The world of firearms is filled with a myriad of different technologies. Shooters have a plethora of choices when deciding to pull the trigger!! Conventional firearm wisdom places the breech of the firearm in front of the trigger group. The years of advancement in firearm tech has proved that this is not the only way that reliable firearms can be constructed. In this post we introduce to some, and reacquaint to others the Bullpup design. This design places the breech of the firearm behind the trigger group.
The bullpup designed rifles were originally introduced in very early 1900’s. The designation “bullpup” has unknown origins, and believe it or not, this designation actually started with pistol designs that had quite the elaborate stocks. This groundbreaking design was placed in semi-automatic rifles in 1918 by the French armed forces, and a couple of early French firearms manufacturers designed more elaborate bullpup pistol designs. Gun Digest suggests that the Steyr AUG is the most successful bullpup design and has officially been adopted by at least 20 armed forces around the globe. It was adopted in the late 1970’s, and at that time was one of the most advanced changes to fundamental firearm design.
Heckler & Koch, Israeli Military Industries, and even Barrett all now manufacture rifles with the bullpup design, and have had huge successes with it. China, Croatia, New Zealand, and the UK now boast several defense departments that use this design to protect both their citizens and soldiers. It may look funny to the uninitiated, but this design has found it’s place in our wonderful world of firearms.
One of the most interesting facets to the bullpup design is the fact that it effectively decreases the overall length of the firearm, all the while preserving required barrel length. The drawback to this is that it decreases the length of the sight radius, and thus serves to decrease accuracy. To prevent injury to shooters (left-handed most especially) most new bullpup designs have ejection ports that angle spent brass downward, away from the face of shooters. As with any new firearm to a personal arsenal, the bullpup design rifles (and pistols for that matter) require extensive training in order to master it’s effectiveness. Below we have a couple of different designs of bullpup rifles. Let us know what you think!!!
*** If you are unfamiliar with firearms and/or their accessories, and want to learn more, PSA strongly suggests that you find, enroll, and attend a comprehensive and reputable firearms safety course. Firearms safety is all of OUR responsibility.
We want to thank you for taking out the time to stop by our lane at the shooting range!! We hope that you enjoyed your stay and hope that you stop back by early and often to catch up on all PSA updates! We truly hope that we were able to hit the target, and if you ever have any questions please don’t hesitate to shoot them our way!! We look forward to shooting the breeze with you soon again!!
And as always….remember to watch your six and stay low!!!