by dr.feelgood » Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:02 pm
The only reason reloading an L85 can be slower is because most people are used to reloading armalites.
As to living with an L85, it is an exciting love hate relationship. Lately I'm loving it; I haven't had any drastic mechanical or cosmetic failures in the last twoish years, which is better than some. I've become quite keen on medic roles where I am able to fully use my rifle while dragging someone with my other arm. Also if all you need to do is a quick spring change or piston change, its a matter of pulling out two pins and undoing a handful of screws, I think I can do it in less than 5 minutes.
Problem wise I only have two major issues, firstly semi auto is hit or miss. I it has to do with how the timing of releasing the trigger, however I have yet to fully master it. Full auto always works, and that is where my gun tends to stay. The other issue I have is with the trigger delay before a shot is fired, which is why I've really had it fall out of favor in CQB. A higher voltage battery would alleviate this problem, but would (supposedly) drastically reduce the life of my gearbox.
As to mag compatibility; I've had CA midcaps, star realcaps, echo1 midcaps (I think), and have snagged tons of mags from all sorts of people while on the field with nary a problem. It also seems to be somewhat uncommon (based on the research I did when I bought mine) for people to not have any issues.
Any other questions I would be happy to answer.
RDWHAHB