Bullpup or traditional?
 

What's everyone's opinion on styles of rifles. Bullpup or the traditional style?

A lot of people seem to dislike bullpup style rifles.

I'd say traditional because Bullpups are sometimes ugly and the magazine doesn't feel natural in the stock region.

I also had a really bad experiance with a Walther G22 rifle that had the bolt on the left side. If anyone knows how my experiance was bad, explain.

I've never fired one, but I have handled an MSAT STG-556 (it's been on sale at my local FFL since October, but nobody's bought it yet...probably because they're asking $2K for it). I've always been struck by the fact that reloads seem ridiculously awkward.

I did a two week exchange with the Brits where I used the SA80A2 extensively. I missed my C7, and all the Brits wanted the C8s some tan hatters there on unrelated training were carrying. As a soldier, it's a serviceable weapon, shoots well, the A2s are actually quite reliable, and I like how compact it is. As a shooter, however, it deeply offended me - terrible human engineering and the trigger from hell.

I find bullpups extremely awkward to reload and often cock, and all the linkages in the triggers give them awful pulls.

Bullpups are not designed to be ergonomic (the best one for my hands has always been the Steyr AUG, though. At least Steyr made their bullpup comfortable to hold). They are designed to be ultra compact without sacrificing barrel length. When they first came out in the 1970s-80s I thought "Oh cool, a gun for paratroopers". Now that straight leg infantry has them in some countries makes me wonder, since they can be horrendous to reload, cock the handle (especially in prone position) and in my opinion, very butt heavy.

Maybe people missed my question or just didn't know but this is a Walther G22 - .22 caliber like I shot:

http://i44.tinypic.com/411yf.jpg

Before I make the big reveal, I'll give a hint and one more chance to guess. The gun's bolt can be swapped to the right or left making it ambidextrous with some annoying smithing (irrelevant but the crappy gun had to be pieced together in multiple spots and then put together, so one finger slip and a cluster of parts fell out).

Look close at the picture and you might see what problem I had.

to me i dont find them ergonomic, but i dont like pistol grip weapons either. I prefer a straight stock, it feels natural to me and is much easier to carry. What i never understood, is the dsr-1 and other bullpup bolt guns. They make absolutely no sense, nobody uses a bolt action in close quarters and its so slow to turn the bolt on one.

One of the things I find interesting is how so many countries have adopted bullpup weapons, and yet their SF all use M16s and M4s. Take a quick look at the list of countries that use M16s and M4s and you'll see a whole bunch that use Steyr AUG, L85, FAMAS, etc. and then their SFs use the supposedly terrible American black rifles that are heavier, "out dated" (based on a 50-year old design), and not so "space age" in appearance. I think it says something that anyone who has a choice buys our service weapons.

I give up. ;)

I prefer a traditional layout, but I respect the Bullpup concept at the same time. It's epitomized in two weapons, the AUG being first. Interchangeable barrels and a telescoping sight, plus the HK style reloading, and still shorter than an M16A2. Awesome gun. Oh and of course it's still full auto, no burst bullcrap. The second, possibly one of the most underrecognized rifles, the FAMAS. It has three active fire modes, semi, burst and auto, and is super compact. one thing the French did right. Pity you never see them in movies, and when you do (like in Diary of the Dead) you're like "what the hell is that doing there?"