A Thumbnail History of Bullpups

The principal allure of the M4 Carbine as fielded by Coalition troops in the Middle East is its compact envelope. The new MSAR STG-556 bullpup rifle with a 16-inch barrel is a foot shorter than the standard service M16A2 with a 20-inch barrel. Yet bullpup configurations have never appealed to the U.S. military. About a decade ago, Col. Martin L. Fackler, literally the father of modern wound ballistics research and at that time the head of the U.S. Army's Wound Ballistics Research Laboratory at the Letterman Hospital at the Presidio, Calif., in a discussion with U.S. Army procurement personnel, was asked how the wound ballistics potential of the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge could be best served and yet meet requests for a more compressed package.