III. Firearm Information by Type

D. Rifles

2. Models and Manufacturers

b. Self-Loading Rifles

193. Steyr AUG/AUG SA

Caliber: .223, 9mm
Action : Gas operated, rotating bolt, Stays open after last shot.
Sight  : 1.5X Swaski scope, built into carrying handle
Barrel : 20=B2 standard, 16=B2, 24=B2 heavy barrel with bipod
Mag    : 30, 42
Name   : AUG =3D Army Universal Gun, AUG SA =3D Army Universal Gun Semi-Auto
Other  : Bull Pulp configuration
 
The AUG SA is the civilian version of the AUG. The AUG is a bull pulp rifle
meaning the action of the gun seats behind the trigger right under the
shooters face. This also places the magazine further back as well. There
are pros and cons to a bull pulp gun. The action being so far back in the
gun allows for the use of a longer barrel while keeping the guns overall
length shorter. The overall balance of the gun is better allowing for
better single handed shoots. The standard AUG SA with a 20 inch barrel is
shorter then a CAR-15 with the stock.
 
With the action and ejection port below the shooters face, the ejected
brass from the ejection port on the right side of the gun will cause
injuries to the shooters face if shoot left handed and vice versa.
 
To get around this hazard the AUG can be configured for a left handed
shooter by inserting a left handed bolt and moving the ejection port cover
to the right side. The left handed shooter most still straggle with the
cocking handle mounted on the left side of the gun.
 
The entire stock of the AUG is made of polymer along with the trigger pack
including the hammer. For a firearm designed back in the early 80=B9s they
were and still are ahead of their time.
 
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Barrel
------
 
The rife comes standard with a 20 inch barrel that makes the AUG no longer
then a CAR-15. There are also 16 inch and a 24 inch heavy barrels for the
AUG. The 16 inch barrel is simply a shortened 20 inch barrel. The 24 inch
heavy barrel is nothing like the others. The heavy barrel has an
incorporated bipod and a really kick ass looking flash hider. The AUG
allows for fast one hand removal and insertion of barrels. Ever AUG barrel
has a folding vertical grip built in. The grip helps in control of the gun
when firing and allows for burn free hands when changing HOT barrels.
 
The AUG'S gas system is adjustable from the barrel. There are three settings=
:
1) Ordinary gas (indicated on the barrel by a small dot) for normal conditions.
2) Extra gas (indicated by a larger dot) for adverse conditions.
3) Grenade (indicated by the letters GR) for firing muzzle mounted grenades.

When blanks are used, the first setting is normally used and a Blank Firing
Attachment (or BFA) is screwed into the barrel. The interior of the flash
suppressor is threaded for the BFA.
 
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Sight
-----
 
The AUG comes standard with a 1.5x swaski scope built into the carrying
handle. The standard scope recticle is a donut with no crosshairs (The
Australian Defense Force, or ADF, uses a donut and crosshairs). The donut
is designed so that the area inside the donut is equivalent to
a 30 centimetre (approximately 1 foot) circle at 100 metres (approximately 333 feet).
The scope
was not designed for long range sniping but rather a step up from iron
sights. The iron sights that are on this gun is a joke. They are just fixed
sights protruding form the carrying handle.
 
For the marksmen there is a Special Receiver with a
 weaver scope rail
instead of the carrying handle/scope. This way you can use your high power
scope for those longer shoots or better yet night vision scopes.
 
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9MM
---
 
The 9MM version of this firearm needs some explaining. The Steyr AUG SA was
only offered in .223 but one could buy the 9mm conversion later. These
conversions cost around $500.00. They include a new barrel, bolt, magazine
(all metal), magazine adapter and everything else needed. They however had
problems, mainly they didn=B9t work correctly. Feeding problems was one of
the biggest problems. These 9mm conversions was good if you could get it to
work. Some companies would mix up the parts from different conversion kits
to get one to work on an AUG, then sell the AUG as a .223/9mm. This problem
also applies to the AUG 9mm the full-auto version.
 
Steyr fixed the problem with there AUG 9mm guns and at the same time
decided to not sell the conversion kits any longer. The current full-auto
AUG 9mm work just fine but if you see any of those 9mm conversion kits be
careful. Oh, BTW I happened across a 9mm conversion kit at a gun show
3/??/94. The seller wanted $1800.00.

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Stripping the Weapon
--------------------

There a five groups to the weapon:
 
Receiver Group : the cast aluminuim receiver
 
Barrel Group : the barrel
               the gas plug
               the gas piston
               the gas spring
 
Operating Group : Bolt carrier
                : bolt
                : bolt locking sleeve
                : end cap
                : firing pin 
                : spring
              
Butt Group : The polymer stock
 
Trigger Group : The Hammer, sear, etc etc in their own self contained plastic
module.
 
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Tidbits
-------
 
No selection lever needs to be manipulated to control semi or full-auto
fire. The selection lever is integrated with the trigger. The trigger has a
two stage pull that travels on a horizontal axes only, not sure what the
pull weights are. The first stage is a single shoot with the second stage
being the full-auto.
 
There is a cleaning kit in the stock of each AUG, just below the trigger pac=
k.
 
The AUG stock comes in both green and black.