FAMAS F1 Bullpup Assault Rifle High Accuracy Target

The FA-MAS F1 Assault Rifle (or FAMAS F1) By French was one of the first bullpup-design rifles issued in large numbers to any army. It was designed in the 1970s because the French military was then equipped with a combination of MAS-49 rifles (a post-World War 2 weapon) and a hodgepodge of foreign weapons, and the French wanted a thoroughly modern weapon that could replace both their rifles and submachineguns.  The magazine of the F1 Assault Rifle was designed specifically for it; it is steel with holes drilled in the sides at intervals so that the user can easily determine how much ammunition is left.

The barrel is designed to easily use NATO rifle grenades, whether of the BTU variety or requiring a special adapter. The standard FA-MAS F1 Assault Rifle is for right-handed shooters, but the extractor and case ejector are reversible, and the receiver is already designed for left or right-handed operation. The barrel of the FA-MAS F1 Assault Rifle is of steel, while the receiver is light alloy. The stock itself is of polymer, and is equipped with a rubber recoil pad; early models of the F1 used a neoprene-covered cheekpiece, but late-production F1s (and the newer G2 model) use a removable molded polymer cheekpiece. The cheekpiece is reversible, and covers the unused ejection port (depending whether the FA-MAS Assault Rifle is set up for a left- or righthanded shooter).

FAMAS F1 Bullpup Assault Rifle

The carrying handle is of high-impact plastic and protects both the sights and the charging handle underneath it. The standard-issue sling is designed to be highly-adjustable, with two sling swivels on the stock and two sling swivels on the front attached to the swivel pins holding the bipod on the rifle. The 19.21-inch barrel is contained for the most part within the foregrip and stock.

The exposed section of barrel has a set of raised rings behind the flash suppressor; this aids in securing rifle grenades to the end of the barrel, as the FA-MAS was designed from the start to use a wide variety of rifle grenades. (The FA-MAS is issued with special one-round magazines designed to contain a ballistite cartridge, when one is required for firing older rifle grenades.)

FAMAS F1 Assault Rifle

There are several variants of the Famas F1 Assault Rifle, including an export/police version that fires only on semiautomatic, a civilian model with a longer barrel and chambered for .222 Remington ammunition to comply with French law, a training model that fires .22 Long Rifle ammunition, and a short-barreled Commando version (see below). In addition to French use, the Famas F1 Assault Rifle is used by Djibouti, Gabon, the United Arab Emirates, and Senegal. The most common nickname given to the FA-MAS by its soldiers is "Le Clarion" (the Bugle), due to its unusual shape.

FAMAS F1 Bullpup Assault Rifle Cyber Shootgun

One of the most unusual versions of the FA-MAS F1 Assault Rifle is the Commando; this variant was designed in the early 1980s for use by special operations units. The main difference between it and the standard F1 is the barrel, shortened by 83mm to 405mm. The Commando was not produced or adopted in large numbers; the standard F1 is already so compact as to render a smaller version rather superfluous, and the Commando also loses the ability to fire rifle grenades. Whether it was actually produced, issued, or used is unknown.