Which bullpup has the most reliable track record?

[Precision]

I was thinking about this the other day: why have bullpups been around for so long, but their trigger/reliability issues have never been resolved? The French FAMAS and the British L85A1, for example, have received horrendous reviews from their users (according to my book, "The World Encyclopedia of Rifles and Machine Guns" by Will Fowler and Patrick Sweeney). Reliability is a major problem, as well as their triggers, apparently.

So my question to you is this: which bullpup military rifle has proven to be the most reliable? Which one has the best trigger? In short, is there one bullpup that has been unanimously well-received?

The book is awesome, by the way. It covers 500 firearms from all over the world, including an in-depth history of military weapons.

 

[C-grunt]

I have never heard anything bad about the Steyr AUG. The Aussie guys I talked to in Kuwait liked theirs a lot.

 

[Carter]

The Steyr has been around a long time so its probably got the best track record. However, newer bullpups may have better triggers or overall design. For example the FN2000 has a forward eject system, which makes switching hands less painful.

The Steyr also seems to be quite popular, as far as bullpups are concerned.

 

[zstephens13]

I have that book sitting right next to me. Take what it says with a grain of salt. Many of the things in reference to particular firearms are not objective. The authors very obviously don't appreciate the M-14 design calling its success in military trials a sham and referring to twelve years and millions of dollars on development and production a waste. Seems pretty exaggerated to me. Reference some outside sources before deciding these firearms are junk.

In his years of writing, has Patrick Sweeney ever reviewed a gun the wasn't the epitome of firearms technology?

 

[Zerodefect]

The FN p90, by the simple fact that it is an extremely simple blowback with a little pistol round equal to a 9mm. I've never heard of one having any kind of reliability problem.

The FN FS2000 is my second pick. Also a very reliable weapon.

IME/IMO allmost all of the other bullpups are cheap and quite junky. If a carbine can't be used Ambi, it's useless. Deosn't take a million dollars and a team of two dozen engineers to design them correctly. Besides, the French and Chinese don't know jack about proper rifles anyways.

 

[nwilliams]

I would say that the AUG is probably one of the most reliable Bullpup designs of all time.

The F/FS2000 is very reliable as well but it's not uncommon for the plastic charging handle to break, there is a metal aftermarket replacement that solves this problem.

The Bushmaster M17s has a long standing reputation for being very reliable.

The only Bullpup that comes to mind when I think of poor reliability track record is the British SA80 and L85, I think the British military is doing itself a disfavor by continuing to use this weapon platform.

 

[wally]

The Bushmaster M17s has a long standing reputation for being very reliable.

Mine has functioned very well although it gets too hot to hold fast, fixed that by drilling a few holes to mount a rail and then a Magpul AFG.

But the trigger is just terrible.

When people ask why bullpups are so expensive, I've always said its because if you put that crappy a trigger on an inexpensive rifle, all you'd ever hear about the gun is how bad the trigger is!