The M82 features an unusual sight arrangement. The front and rear sights, similar to a Bren Machinegun or some other belt fed machineguns, are offset to the left. The sights are aligned normally with the right eye, but are offset from the barrel about 1.25 inches. This results in the rifles windage being accurate for the zeroed range only. Shots taken at closer ranges to zero will hit to the right of the target and shots taken at longer ranges will hit to the left of the target. With the sight offset from the barrel by approximately 1.25", if the rifles windage were zeroed at 50 meters, at 100 meters distance the windage error would be about 1.25 inches and at 200 meters distance the windage error would be 3.75 inches. This results in a margin of error making shots over 300 meters difficult. Since the fixed sights do not allow for any elevation adjustment, it is clear that this weapon is meant for combat accuracy (6" at 100 meters) at short/urban ranges only and not meant to be a precision sniping tool.
The offset sight arrangement and right side ejection mean that this weapon is very difficult to be used by left handers and not possible to use left handed in an urban or close combat situation. Modern bullpups have eliminated this drawback by using centrally-aligned optics and either forward, downward or rearward ejection to allow ambidextrous use in combat situations.
| Valmet M82 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Assault rifle |
| Place of origin | Finland |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Valmet |
| Manufacturer | Valmet |
| Produced | 1978—1986 |
| Number built | Approx. 2000 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 3.3 kg |
| Length | 710 mm |
| Barrel length | 415 mm |
| | |
| Cartridge | 5.56x45mm NATO 7.62x39mm |
| Action | Gas-operated, rotating bolt |
| Rate of fire | 750 rounds/min |
| Feed system | 30-round detachable box magazine |
| Sights | Iron sights |
