Steyr ACR: A Polymer Flechette-Firing Bullpup From the 90s
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Published 2018-05-09
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The US Army ACR (Advanced Combat Rifle) program was an effort to find a new type of infantry rifle which could increase the practical accuracy of the M16 by a whopping 100% in the early 1990s. Building on a legacy of similar programs like SALVO and SPIW, the basic idea being tried were extremely high rates of burst fire, flechette rounds, and duplex cartridges as a way to increase hit probability mechanically. There were four final entries into the rifle trials - rifle from AAI, Colt, H&K (the G11), and this rifle from Steyr.
The Steyr ACR entry is a polymer-bodied weapon taking many basic cues from the AUG. It has a low power optic as its primary sighting device, translucent magazines (capacity only 24 round, though), a roughly 1200 rpm rate of fire, and full-hand trigger guard. Mechanically, uses an annular gas piston and fired from an open bolt, with semiauto and 3-round burst modes. The locking system is a unique vertically sliding chamber, using a similarly unique 10gr flechette cartridge with a polymer case and ring primer. It is quite the interesting an unusual rifle...but it failed meet the accuracy standards of the M16, much less substantially improve upon them. In the end, the ACR program was cancelled with none of the entrants meeting the goal.
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All Comments (21)
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It looks like someone tried to draw an AUG from memory
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Not to be confused with the CAR, the ARC, the RAC, the ACR or the ACR. Edit for inclusivity's sake: Not to be confused with the CAR, the AR-C, the AR-CL the RAC, the ACR, the ACR, the ACR, the MDR, the CPR, the XCR, the RCA, the DVR, the XM8, the AUG, the BAR, the pallet rifle, the R E S P E C T, the ARAK, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the M2, the SCAR, the Kar, the SLR, the VCR or the fucking ACR, now are you people happy?
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Every gun in the 90s-00s: “LIFE IN PLASTIC! ITS FANTASTISCH!”
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Steyr: We need a better AUG. Steyr employee: Bullpups the AUG more and made it fire flechettes Steyr: Perfection.
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Looks like a tactical fish.
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For those who may wonder: In french, basically, "flèche" = arrow; "fléchette" = little arrow, dart
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To hear this gun has malfunctions breaks my heart.
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"Stiff Piston and the Charging Handles" is my new band name.
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Damn, it's like a melted Aug and famas merged together
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The whole gun looks like when chocolate melts in the sun then cools back down and you unwrap it.
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Seeing this basically end up in Cruelty Squad (as well as the USAS 12, an94, zip 22, pm-9, g11, etc) is insane. The coolest guns never go into full on production, stay as prototypes, are way to expensive, or all of the above
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Just to point out that just like arrows, the slow spin imparted on the flechettes doesn't actually serve to stabilize them through gyroscopic force. Rather it averages out any imperfections that would tend to make the projectile curve away from it's point of aim. eg if there is a slight bend, or one of the fins is slightly bigger than the others so the slow spin puts the projectile into a corkscrew rather than curved flight.
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It looks kinda like the Pallet Rifle from Eva No wonder why, it was probably the most futuristic gun they could find, they already used the G11 for the UN so yeah
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35-odd years ago, I was briefly involved in the Australian Army trials for a replacement for the SLR. Based in the north-west Queensland desert, we headed out bush for the hot-dry and bulldust testing of several rifles - including the Steyr AUG, M16A1, M16A2 and I vaguely remember the guys talking about a Singaporean submission that had failed out of the trials early on.While not an actual selling point, the AUG receiver had a little switch that allowed you to select either full auto or 3-round burst. You did have to remove the butt-plate and pull it out to do so, but this only takes seconds. No, the real selling point was how freakishly accurate the AUG was - especially given that we were all used to shooting SLRs and F1s. It really was the gun that didn't miss.While the M16A1 was then in limited use and fairly popular among the SF community, such as it was, the M16A2 was an utter failure just during the period of my own observation. There were at least two parts breakages just during the fortnight I was out with the team. The real killer, however, was how quickly and badly both M16 models jammed up when faced with the talcum-fine bulldust so common to central-Australian cattle stations.
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I vividly remember reading a magazine article in the late 90s as a kid about what "future soldiers" would look like. It heavily featured this rifle, the soldiers were fully armored in sci fi looking armor, and there was a heavy focus on night vision goggles in the helmet as well haha.
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Back in 1995 I saw this gun in an Ian Hogg book and it fascinated me. Almost 25 years later another Ian explains it further. 😄
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This is just a teaser for that G11 video you've been keeping from us, isn't it
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Seriously one of the coolest guns I've ever seen, surprisingly simple action too.
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Three years late I know, but I just discovered how to complete the disassembly the Steyr ACR: “By removal of the rear plastic stock, the soldier can pull a quick disconnect sleeve [the red collar in front of the chamber block – I think] and remove the barrel with a quarter turn. From this point, the gas piston return spring is free to be removed, the misfire ejector may be removed, and the mechanism is easily broken into several sub-assemblies. Springs are easily compressed by hand while pins need only finger pressure to remove or are easily punched out with the sling pin.”
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Car salesman:*Slaps gun* this bad boy can kill so many Angels
