Post people love ’em or hate ’em. On the pro side, they’re short, maneuverable and fun to shoot. As for cons, mag changes can be awkward, ejection can be an adventure and some people are a little skittish about having a round (especially a 12 gauge, in the case of the KSG) going boom immediately adjacent to their face. But if you’ve shot one, you know that they can be a hell of a lot of fun. Not to mention an effective home defense option. Iraq Veteran 8888 (above) seems particularly taken with the FN P90. And why not? What’s your favorite bullpup gun?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

84 COMMENTS

    • Tragically, I don’t own one yet, and have never even shot one! Dreadful! I like the idea of the bull-pup, and the Tavor is the one that interests me most.

      I guess that is part of the problem with being a cheap gun guy. I can compare Mosin 91/30 vs M44, Marlin 60 vs 795, Sigma vs Hi-Point, Pardner Pump vs Stevens 320, but not Tavor vs Aug.

      • Art-

        Take a look at Shernic Gun Works and their SKS bullpup stock.

        http://sgworks.com/

        If you already have an SKS (preferably a Norinco, not a “collectable” model), a couple hundred bucks gets you in the door.

    • +1. The TAVOR is GTG.

      Trigger tweaks and complete replacements are also available without permanent alteration of the rifle, and are super easy to install and replace in seconds.

      The rearward center of gravity also makes it more manageable to shooters with limited upper body strength with no need for and adjustable stock.

      Right and left-handed versions and conversions are available, but it’s also reasonably ambidextrous in any configuration.

      There are many benefits to the TAVOR such that if I had to pick just one semi auto carbine, assuming equal availability of replacement parts (which I know isn’t a reality), it’s probably the one I’d go with. It shares the stable with my AR’s though, and they get along quite nicely.

    • Same here. I’m a lefty, and I love the front ejection, not the least of all for the looks you get at the range when NOTHING comes out of the gun for the first few rounds until the tube fills with brass, like, “Hey, where’s the brass going?!” Some hate the looks, but I kinda like the Space Invaders thing. And it’s ergonomic as heck, with an incredibly accurate barrel.

  5. AUG! AUG! AUG! (A3 variant)

    (I will acknowledge that the PS90 is very cool. Its food isn’t cheap.)

    • (I will acknowledge that the PS90 is very cool. Its food isn’t cheap.

      $19.95 / 50 rds. for FN ammo (or $17.99 for AE) isn’t that bad. I already have two Five-seveNs, no need for a P90. I’d like a Tavor.

    • +1, after getting a Tavor I am not seeing how a stock tavor trigger is necessarily better than an AUG A3 a neu trigger.

    • Another vote for the AUG A3 here, though if I were left handed I’d probably change my mind due to the placement of the charging handle and accessory rail.

    • I want one, but it’s a kel tec… I have never even seen one in person, let alone had the chance to buy one.

  7. Like your children, you love them all the same, but some more than others for different reasons.

    My favorite is the one I am holding at any given moment. I <3 Bullpups!!!!

    The P90 is probably the finest of the bunch. Not so much the cartridge, but the bullpup, yes.

  8. Never shot one, so for what it’s worth, I like the Tavor. If I had the $$ I would very likely own one.

  9. I have a tough time choosing between my RFB and my Tavor. The Tavor is much handier, but the RFB is wonderfully noisy!

  10. Good question. I wish I could answer it with more experience.

    I’ve only ever shot one: a Ruger Mini-30 in a bullpup conversion stock. I’ve never encountered a heavier trigger pull. First try, I thought the safety was still on. Second try, I thought maybe something was broken. When I realized what I was dealing with, then the game was on. And it was a LOT of fun.

    I like the idea of the Tavor. It sounds like a heck of a machine, and I’d like to try one out sometime.

    • Assuming that was the muzzelite conversion. Biggest POS in the history of small arms. Not really comperable to anything else, even the worst knock-off Chicom AK conversions.

      • If a POS bullpup is that fun and (despite the trigger) easy to handle, then I really do need to get my hands on a high-quality one.

  12. Having never owned or fired a bullpup my opinion is pretty much for naught, but I’m most enamored of the DesertTech MDR.

    … if it ever ships and if I can ever afford one of course. In 7.62×51, too. I love the idea of big bullets from a small gun. And yes there is the RFB but it’s a Kel-Tec and a unicorn.

    • Saw one last weekend at the gun show. Had a 1700 price on it.
      Brought back fond memories

      • Well believe it or not that’s where I saw that one at. Although I think that guy wanted over $2K. Plus the one I saw was really chewed up too. Rare piece or not that’s kind of ridiculous, IMHO.

  14. Never even handled a bullpup, but if I had to choose one that caught my eye it would be the Tavor – mainly because the 9mm conversion with the integral Manticore Arms/Ratworx supressor sounds like an ideal home defense weapon.

  17. I live the look of the Singapore SAR-21. Too bad I will (probably) never get to hold or shoot one.

  18. I have always wanted a collection of bullpups. I think it started with the AUG and then just increased when I saw the FS2000, etc.

  21. Never shot one but fondled a few in the gun shop…just saw Michael Bane on Shooting Gallery in Israel. The bullpup Galil looked fantastic in full auto! Or it could have been a pistol with a brace. The Tavor looked great on auto too

  22. I’ve never fired one, but the AUG balanced the best for me out of the triumvirate. Tavor felt like a 2×4 and the FS2000 felt like a fish.

    • If the fish you shouldered for feel comparison was a tuna, that explains why it felt that way. What we do know is that the tuna is a fish with superior ergonomics, if not a little bulky looking…

  23. I had an original AUG for awhile and really enjoyed it – sorry in a way that I sold it.

    My favorite, though, is my Bluegrass Armory Viper – single-shot .50 BMG with Lothar match barrel. If you don’t like having a 12 ga going off next to your face, having a 50 might make you even more skittish.

  26. I like the Cold War look of the Kel-Tec M-43. Especially if it ever gets chambered in 7.62 x 39, or put into production, or if I can find one… Bastards…

  27. Tavor, hands down. The trigger may be a bit heavy from the factory, but it beats the squishy triggers of the Aug and FS2000. The PS90 is nice, but the ergos are horrible, and the price to feed it is a deal breaker.

  29. I have a tavor and I really like it but my vote is for my NATO stock aug. I can use my ar15 mags with it. Maybe once I get the geissele trigger pack for my tavor my opinion will change.

  30. Not going to be a popular choice, but I’m fond of the Walther G22. My favorite plinker, and I haven’t experienced any of the failures supposedly common to them after thousands of rounds. If only they had caught on.

    • I saw two of those at the last gun show. If one or the other is at the next show, and I have the money, it is following me home.

      • I’d encourage that purchase, as long as it’s not your go-to .22 until proven. They’re supposedly finicky. I’ve tried to get mine to fail, and it just fires everything. I do clean it thoroughly after every session, but it’s a .22, I shoot bottles and squirrels with it.

  31. Tavor is the only one that’s ever peaked my interest but I’d rather just own an AR. The one’s I’ve seen are not worth the effort. One of my friends got one for free and he hardly touches it, that says a lot.

    • I’d be glad to take it off his hands for him. I have an FDE one and love it. I hardly even touch my AR now. It’s more accurate and more comfortable to shoot, even with the 12lb trigger.

      • You might consider attaching an 11 pound pull, spring. to the trigger to pull in the opposite direction, getting your trigger down to a 1 pound pull.
        Probably not Kalifornia approved. In fact I don’t approve of it either.

    • This is the way I’d like to go, someday. I like the proven operational history of Tavor.

      Like ropingdown pointed out, the 9mm conversion makes flash and sound much less damaging indoors to the shooter, using one for home defense.

  34. A few years back I was in northern California shooting at an old friends ranch with my father and wife in-tow. My father had a Beretta .22 bullpup that ruined my wife on the rest of my long arms. She fired that thing all day, refusing to share. I barely got a look at it, so I don’t even know what model it was. I should have offered to buy it, my dad had it in trade and traded it for something else after we left. Ever since that day she’s not interested in using any of my guns. She has some of her own, but she’s never been that interested in shooting, usually only lasting for 20 minutes or so.

    Pros according to her – less arm fatigue, less bulky (I think she meant shorter or compact because it was kind of a chunk’ster), cute

    Cons according to her – you had to fight the magazine to get it out (you had to press the mag release while physically jerking the mag out, nothing looked out of place when I inspected it so I must be a design feature – though I have no experience with the gun)

  35. Had a Valmet M82 back in the ’80s. It was very well-made, but had the usual sloppy trigger due to the linkage. Bullpups seem to be a solution looking for a problem.

    • If you don’t think having SBR-like handling characteristics without losing terminal ballistics allowing one to avoid the NFA’s BS as well as being a viable home defense weapon with its compactness are “solutions looking for a problem” then I do not know what to tell you.

      Basing your experience on the M82 is a fool’s errand when bullpups have not only come a long way since then but the M82 is considered one of the worst bullpups ever made. If you are going to make a sweeping negative generalization of bullpups at least do it from a better, more-proven system like an AUG or Tavor. The Tavor with an upgraded trigger is a fine system and I guess you have not heard of K&M Arms M17S which boasts one of the nicest triggers out there that rival if not surpass triggers on standard rifles if that is your sole basis for bashing bullpups.

      https://youtu.be/gyjb7taxaK8

  36. I shot a Tavor, it was pretty nice except for the trigger. I am reserving making a decision until the MDR has been out for awhile. That gives me time to get an AR10 in the interim, sr762 or dpms g2.

  37. IF they make a decent one in 7.62×39 I’ll probably pick one up. The tavor interests me but not enough to drop 1800 on a niche gun. I kicked a lot of doors and never felt that the m4 was a hinderance. I could see how private security operating out of a smaller armored car would beg to differ but I’m not shooting from inside the humvee anyway and that is where i see this thing shining.

  39. I like that they think highly of the AUG, but why are they basing that on an MSAR? And their recommendation to get a used MSAR instead of a genuine AUG is 180 degrees out of phase with mine.

    How the heck do I post an image?

  40. Well, let’s just count the Bullpups I have: Tavor, SKS in an Shernic Gun Works stock, Saiga 7.62×39 in a Kushnapup stock, Remington 870 in a Bullpup Unlimited stock, Mosin Nagant in a CBRPS stock, and a 10/22 in a Hightower Industries stock (looks like a PS90!)

    And the ones I have let go of for one reason or another: Kushnapup Saiga 12, Mossberg 500 in that chunky blocky stock with the square handle on top (can’t remember who made it), annnnnnd…. I guess that’s all of them.

    If I had to choose just one though… Tavor. Two: Tavor and SKS. Three: Tavor, SKS, 870. Four….

    No, wait! That was before the tragic boating accident! I don’t have ANY guns now.

  41. The P90; it’s like a Chevrolet Suburban: unpretentious, functional and promises nothing which it cannot deliver.

    • Except a full compliment of working lights? That comparison in no way enhanced my appreciation of the PS90! lol

  42. Either one of my two AUGs – a rare A2, or a later A3. Desert tan, black and green stocks, along with a NATO stock and trigger pack, which allows me to use AR mags.

    Great triggers on mine with a Ratworx sear bar. Extended top rail with case deflector, so you can shoot from the left shoulder without getting hit with fired cases, from One Source Tactical. Best ergonomics of all of them.

    Interchangeable barrels, from 16″ (my usual) to a 24″ heavy barrel.

  43. I own a Tavor and a PS90. They are both great and they both serve different purposes for me. I’ve held an FS2000 and an AUG and I prefer the Tavor over them although I want a Tactical Tuna. Especially since they are no longer made. I also had a Kushnapup Saiga 12. That thing was a lot of fun! I did sell it so I could pay for the Tavor.

  44. Recently SBR’d my ps90. I love it even more now.

    If I were to get another bullpup it’d be a big toss up between the Tavor and the Aug.

  46. It is a draw for me between the Tavor and AUG. Both offer their pro’s and con’s over each other.

    To put it bluntly the Tavor is more ergonomic and reliable but the AUG is more comfortable shooting and compact.

  47. My favorite bullpup is the (only) one I own…. the FS2000.

    The trigger is a bit weird, but it doesn’t bother me. My only issue is getting a cheek weld without displacing my ear pro. Neat gun. Showing up at the range with one is like driving up to your high school reunion in a Ferrari. It gets a lot of attention.

    The PS90 is on my wish list. I’ve already got the Five-seveN pistol. And, I’ve got at least a half-dozen 50-rd magazines for the PS90. Now, I just need the rifle!

  48. I’ve been holding out for an MDR when they finally come out.
    But if the Hughes Amendment gets struck down like I’m hoping, then I’ll get a P90 in addition to converting the MDR to full auto.

Comments are closed.