Left side view of Steyr AUG A1 assault rifle with full size 508 mm barrel.
Source: Daimler Puch -
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The AUG is an assault rifle of Austrian origin. It is the most widely used assault rifle in bullpup configuration in the world. The abbreviation AUG stands for 'Armee Universel Gewehr', German for 'universal army rifle'. The AUG was developed in the early 1970's to replace the FAL in Austrian services, but later was exported to many nations.
At the time of the development the AUG featured state of the art design choices. The most distinguishing feature is the bullpup configuration. The trigger is placed in front of the magazine and the receiver doubles as the stock, resulting in a very short weapon. The furniture is made of a tough polyamide. The AUG is gas operated and uses a short stroke gas piston and rotating bolt. An optical sight with 1.5x magnification is integrated in the carry handle.
The AUG is known as an accurate and reliable weapon. It fires the 5.56x45mm round from 30 round translucent magazines. The 42 round magazines of the light support variant can also be used. Due to the rifling both the older M193 and newer SS109 rounds can be fired. The two stage trigger allows for semi-automatic fire with a light pull and automatic fire with a full pull. The effective range depends on the barrel length and is given as 400 meter with the standard barrel.
The AUG was first adopted by the Austrian military. It has also been adopted by various nations around the world as the standard issue assault rifle. In addition, many special forces and law enforcement units have adopted the AUG.
The AUG A1 is the original and standard version of the AUG family. The AUG A1 is fitted with a fixed 1.5x scope and is available with a 508 mm, 406 mm and 350 mm barrel. To distinguish between the barrel lengths the unofficial designations AUG Rifle, AUG Carbine and AUG Commando are used. The 350 mm barrel is rather uncommon.
The A2 is similar to the A1 in most regards, but the sight mount is removable. The A2 model mostly comes with Picatinny rail in order to mount an optic of choice. A 1.5x scope similar to the A1 model can be fitted as well. Due to the quick change barrel design the A2 was available in all three barrel lengths.
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