https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr_AUG
LARPfag here. The StG77 is the only rifle I know, but I can't believe you can ask for more.
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Look through telescope
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Put center of crosshairs over target
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Pull trigger
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See target pop
Muzzle velocity is 970m/s -- no imagination or mental acrobatics required for targets closer than a hundred yards. Aim a palm or so higher for each extra hundred yards. The rifle is mostly made of plastic and absolutely no burden, not even on 30 ml walks. Careful cleaning is a requirement for automatic action, though, especially for and after using blinds.
How does that compare to U.S. army rifles? Or a Kalashnikov? A problem for guerilleros might be that all parts are machine-tooled, so you need special equipment for making spares.
Austrian basic training is only a few months, so sunk cost would not be an issue here. Guns are too expensive for me right now, or better: getting good with them is quite costly and time consuming. Buying a gun without the will to put effort into it is probably a big mistake.
"Sniping" was meant as "shooting at a range with a telescope" without the target shooting back. 500 yards is quite a distance and takes a lot of skill. Apart from that: afaik, sniping is extremely demanding, because you can't take the bus to your target, but must get there on foot in the moutains or jungle. I'm not a sniper.
All this is more theoretical in my case. You guys have told me more than I can process at the moment. Thanks, btw. This brings us to your first paragraph, because I have only a vague understanding what you are talking about. Perhaps I should buy a "rifles for dummies" book before I get back. Guns and war are very interesting, though. I can relate to your passion.
I'm actually really interested in your opinions (I've never worked with the Austrians).
Kentucky Windage is a slang term in the US military that is used when people willfully use their sights "improperly" to compensate for something. For example, let's say you're shooting at 500 yard and you set your site to 500. But, suddenly a target pops up at 200 yards. Now, your sites sent able to properly hit so you "aim lower" or maybe instead of looking through the rear sight ring, you look above it and line up the top edge with the front sight post. But, it's not a guess, if something people generally practice.
The Marines train with the M16 at 500 yards on a man sized target. It's good at 500 so.i would imagine the Steyr can do similar.
What are the laws on reloading ammo in Austria? In the states that's a necessity for zeroing a rifle now a daus
Glee. Are you military? Or a trainer?
Sounds like a more advanced level of technology we had. Our rifles were "calibrated" by a grumpy old authority/armorer for good with tools in his shop (apparently for 100 yards) and there was no way for endusers to change that, especially from target to target. In fact, woe was to folks who had "abused" their weapon in such a way that it had to be "re-calibrated". Factoring in the drop/lag of the bullet for more distant targets or for moving targets was apparently difficult for some people who had not been exposed to vidyas before basic training. 500 yards sounds like a lot to me. Chapeau, marines! [1]
In the army, it is an extremely bureaucratic process (waiting in line, reporting name, officer checks name in list, other officer passes a certain number of bullets, report reception of bullets), but people with a license (hunters, recreational marksmen, etc.) can buy rounds like q-tips, and many do. (Fun fact: not a single day of lockdown for gun shops during the 'rona. Churches, gyms, schools: no such luck. National saltmine.) Getting a license is no problem in Austria; getting it revoked rarely happens, even if you were to run around drunk spraying bullets in public, for as long as noone is hurt. Such things do happen, and the judges at the gun-authority office who rule over such cases usually side with the offender, downplaying incidents. "Look, don't we all get drunk once in a while? And do stupid things? Nothing happened!"
I don't understand what that means. You have to prove that your gun is correctly zeroed in for buying ammo?
Semi-personal account:
Underage baby brother and cousins got busted with a (small) pistol and no license in the woods, practicing. Local residents felt bothered by the noise. Arresting coppers made conversation, talking shop, on the way to the constabulary and were impressed by how much the boys knew about firearms. Cops kept the gun and told them to GTFO. No receipts, no names, no paperwork. (Many people can tell such stories about lenient gun law enforcement. Germany is VERY different in that regard. It is much harder to get a license.)
[1] I checked the numbers for the first time. The required precision is stunning. At a distance of 100 yards/m, if you or your scope is off by an arcMINUTE, you miss by 29 millimeters, more than an inch. It's five times as much for 500 yards. An arcminute is not much. What is counter-intuitive here is that the tilt from the recoil is apparently negligible, at least at 100 yards.
I was Marine Corps back during OIF, but I'm long out now
When I was in basic, long range on iron sights was a point of pride. We were taught how to adjust both sight posts and legitimately got good with it. Now, with ACOGs distance shooting is much easier.
I didn't know Austria had such lax gun laws! I'm putting it on my list as a back up country for when the States goes socialist.
No, we don't have to prove anything to buy ammo, but you need ammo to zero and right now ammo is HARD to find.
Glad you made it back (: There were just two Austrians in Iraq, afaik, as unarmed medic (neutral country, contractual obligation like Finland)
Had to look that up. Yes, looks like a fany piece of hardware.
... that makes old craftmanship and skill obsolete... The technical advantage sounds like a prothesis for a gift a friend has, which is that he has a shortsighted and a farsighted eye or something so he can see both the target and iron sights at the same time, what made him an IPSC natural
Why? Popular theories (this really is a thing in conversations, many armed friends):
1.) Austrian companies make that stuff and want to sell sell sell
2.) Hunting is a thing, especially with ex-royalty, who still has a lot of leverage
3.) 20th century military doctrine, which is essentially training for winter war (Finns got the Soviets BTFOed like 10:1 bodycount or so) and requires an armed, motivated militia
4.) Austria is a money-laundering narco-state, so running guns is a natural extra economy
I keep reading about that and think you guys are doing it right.
Austria is breeeety socialist on the face of it, but only in the big city. On the countryside, not so much (Hitler).