Just a quick announcement of an informal face-off between my antique Steyr AUG, and the newly-available (for how long?) IWI Tavor. The Tavor has been under development for 20 years, and is now Israel's official front-line rifle. Somehow, the semi-auto version has been allowed into the US, but this was the first one my EBR store has seen in two years.
The Tavor was a consignment sale by one of the oldest, richest, and oddest clients of the store. The previous owner bought it, added the nice Nikon BDC variable scope, a half-dozen more mags (standard NATO brands, just like the AUG, which has the Aussie stock for Iraq, so it can use American GI mags, and not the obscenely expensive Steyr ones. The Tavor also had 1600 rounds of ammo as part of the deal, mostly GI and CMP military stuff.
My first impression is that the AUG has turned out amazingly simple and classic with its styling, compared to newer weapons. Both feature interchangeable barrels, and calibers. The AUG could change barrel lengths, or put in a 9mm conversion unit, all done by the user. The Tavor also has barrel and adapter for the Russian 4.5x39 round, with perhaps other calibers in the future.
One "feature" of the Tavor is that if the user fiddles with the barrel for any reason, it has to go in to an armorer who can re-verify the headspacing with the proper gauges. The ol' AUG has barrels that can be swapped out with just a push on a small cam, and a 90 degree twist. Any barrel that goes back on is automatically at the proper headspace.
The Tavor continues the modern trend of providing plenty of space to hang all sorts of goodies on, including ones that haven't been invented yet. Yards of rail space, and the small rail trades places with the charging handle on the opposite side when you change handedness. The ribbed area under the barrel is a cover for some hardpoints to hang a grenade launcher, or ultra-short breeching shotgun or high-power laser designator.
The Tavor was designed for today's needs and fads, while the AUG remains the champ for elegance and post-modern design. I expect they will both perform well.
Some day I'll put a FN FS2000 through similar tests as an example of second-generation bullpups, as opposed to first and third generations.
A quick progress on the IWI Tavor. It's now closer to its final configuration, with a Trijicon SRS 1x red dot sight, and a PWS super-fancy flash hider/muzzle break. I shot it just enough to get a rough zero at 25 yards, which should also provide a 100-yard zero. Once I got the rounds close enough to the black, I quit.
I learned enough to order a Timney target trigger for the rifle, and some ambidextrous selector switches to replace the slippery plastic ones currently on the rifle. The trigger pull was stiff but consistent, and felt more like a stock S&W M&P handgun than a strand of spaghetti, which so many bullpups have due to the long control rod that stretches from the trigger to the sear, which is a bit behind the magazine. I have have high hopes that the Timney (which ain't cheap) will improve things even more.
I played a hunch that the factory flash hider was less than optimal, so I put on the PWS brake/hider on before firing the first shot. The AUG retained its factory-stock four-slot flash hider with a closed front right. The PWS has four fins, and an open muzzle, in front.
Using GI XM193AF ammo in both, the AUG had a pretty loud bark, and a muzzle flash with about four feet of visible flame. The Tavor had no visible flame from the muzzle, and about a 2" diffuse fireball from the left and right side vents. The side noise was a bit more noticeable if you were close by, but I think shooters in general would appreciate the vastly reduced visual signature.
To close on a weird note, I found the instruction manual, printed and illustrated in English, to be one of the most useless pieces of documentation short of IBM internals manuals. I gave up trying to find and operate the bolt hold-open latch using the manual, but was able to master it after two hours of trial-end-error. It's simple and intuitive after finally figuring it out. I still haven't figured out how to remove the bolt from the carrier, although I've found the large pin that needs to be "merely" pushed out. I suspect there is an undocumented extra step involved, but I'm not ready to take a hammer to it, yet. :)