In this video, we talk about the American obsession with the AR platform – and America’s absolute hatred of the bullpup. Although, it would seem people are coming around to bullpups a little more, especially in a lot of European and Commonwealth militaries where the bullpup is actually quite popular. Some of our primary allies in Western Europe, the UK, France, Australia, and Luxembourg, for example, have all used bullpup rifles as standard-issue military firearms at one point or another.
Almost everyone can agree the AR system is reliable, accurate, highly modular, and does pretty much everything you want a carbine to do. What about the Bullpup? Why do people dislike these things? A lot of it comes from a lack of exposure and experience with them. If you are more experienced with the ergonomics of an AR-style rifle, that’s what you’re most comfortable with. But a lot of military veterans from overseas who served in different militaries that used bullpup systems are actually more comfortable with bullpup systems than they are with AR systems.
Is something good just because you're comfortable with it, or bad simply because you’re not? It certainly stands to reason that if you're more comfortable with a given platform or firearm that you are trained on, you're working with it, and you spend the most time with it, then it is just implicitly the best choice for you.
In the video above, we’re going to spend some time on the range firing both a bullpup-configured AUG kitted out as an Austrian army Jager's AUG and an AR-configured URG-I Geissele, 14-and-a-half inch. We’re going to talk about how it feels to fire them compared to one another and discuss the pros and cons of each. Be sure to give it a watch and enjoy!
--9-Hole Reviews