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The creation of commercially-available variant of the Australian Defence Force's enhanced F88 Austeyr rifle could assist defence recruiting and national civilian training, according to Australian defence and security consultant Malcolm Catchpole.
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The Australian-made Enhanced F88 service rifles are used extensively by the Australian Defence Force and produced by Thales Australia. The EF88 is a modified version of the original Austrian Steyr AUG.
"In the short term, it appears the Australian Defence Force will continue to use the EF88 in all its various forms," according to Mr Catchpole, a Queensland Police Minister’s Firearms Advisory Committee member.
"That being the case, Australia has a long tradition of making versions of its service rifle available for licensed and regulated civilian use.
"The thinking being that it was in the national interest to have a pool of citizens with basic skill-at-arms with the in-service system.
"When the Martini Henry rifle was in service there was a Martini Cadet version. When the .303 SMLE (short magazine Lee–Enfield) was in service, there were Morris Tube sub-calibre training system. There was even a single shot target rifle version of the SLR ( Australian L1A1 rifle) developed.
"Thales needs to make a single shot version of the EF88 and release it on the civilian market. There are independent Australian firearms manufacturers making these kinds of single shot systems now. There is an addressable market."
A commercial variant of the EF88 rifle could still use a .223 calibre munition which is commonly available to members of the public but would likely need to be modified into a legal single-shot, straight-pull or push-button variant that adheres to a minimum overall length of 80cm (current ADF length 80.2cm) and likely maximum civilian magazine capacity of ten rounds (as opposed to the current ADF capacity of 30 rounds).
In addition, any commercially available variant would have to pass state appearance laws (in some states such as NSW) which restricts legal firearms due to their resemblance of police or military-issue semi-automatic or full-automatic rifles.
The NSW Firearms Registry has recently announced a new Firearms Classification Working Party with firearms industry representatives to review of NSW Police firearms classification practices and development a firearms classification framework.
"The NSW Police Force Firearms Registry has established a Firearms Classification working party to review the classification process for firearms," according to NSW Police.
"That working party includes consultative members from the firearms industry and other stakeholders."
It's understood that the working party has already discussed firearms appearance and length-of-pull extendible or adjustable firearm stock restrictions in NSW.
Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia chief executive James Walsh, who was appointed as one of the FCWP’s members, said the SIFA’s main goal was attending the forum to work with NSW Police to examine inconsistencies in firearms categorisation.
“The top of our list will be trying to get consistency on appearance-based controls,” he said.
“Time and time again, these inconsistencies have led to certain firearms being prohibited in NSW when they are available to be owned and used by appropriately licensed shooters in all other states and territories in Australia.
“We look forward to working with them (NSW Police) and other industry representatives over the coming months on this incredibly important project.
“Thank you to NSW Police for establishing this very important initiative that will examine the way that firearms are categorised in NSW. I look forward to working with both the NSW Police and other industry representatives.”
SIFA has extended their appreciation to NSW Police for taking the consultative approach and for proactively engaging with the firearm and shooting industry.
