I've read the Aussie and Kiwi built AUGs were dismal, and plagued with issues. Not so much with the Germanic built guns.

The early production ones were crap (Oh, there are no Kiwi built F88s - they bought all @5K from us), mostly because of issues with the drawings from which they were produced, once that was all resolved (by the late 90s) most all of the bugs that were not inherent to the design were ironed out. The Lithgow barrels were always better than the original Austrian versions (I had to provide two examples from stocks to the Steyr reps to take back home to examine as they did not believe the internal tolerances and quality that was being maintained in our production). Till the cerakote finished was adopted (over the last 5 years or so) the coating on the F88 was always problematic, nothing a rattle can of flat black could not fix though...

Cool info

Sorry Andy - I actually knew you all made the Kiwi guns, but wasn't clear in my post. I've read some pretty hate-filled commentary on Aussie soldiers who were "straddled with" the early F88s. I always question information found on the interwebs from unknown sources, but now that I've heard it from you I consider it 100% confirmed.

Regarding the inherent design issues, I have a few thoughts but would like to see what I missed:

1) Trigger - as a loyal Subject to the Crown (US Government) I do not have available the ability to acquire a full auto AUG. Therefore, I cannot comment on the "pull thru" full auto trigger system. I can say, having owned three AUGs, the trigger feel varies from "bad but tolerable" to "awful".

2) Reload - slow, difficult from prone.

3) Ejection - no weakside shooting here!

4) Original 1.5x Optic - my first AUG was a US Preban 905 Series with the integral 1.5x "Donut of Death" optic. The objective lens and/or field of view were too narrow. The 1.5x Fixed was too powerful for CQB and too weak for most other uses. The AUG I have now has their newest Schmidt & Bender made 3x optic with improved reticle. This is a VERY nice optic, but I wish it included an illuminated reticle.

5) The S/A Cocking Piece is very cheaply made, and I fear it'll break.

You have nailed most of the design curses with the original AUG, many have been fixed in subsequent upgrades (we use a great variety of optics on them now - Aimpot, EoTech, Elcan, Factory 1.5x etc. Weak side shooting wiil alway ba a problem butt I have (when pressed) seen the rifle shot from the left (by a right handed shooter) but turned 90 degs so the ejection port is facing down. Not ideal but it lets you get some rounds out.

In the original production some major specs were out (the issue around the drawings) and I saw a who batch of 900 rifles scrapped after issue to a Btn. There were some corrosion issues with internal (trigger pack especially) springs as they were just plain steel. The receivers were wearing significantly around the busing that surrounded the barrel, this apparently was a result of the removal and replacement of the barrel (over and over). all of that said, when a respectable optic was available, the rifles were VERY accurate ! If you see any pictures of the SASR operating in Somalia in the early 90s you will see them sporting F88s mounting all manner of different Leupold commercial optics !!

Andy

I'd love to see those pics

Unrelated pictures from Tuesday night...

I love my fixed carbine stock, nice choice.

Thanks.

I ended up putting those on several of my rifles. I LOVE them! Rock solid, and comfortable.

The Spike's Tactical Dissipator with ACOG is my shooting buddy's new rifle.

Nice boom sticks!

What a nasty day to shoot a 3 gun match. Starting with pouring rain and mid 40s.
Range was already a muddy mess. And during the match the temps dropped to 2degrees with wind chill. And blowing snow. It was fun but brutal.
Here are my match results. I could have done better but I had an issue on a stage with not having the mag seated with my AR and also a few minor things. Over all I'm happy consider how the day went.



https://practiscore.com/results/15327