I was born (I changed units when I moved from the east coast of Australia to the west coast hence the "new" issue). That made that particular rifle about 28-29 years old when it was swapped out for the F88 Austeyr.

It's quite possible my issue was converted to a "Frankencarbine" GUU-5/P with a 14.5 inch M4 barrel.