L85A1 By Lynndon Schooler. The British L85 is one of the more unusual stories in modern military small arms. Conceived during a period when Britain was attempting to develop a new generation of infantry weapons around a domestically designed intermediate cartridge, the project eventually produced the L85 rifle. This advanced but deeply troubled weapon would later become one of the most extensively reworked service rifles of its generation.The origins of the L85 go back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield began developing a replacement for the 7.62mm L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle. The early concept was based around the British 4.85x49mm cartridge. The resulting experimental weapons underwent numerous iterations. By the end of the 1970s, however, NATO standardization and Britain's decision to adopt the 5.56x45mm cartridge forced Enfield to rework the design substantially.The eventual 5.56mm rifles became the XL85 and XL86, the individual rifle and light support weapon prototypes. After further trials and modifications, the XL85E1 was adopted as the L85A1. The L85 entered British service during the mid-1980s, with the first weapons being issued in 1985. It was intended to replace the L1A1 as part of an effort to modernize British small arms. L86 LSW. By Lynndon Schooler. The L85's bullpup configuration gave Britain a compact rifle without sacrificing the barrel length normally associated with a full-sized service rifle. Its unusual layout allowed the weapon to remain relatively short while retaining a 20-inch barrel. Accuracy was never the fundamental problem: the rifle could be accurate. The difficulty was getting it to function reliably under the harsh conditions expected of a military service rifle.The L85A1 developed a particularly poor reputation during the Gulf War and subsequent operational use. Problems involving reliability, component durability, magazines, extraction, and other aspects of the weapon became impossible to ignore. Importantly, many of these problems were the result of a system in which manufacturing quality, materials, tolerances, and the weapon's overall design all mattered, and in which problems compounded one another. Backward gas cylinder on the gas piston. One particularly interesting feature of the original design is found in the gas system. Some components, including the gas cylinder and gas plug arrangement, were designed in a manner that did not provide sufficient obvious physical prevention against incorrect orientation. In other words, a component could be installed backward, and it appears it's more common than one might think.On the gas cylinder, there is a knurled section at the rear that indicates the direction and helps you grasp the cylinder to pull it rearward for disassembly. Also, the front is slightly smaller than the piston, which, when installed backward, gets pretty stuck and usually requires replacing the gas cylinder and the piston, especially if it was racked a few times. A good design would anticipate human error; unfortunately, this is not the case here. Unfortunately, the new US clone of the L85 was reverse-engineered one-for-one, so be careful not to install it backward. Backward gas cylinder seized together, requiring replacement. The British Ministry of Defense ultimately turned to Heckler & Koch to rescue the rifle. Beginning in the late 1990s and continuing into the early 2000s, the L85 underwent a major refurbishment and redesign program. The resulting L85A2 was not simply an A1 with a few improved parts. Numerous components were changed, including elements of the bolt, extractor, firing mechanism, gas system, barrel, magazines, and springs. The result was a dramatic improvement in reliability. Unfortunately, the gas cylinder and piston could still be installed backward, allowing them to get stuck or seize.The transformation was remarkable, turning the poorly designed bullpup rifle into a more capable service rifle. The A2 demonstrated that the underlying concept was not inherently bad, but luckily they were able to salvage the weapon, though it still retained some of its flaws. Backward gas cylinder. The next major step was the L85A3. Introduced from 2018 onward, the A3 modernization concentrated on bringing the mature rifle into the modern infantry environment. It introduced a new handguard and updated mounting for enablers. The L85A2 is the British Army standard assault rifle, although A3 rifles represent the newer configuration. Yet the A3 may ultimately be the final chapter of the L85 story.Britain has already begun moving toward a new generation of individual weapons. The L403A1, based on Knight's Armament's KS-1, was selected under Project Hunter for the Ranger Regiment and Royal Marines. It is important, however, not to describe the L403A1 as having already replaced the L85 throughout the British Army. As of early 2025, the Ministry of Defense still held more than 125,000 L85A2 rifles and over 40,000 L85A3 rifles, while some 1,620 L403A1 rifles had been delivered for the more specialized units. Another issue is the optics mounting solution; sometimes the optics fall off. The longer-term replacement is being pursued through Project Grayburn. The British government has stated that the projected out-of-service date for the L85A3 is currently 2030. Grayburn is still in the concept phase, with caliber, interoperability, and performance under review.That makes the L85 an unusual success story in retrospect. The L85A1 became infamous for its shortcomings, but the A2 demonstrated that the basic architecture could be transformed through disciplined engineering and manufacturing. The A3 then extended the service life of that improved design.The rifle's ultimate legacy may therefore be less about the A1's mistakes and more about what those mistakes taught. The L85 demonstrated the consequences of inadequate design and manufacturing quality, and the importance of designing against human error. After decades of service, the L85 is approaching the end of its career, but it leaves behind one of the most fascinating stories of any modern British military firearm.