Description
The bullpup design places the gun's action behind the trigger, in front of a short buttstock. This decreases the firearm's length and weight while retaining the same barrel length. Bullpups generally allow for a 25% reduction in weapon length, which allows for better maneuverability in confined spaces.
An often cited shortcoming of bullpups is that, by design, their ejection ports are close to the face, generally making it difficult for left-handed shooters to use because firearms in general have their ejection port on the right-hand side and eject spent cartridge casings towards the right. This means left-handed shooters must shoot right-handed, as ejected casings would otherwise hit them in the face. Certain designs, such as the FAMAS assault rifle, the Steyr AUG and the Israeli Tavor TAR-21, overcome this limitation by allowing the bolt and ejection port cover to be swapped, turning the weapon into a dedicated left-handed version. Other bullpups such as the FN P90 solve the problem by ejecting downward, while the FN F2000 and Kel-Tec RFB solve the problem by ejecting forward of the rifle. The Heckler & Koch G11 largely avoided the issue of ejection by using caseless ammunition; in the event that a round failed to fire it could be manually ejected downward.
Additionally, the bullpup's extra weight in the rear may affect balance with respect to muzzle rise and automatic firing accuracy. However, being held closer to the body, the bullpup design has the advantage of causing less fatigue to the user's positioning arm when the arm is outstretched for long periods of time. There may thus be an infinitesimal reaction time advantage in raising a bullpup to fire from a downward pointed direction, a result consistent with a lighter weapon. The bolt may also have to be smaller to be able to fit in the stock, with reduced components, resulting in reduced overall weight. Being more compact and having a shorter length allows for greater close-in weapons usage; however, being of a shorter length, bayonet length effectiveness would be dimensionally reduced. Accuracy at longer distances is oft-cited as a criticism of bullpups; however, if barrel length is of similar dimensions, and all other factors are equal, accuracy should be similar. Lastly, due to the forward assembly and the necessary trigger linkage, bullpup trigger pull characteristics are often criticized.
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