Ok so this might not be everyone's idea of a grail gun but if there are three things I like it's 1) Retro stuff 2) bullpups and 3) AK's. So here it is:

A valmet bullpup in 7.62x39





ugly as the day is long but still interesting. I intend to do a full range test on it soon. Also i'm aware the majority of these were produced in 5.56 but there were some produced in 7.62x39 so i'm still happy to have this one.

p.s. sorry for the crappy pics still working with my iphone until later today.

Very cool. Definitly will follow this thread to hear about your range time with it.

DUDE!

Back in the day, my local shop had one of these on the rack for ages.  I think it finally sold after sitting there for almost two years.  Each time I went in I thought to myself, "That's one ugly duckling, but it sure is cool...I should buy it...oooo!  Shiny!" and my attention went elsewhere...

Wow...I didn't know Valmet had a bullpup. Definitely ugly as sin , but, awesome nonetheless - I especially think it's cool that it's chambered in 7.62x39mm.

Congrats

Congrats on the new bullpup. I would really like one of those also.

Congrats! 
I'm jelly.

It was also Kyle Reese's weapon in T1

I didn't know that! Awesome!

I was just going to say that! OP got himself a Phased Plasma Rifle in 40watt range!

Sweet Valmet, OP. You're a lucky devil.

So a quick update here I just wanted to give my initial impressions before my range trip tomorrow (i'll be taking a 7.62x39 AK and probably a couple of bullpups along to compare it against).

Initial Impressions:

1) This thing is rear heavy...like really rear heavy around 80% of the weight of the rifle is in the rear 1/3rd of it. This isn't so bad when you shoulder it but it does make picking up initially very cumbersome.

2) It won't take 30 round mags. There isn't enough clearance between the pistol grip and magwell to allow them to rotate in.

3) The trigger is mushy but it breaks consistently (measured) at 4lbs which is surprisingly light.

4) The plastic molding is very 80's, shiny and a little slippery but still very retro chic. I will say it seems like the stocks were cast from the original wood ones (the M82 was originally made with a wood stock) and the grip used for the foregrip was a standard AK one. The reason I say this is because the grip design and angle is pretty much from a standard AK but it's fatter like someone made a mold using an existing AK grip.

5) Disassembly is as easy as a standard AK and because of the rear weight the rifle does feel very light up front transitioning well between targets.

Anyway I still love it and will update this tomorrow.

Range Update:

Did a quick function check today. The rifle ran ok with a couple of times when an empty case got stuck on it's way out of the ejection port. This could have been the cheap crappy ammo i was using. It only happened twice in about 100 rounds. In any case the recoil impulse is surprisingly soft and the trigger while mushy isn't bad. I'll get back out on the range ASAP to do a full video and write up etc.

Oh I should also mention that because the sights are offset to the left getting a good cheek weld with ear pro on with this thing is a real bitch. I'll snap some pics and everything else for the full video.

That is cool. Not to get off the subject, but is that picture of your rifles from a shop or it that a gun room/man cave? I really wish I had a spot for a gun room. Well, that and enough guns to put in it.

It's my gun/safe room. It's a nice place to go and relax because i can shut and bolt the door and block the world out lol.

I don't know if I am jealous because of the rifle or the room. Good for you.

Thanks. It's not definitely been a labor of love although I'm almost out of room now.

Doesn't look ugly to me. The aftermarket bullpup conversions that have appeared over the last two decades have produced some disgustingly ugly rifles. The Valmet isn't ugly at all. I have a Steyr Aug so any bullpup rifle chambered in cartridge's under .308 don't interest me. If I still had my AK47's with various magazines (30 and 40 rd as well as drums) then I would be interested in the Valmet. Still, it's not a bad looking bullpup at all. I would be worried about spare parts for it.

Unlike most of my rifles I won't be running the snot out of this one so spare parts shouldn't be an issue. I'm in the same spot right now I need to pick up an Aug but other than that I'm set for 5.56 bullpups. I want to pick up a 308 one and I'm done until something really cool and unique comes out... I'm looking at you eastern Europe!

I wish someone would make a 7.62x39 bullpup, or offer the Tavor in this configuration

Me too.

I'd buy that!

The M82 is indeed fun and is a better bullpup than I was expecting, despite it being rear heavy. The trigger isn't awful and the recoil is fine. The sight set up is strange but overall it isn't a terrible 80's bullpup like I expected.

Seems like the whole retrofitted into a bullpup thing was big around that time period. You also have the SA80/L85 that was kind of a awkward ar18 retrofit that has been improved but the location of the fire selector on the back still shows its roots as such.

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/category/rifles/select-fire-rifles/

Forgotten weapons has a whole series on its development which is neat.

Besides that you have the south african Vector which was essentially a retrofitted south african galil (R4 I think was the native designation). Some seem decent just not as good as something designed from the ground up as a bullpup hence their lack of adoption or in the case of the L85 that was a political mess leading to its adoption and no one else being interested in the rifle for that reason and completely broke the commonwealth countries tradition of adopting the same weapons aka SMLE, Enfield mk4, FAL, etc. Would you say that is a fair assessment given your owning and shooting a Finnish example of this retrofitting now?

I actually have a fair amount of experience with the L85A1 so I can probably say that both this and the M82 are the two 80's bastard bullpups I've shot the most. Anyone who's read my posts on this forum before knows that the A1 is the one rifle to ever come apart on me at a range (without a kaboom). I charged the rifle as we were instructed, this was a rifle I had used previously, and the rear butt plate cracked and sheered off causing the internals to spring out the back. Needless to say I was surprised and the range officer who was a scary gentleman for an 18 year old me was not the nicest man in the world about it. Having said that it was a structural failure of the rifle not anything I did. Now I never carried one on a two way range but I certainly had my share of range and exercise time with the A1 and I can say that it was problematic, although the sighting system was well ahead of the curve. I personally saw mags fall out of them, either from bumping the mag catch against clothing or just because it used a weak spring, for example. I have friends who served with the Paras and Royal Marines who say the A2 is a better weapon but I haven't spoken to anyone who really really likes it.

I watched the forgotten weapons series and really enjoyed it. As someone who is still deeply proud to be British (which in itself is a long story) I'd love a complete set of British service rifles from the brown bess onwards. It really disturbed me when I read the collector grade publications book on the SA080, which is well worth a read. It was a weapons system designed by committee and mostly by people who had never even fired guns before. I could go on and on but i'll stop there.

As for it being the reason that other commonwealth countries didn't keep to a British standard I think that ship had really already sailed after the adoption of the FAL. The Aussies were already looking for their own rifle/bullpup really before SA80 was completed and I doubt they would have gone with the British design in any case unless it had been something really special.

p.s. in summary the issue with the L85 compared to say the Vektor is that the British copied the AR18 without agreement to do so meaning that they really didn't have access to the engineer expertize or history (like the AK, galil, R4 like the SA's had) and so started from the ground up. They did this with sub par engineering, no idea on materials and then between the privatizing of the enfield plant and the political crap surrounding the time period the rifle was always going to be subpar. I always liken it to if someone was to ask me to build a corvette giving only me a junk yard for materials, no original drawings while someone was yelling at me and threatening to fire me all the time. Sure I might end up with something that kind of looks like a corvette but it sure as hell isn't going to run like one.