Quote:
|
But, I have an inappropriate and probably unfounded fear of having the receiver and chamber that near my face.
|
This is not a minor point for me, either.
As a teen I had the opportunity to use a few of the original bull pup rifles. These were bolt action or single shot guns converted to what was called bull pup configuration. They were varmint guns, almost exclusively. The advantage was that one could have an extra long barrel, yielding the highest possible velocities in a rifle with the same or even less overall length than the conventional design.
Balance sucked, darn poor as any kind of stalking rifle, these were meant to be shot rested, and one shot at a time. Outstanding triggers were almost impossible but a acceptably good one could be done.
For shooting woodchucks and things like that the idea worked pretty well in several ways.
Now when the idea of a bull pup was translated into a semi or select fire military carbine, things change and for me, I've never liked them much. I have had opportunity to handle and shoot several variations and to me their only upside is being short, and short isn't always a useful advantage.
What may be useful for a soldier or police SWAT can be nothing but a drawback for a civilian who doesn't need it.
My days of boogie in and out of armored vehicles and urban combat are long, long over, so I don't need short rifles for that. You might, I don't. personal thing. Home defense? If you think its the right gun, fine. Here's my list of dislikes, I'm sure they don't all apply to everyone...
short length = muzzle closer to your face
action close to your face, not a big deal if you're only shooting a single shot, but more than a couple and they get HOT.
Plus, at least for me, the ever present below the surface thought that if something goes wrong all that 50Kpsi pressure is RIGHT THERE by my cheek. Now, intellectually I know that having the action close to a foot further forward probably won't make any significant difference if things go badly wrong, doesn't change the way it makes me feel.
Balance is wrong for someone with a lifetime's experience with convention arms
Magazine in close, tough to find without looking AT it. With regular rifles the mag is usually in your field of view with the rife shouldered. Can be looked at by glancing down without moving your head or taking the rifle from your shoulder. Bull Pups I've handled aren't like that.
Significantly less versatile than conventional designs, in that the left hander has to has a left hand rifle. Which also limits tactical utility in (rare) situations where you might need to shoot with the "off" shoulder/hand
There's no free lunch, to get some you have to give some, what you get with a bull pup is a short weapon that has full rifle barrel length velocity. But to get that, you have to take some other things with it. Might be the bee's knees for climbing in and out of Humvees, but that's not something important to mees, hehe
They're interesting, they scare me a little bit, they're not something I'd spend my own money on (even if they were cheap, and they aren't) but if were decades younger and issued one, I'd make do...but they wouldn't be my first or even second choice, if I had a choice.