I’m trying to get more details about the Gunprime exclusive special edition with the SF scope. It looks pretty neat, but was hoping someone had more info on the rifle this clone is based on. This is the best article I could find about the military rifle.
https://www.overtdefense.com/2023/03/09/austria-begins-issuing-upgraded-steyr-aug-rifles/
Some grouped questions:
1. Who are the units that this is being issued to? The article said Militia and Cadre Presence units, but is this just general infantry, or does it include special forces, motorized units, etc?
2. Why did Steyr design this configuration without a side rail on the receiver but add it back to the scope? Just seems odd as that appears to be the only difference on the receiver. What does it actually accomplish by putting the side rail on the scope vs on the receiver? Even the Aug A3 MII has the side rail on the receiver so why have this weird version without it for their military?
3. Is this model being issued to Austrian special forces, or are they sticking to their STG77 A2 Commandos, or is there going to be a mix? Considering how kitted out these are in the pics with SF optics, lasers and aimpoint micros I’d assume these are going to be used by SF since they are almost identical to the A2 commandos, but I couldn’t find any more info.
4. Why was this scope designed to be lower but then they issued all of them in the pics on risers? From my reading SF liked the lower height because they were primarily using it as a riser for their aimpoints . Do you think most military units will end up removing the riser once they are fielded?
5. In the pics it looked like the issued ones shown were all 20” barrels. I am assuming any SF units getting them would probably prefer to swap to 16” barrels (easy on the Aug), but is this a wrong assumption? Also, do they use 1/2-28 threads?
6. Does anyone know if military barrels are CL CHF, or have their military units moved to nitrided like the civi barrels here?
7. Between the gunprime exclusive and the actual military stg77 a1 mod there appear to be some differences like barrel length, bottom rail, optic riser, case deflector, and charging handle, but there might be more im missing. What other differences are there and Are any of these pieces available anywhere innthe usa?
Thank you for the info