Quoted: I'm sure there are a couple post-sample SA-80s in the country for research puproses. Also I've heard a couple times that there are two semi-auto SA-80s floating around this country that are prototypes for a canceled venture to produce them over here. How much truth there is to that is anyone guess. |
I've seen the semis. They were real. The guy was shopping them around for a year or two at the big gunshows looking for funding to make them here in the USA. He had the two semis, and enough parts for two more rifles. He was trying to get production going, and when he failed at that, he tried to sell the whole package, including manufacturing rights, for something like $35,000. That was back in the day as well, before the big bans.
Given the market share bullpups had at the time, Styer, FAMAS and a couple odd-balls pretty much had serviced that market segment. The project simply didn't have any legs.
Later, during the ban, a bullpup might have had traction if it were quality. Bushmaster had the right idea with the M17s, but just didn't develop it enough.
Nowdays there's some good bullpups being made or on the horizon and again, there's really no segment that an SA-80 would do well in.
Considering the semis that I saw were the early type SA's, it would have probably given bullpups a bad name anyway. Sometimes "it would be cool" gives way to fate, and in the end that might have been better.