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| Country |
Belgium |
| Type |
Assault rifle |
| Manufacturer |
Fabrique Nationale |
| Introduction |
2001 |
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The FN F2000 is an assault rifle manufactured by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN Herstal).
The F2000 was first introduced to the public in 2001 as a versatile yet compact rifle.[2] It has a short-stroke gas piston system with an adjustable gas regulator, and fires the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge from standard STANAG magazines. Due to the bullpup arrangement, it is compact yet with a long barrel for accurate firing. While slightly heavier than most carbines, such as the G36K or the M4, its barrel length and effective range is considerably greater. Still, while the Steyr AUG and L85 are no lighter than the F2000, most modern rifles (bullpup or not), such as the G36, the Tavor, the FAMAS, the AK-74, and the QBZ-95 are. It features forward ejection of spent shells and a P90-style ambidextrous fire selector, and the charging handle is fully adjustable for right or left handed users. Many of the internal components including the hammer and sear are made of plastic.
The standard F2000 comes with a plastic forward handguard and an optical sight with 1.6x magnification. The sight cover and sight itself can be removed to reveal a Picatinny rail. The forward handguard can be removed to equip a variety of accessories such as laser aiming modules (LAM), 40 mm grenade launcher with push-button safety, 12-gauge shotgun, M303 less-lethal launcher, or the triple rail found on the F2000 Tactical. The optical sight can be replaced with a special, computerized fire control system designed for the 40 mm grenade launcher. The fire control computer makes firing regular grenades much easier, though it cannot fire smart grenades. There is an Israeli system that uses the M203 and computerized sight to fire 40 mm air burst grenades. Neither of these should be confused with the 20 mm and 25 mm grenades of the U.S. OICW program.
The F2000 platform has a bayonet lug mounted near the muzzle, and has an adjustable gas regulator with two settings: \"normal\" for standard ammunition meeting SAAMI or NATO specifications, and \"adverse\" to send more gas into the system to ensure proper functioning when fouled or when using out of spec ammunition. The chamber, rotating breech block, and ejector mechanisms can be accessed by flipping up the access cover, or known affectionately by many operators of the F2000 as the “toilet seat” cover. Rather than being directly ejected from the rifle, spent cases are shifted into an ejection chute by the polymer ejector mechanism\'s swinging guide which then directs them into the ejection chute, where they can be removed by tilting the rifle forward or by being pushed out by additional spent cases. While the unusual ejection may seem worrisome and unreliable to traditionalists, the swinging guide is moved directly by, and in-line with, the moving bolt carrier, ensuring an unusually simple and reliable ejection mechanism. It also guides the case all the way to the ejection tube, leaving no chance for the case to be ejected at the wrong angle and jam. The potential for spent cases to get jammed in the long ejection tube may be a problem, although the tube\'s length and small diameter go some way to keeping dirt from the ejection mechanism.
The ambidexterity provided by forward ejection is its most obvious benefit, and removes many of the tactical and user difficulties (such as lack of ambidexterity, inability to shoot around corners, and gas and debris released close to the user\'s face) that bullpups usually create
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