The Rifle That Replaced Bermuda's Ruger Mini-14s

The Royal Bermuda Regiment utilises one of the most unique SA80/L85A2 configurations around. Combining a Trijicon ACOG originally purchased under an urgent operational requirement for Afghanistan and HK’s redesigned handguard.

Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video here -

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[TheArmourersBench]

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[noneyourbusiness]

I was in the RBR for 4 and a half years, served within 2 platoon, alpha company as a rifleman that whole time. must say from my experiences the SA80 was a huge improvement from the Rugers 14s that we previously fielded. the ACOGs we had were a massive improvement on everyone's shooting ability and increased our ability to accurately engage targets by about 200 meters, the in-house red dot was fantastic for house clearing and it was a night and day difference from basic iron sights. But I must clarify that from what I was told the ACOGs scopes came from the US marine corp who we regularly train with, mainly due to the fact that the standard issues scopes being used at the time by the British army were considered unreliable and at the time of our adoption of the L85A2 were basically redundant compared to other available scopes. otherwise what you said was bang on, my rifle never gave me a problem, never had a jam or an issue cycling and by god is that thing accurate if you know how to handle it. glad to see someone taking interest in my regiment, I don't think my lads get enough love and appreciation for the job we do, so I appreciate you taking the time to talk about us and our gear. Much love from the devils isle

[Chiller]

I wouldn’t care about the handguards as long as the rifles have the HK A2 internals. The rifles look like they have the A2 charging handles so that’s all good.

[scrappydoo]

It's always cool to hear more about the territories 👍

[krockpotbroccoli]

As an American, I would love to get my hands on an SA80. I know they have a dumpy reputation but I've always loved the aesthetic of the gun. Very cool piece of kit.

[biddyboy]

I came looking for comments by people who have never fired the A2 in anger. I wasn't disappointed.

[ArmsAndOddities]

It hurts to watch. Seeing the Royal Bermuda Regiment on the mini-14s was incredible. Also that footage of the Falling Plate rifle comp where the RBR beat the SWAT unit on their M4 rifles is cathartic. A moment of silence for every left handed rifleman in Bermuda.

[zoiders]

The gappy crane mount on the ACOG does make me wonder if anyone has managed to bend or break one. Squaddies are talented like that.

[andrewwallace]

I will say that we do actually still hold a good number of G36Cs, lightweight and folding given to our drivers and coast guard. Lovely to see us given some international attention, thanks!

[superfamilyallosauridae]

Looking at it, there is no picatinny on that riser at all. It's just carry handle geometry+holes for ACOG to direct mount. You could put a PVS-2 or an M203 iron sight on that thing lmao

[kota]

At 3:10, you can see JN 8:12(John chapter 8 verse 12) on the ACOG. Trijicon puts bible verses on all their old military issued optics. This caused a big issue in the US military (Trijicon biblical verses controversy), and the armors had to grind off the bible verses from all of their new optics. Trijicon stopped putting them on US military-sold equipment in 2010. Still, a couple slipped through the cracks and never got ground off. In infantry school, I had one issued with the bible verse still on it. Cool to see other countries didn't care and kept the verses on. A brand new optic with a fat shiny grinding mark always bothered me. I have never looked, but I'm told all civilian-sold Trijicons still have the bible verses on them.

[RicArmstrong]

It's good they went with a riser for the ACOG. Makes target acquisition much faster.

[RMMilitaryHistory]

Another great in-depth look at a current service rifle 👌😎

[superfamilyallosauridae]

Ok, I realized something recently. There is basically no survey of what optics are used by what militaries. Just from delving into the USMC's M27 IAR, I found some weird stuff. Could you do a video about all of the optics and lasers that have been used on the SA80 if it's up your alley? Specific ACOG types and things like that

[SeenBeatleofDoom]

Bermuda royal army must’ve been fans of the A-team in the 80s. The show made Ruger Mini-14 famous.

[garethpothin]

The ACOG has would often come loose from the rail mount. I tightened the hell out of it for fear it would come off and developed a habit of constantly feeling to check that it was not loosening. Other than that, I really liked the ACOG

[zeo_crash]

I used to live in Bermuda and found this very interesting. I left in 2015 and had no idea the regiment had moved to the SA80

[commando]

It's a bit odd that some of these guns have the A3 receivers, I would have thought those would have been kept as there are still guns in use with British forces with A2 spec receivers.

[caramelypoops]

Should have come up with the extra cash for the G36

[WanderlustZero]

Always good to see another country picking up this classic! The rifle the haters couldn't kill