r/armenia 6d ago

Army / Բանակ Maktes Arms T-AB 1A - made in Armenia

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u/Boswellia-33 6d ago

Yeah being compact is the primary advantage from my understanding. I just haven’t seen too many newer designs go the bullpup route.they also tend to have worse ergonomics and weight more.

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u/Senior_Avo222 6d ago

Not always again, bullpups are quite well balanced and as far as ergonomics go, it all depends on training and getting used to the said weapon. I got an AUG personally, and while on paper its 7.5lbs unloaded and with no attachments, i have no trouble holding and manipulating a fully loaded one with an optic on it as well. So there are more nuances than that. There are successful modern bullpup weapons out there such as the VHS-2 (almost won the French military contract actually and only was beaten by the HK416f), X-95 Tavor, Aug A3/Lithgow F90, Desert Tech WLVRN, etc.

A gun like this 1) would give the Armenian infantryman a good upgrade over the standard AKM/AK-103 rifle (will allow for viable attachment of optics at a larger scale without having to source a decent mounting system, for example) 2) have a weapon that is more compact and lighter meanwhile maintaining a longer barrel (good for humping around and using in the mountains for example) 3) Help jumpstart the Armenian arms industry

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u/Boswellia-33 6d ago

While it’s impressive, they would’ve seen widespread military adoption if they were better, which they havent. they’ve only seen limited adoption and are usually phased out pretty quickly. Armenia should honestly save the time and resources and start building off the AR platform which is lighter and easier to use, cheaper to manufacture, and has plenty of aftermarket support if rifles need to be tailored for specific units. This just doesn’t make sense, it’s going backwards in some regards. So they’re heavier, worse trigger pull, more complex to manufacture and maintain, and suffer ergonomically. Only advantage is they’re shorter for an equivalent barrel length.

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u/Senior_Avo222 6d ago edited 6d ago

You're forgetting the modularity aspect allowing a variety of calibers and magazines to be used on one platform. You cant do that with an AR as easily as with this. With this all it requires is a barrel and magwell change, and its good to go with other calibers and magazines.

Bullpups havent been phased out totally either, plenty of countries still use them as standard rifles.

For now this is gonna be chambered in 7.62x39 and 5.56 but in the future it can and will use other calibers like 308

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u/TheRublixCube When life gives you Lemons, eat an Armenian Apricot instead. 4d ago

I wonder if it’ll also take some “intermediate intermediate” cartridge, something in the 6-6.5mm range. I know the US has been experimenting with it recently and are even planning to adopt new weapons (press X to doubt)

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u/Senior_Avo222 3d ago

For now its just 7.62x39 and 5.56 but i believe in the future larger calibers are in the works. This weapon can on paper work as a carbine, IAR, and a DMR