LAPA FA-03
Encyclopedia
The FA Modelo 03 rifle was an individual firearm
of bullpup
design developed by Nelmo Suzano at his own-funded company, LAPA - LABORATÓRIO DE PESQUISA DE ARMAMENTO AUTOMÁTICO Sc/Ltda, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The name stands for the Portuguese "Fuzil de Assalto Modelo 03", or "Model 3 Assault Rifle", whilst the name of the company stands for "Automatic Armaments Development Laboratory, LTD.".
design to have been experimented by LAPA.
It is interesting to note that the first-shot double-action trigger is something seldom-experimented on full-automatic firearms of Military/LE issue. The only major experiment of a double-action trigger on a select-fire weapon was with the Italian SITES Spectre M4
sub-machinegun. It should be noted, anyway, that this system is blamed by gun experts and experienced shooters to induce too much self-confidence on operators, leading them to keep their finger on the trigger at all times even when the gun is not pointed at a target. While some military personnel consider this a good thing for readiness to fire especially in current military theatres of operation (like Afghanistan
and Iraq
), the practice of keeping the index finger on the trigger when the gun is not pointed at a target is always thoroughly disencouraged as one of fundamental rules of gun safety calls for "always keeping the finger off trigger until ready to fire".
Also, the LAPA FA Modelo 03 rifle featured a full plastic chassis/housing that protected the mechanisms from any external aggressive factor (such as mud, dust, water, etc.), and considerably decreased the overall weight of the weapon.
The rifle was originally conceived to feed from proprietary clear plastic magazines, since then it was made to fit STANAG magazines to facilitate exports and usage in those countries which already had in service weapons that used such feeding systems (particularly, at the time, the M16 rifle
). Calling the LAPA FA-03 a "5.56x45mm-NATO rifle" would be incorrect, as at the time of its introduction the current NATO standard 62-grain FN SS109 ammunition
had not yet been launched. Having the barrel only an 1:12 pitch rifling (1 turn in 305 mm), the LAPA FA-03 could thus only fire the 5.56mm M193 variant (55-grain ball cartridge) as used by the US forces during the Vietnam war.
battle rifle and the Madsen m/50 sub-machinegun. The members of the Brazilian Military that experimented the FA Modelo 03 and other LAPA firearms at the Marambaia Testing Ground in the early 1980s reportedly discarded all of them due to their "toyish" look and weight (all LAPA weapons shared the full plastic housing feature, this reduced weight but apparently didn't afflict controllability on full-automatic fire).
When the FA Modelo 03 was first engineered, it also was a novelty because of its bullpup
design, the only other firearms of such layout available on the market at the time being the French FA-MAS and the Austrian Steyr AUG
. But when the FA Modelo 03 was ultimately offered for sales, all the marketplace that the world then had for such a firearm had already been taken by the AUG, which remains to date the most successful weapon of bull-pup design ever. Orders were null, both domestically and abroad, and LAPA folded shortly after 1983, with less than 500 FA Modelo 03 rifles manufactured overall, mostly still today kept in stock by Brazilian Police forces for SWAT-like teams use.
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
of bullpup
Bullpup
Bullpups are firearm configurations in which the action is located behind the trigger group and alongside the shooter's face, so there is no wasted space for the buttstock as in conventional designs. This permits a shorter firearm length for the same barrel length for improved maneuverability, and...
design developed by Nelmo Suzano at his own-funded company, LAPA - LABORATÓRIO DE PESQUISA DE ARMAMENTO AUTOMÁTICO Sc/Ltda, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The name stands for the Portuguese "Fuzil de Assalto Modelo 03", or "Model 3 Assault Rifle", whilst the name of the company stands for "Automatic Armaments Development Laboratory, LTD.".
History
Development and manufacture of this weapon lasted between 1978 and 1983, along with two more models (a 9 m/m sub-machinegun and a .22 - Long Rifle sub-carbine of conventional design) with the purpose to obtain both domestic and export Military and LE sales. The FA Modelo 03 is the only firearm in bullpupBullpup
Bullpups are firearm configurations in which the action is located behind the trigger group and alongside the shooter's face, so there is no wasted space for the buttstock as in conventional designs. This permits a shorter firearm length for the same barrel length for improved maneuverability, and...
design to have been experimented by LAPA.
Development
Basically, the FA Modelo 03 was nothing special in its mechanical conception, just a selective-fire assault rifle based on a conventional piston-operated system with rotating bolt locking. Its most interesting feature was the total lack of a manual safety. The fire selector switch, located on the left side of the weapon, had three positions: two for the fire mode (Semi-automatic fire or Full-automatic fire) and one to set the trigger to Double-Action. The rifle could thus be carried safely with loaded chamber and hammer in lowered position. This, in mind of the creator, worked effectively as a safety, since firing the rifle in such a situation would have called for a deliberately long and heavy trigger pull which could not happen by accident nor by stress; and it also ensured the impossibility of unwanted discharges by accidental hammer release due to any technical problem that a firearm could experience.It is interesting to note that the first-shot double-action trigger is something seldom-experimented on full-automatic firearms of Military/LE issue. The only major experiment of a double-action trigger on a select-fire weapon was with the Italian SITES Spectre M4
Spectre M4
The Spectre is an Italian submachine gun that was produced by the SITES factory in Turin. It was designed by Roberto Teppa and Claudio Gritti in the mid-1980s. Production in Italy ceased in the year 1997, with the closure of SITES, but proceeded in very small numbers in Switzerland through Greco...
sub-machinegun. It should be noted, anyway, that this system is blamed by gun experts and experienced shooters to induce too much self-confidence on operators, leading them to keep their finger on the trigger at all times even when the gun is not pointed at a target. While some military personnel consider this a good thing for readiness to fire especially in current military theatres of operation (like Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
), the practice of keeping the index finger on the trigger when the gun is not pointed at a target is always thoroughly disencouraged as one of fundamental rules of gun safety calls for "always keeping the finger off trigger until ready to fire".
Also, the LAPA FA Modelo 03 rifle featured a full plastic chassis/housing that protected the mechanisms from any external aggressive factor (such as mud, dust, water, etc.), and considerably decreased the overall weight of the weapon.
The rifle was originally conceived to feed from proprietary clear plastic magazines, since then it was made to fit STANAG magazines to facilitate exports and usage in those countries which already had in service weapons that used such feeding systems (particularly, at the time, the M16 rifle
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
). Calling the LAPA FA-03 a "5.56x45mm-NATO rifle" would be incorrect, as at the time of its introduction the current NATO standard 62-grain FN SS109 ammunition
5.56x45mm NATO
5.56×45mm NATO is a rifle cartridge developed in the United States and originally chambered in the M16 rifle. Under STANAG 4172, it is a standard cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries. It is derived from, but not identical to, the .223 Remington cartridge...
had not yet been launched. Having the barrel only an 1:12 pitch rifling (1 turn in 305 mm), the LAPA FA-03 could thus only fire the 5.56mm M193 variant (55-grain ball cartridge) as used by the US forces during the Vietnam war.
End
Unfortunately this also was the cause of its demise, because the Brazilian military and police personnel was at the time (and still mostly remains) used to heavy-weight firearms after years and years of issue of locally-manufactured clones of weapons such as the FN FALFN FAL
The Fusil Automatique Léger or FAL is a self-loading, selective fire battle rifle produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique Nationale de Herstal . During the Cold War it was adopted by many North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, with the notable exception of the United States...
battle rifle and the Madsen m/50 sub-machinegun. The members of the Brazilian Military that experimented the FA Modelo 03 and other LAPA firearms at the Marambaia Testing Ground in the early 1980s reportedly discarded all of them due to their "toyish" look and weight (all LAPA weapons shared the full plastic housing feature, this reduced weight but apparently didn't afflict controllability on full-automatic fire).
When the FA Modelo 03 was first engineered, it also was a novelty because of its bullpup
Bullpup
Bullpups are firearm configurations in which the action is located behind the trigger group and alongside the shooter's face, so there is no wasted space for the buttstock as in conventional designs. This permits a shorter firearm length for the same barrel length for improved maneuverability, and...
design, the only other firearms of such layout available on the market at the time being the French FA-MAS and the Austrian Steyr AUG
Steyr AUG
The AUG is an Austrian bullpup 5.56mm assault rifle, designed in the early 1970s by Steyr Mannlicher GmbH & Co KG . The AUG was adopted by the Austrian Army as the StG 77 in 1977, where it replaced the 7.62mm StG 58 automatic rifle...
. But when the FA Modelo 03 was ultimately offered for sales, all the marketplace that the world then had for such a firearm had already been taken by the AUG, which remains to date the most successful weapon of bull-pup design ever. Orders were null, both domestically and abroad, and LAPA folded shortly after 1983, with less than 500 FA Modelo 03 rifles manufactured overall, mostly still today kept in stock by Brazilian Police forces for SWAT-like teams use.