The SAR-21 represents some kind of mainstream in the turn-of-the-centuries small arms technology. It is of bullpup layout, and utilizes the most conventional gas operated, rotating bolt locked action, with detachable box magazine feeding.
The gas system of the SAR-21 is located above the barrel. The long stroke piston is rigidly attached to the bolt carrier. Rotating bolt has 2 lugs and locks into the barrel extension. The return spring is partially housed inside the hollow gas piston rod and behind it. The charging handle is located above the gun housing, under the scope / carrying handle unit,and folds forward when not in use. The charging handle does not reciprocate when gun is fired. On the SAR-21 P (Picatinny rail) and SAR-21 RIS (Rail Interface System) versions of the basic design the charging handle is moved to the left side of the gun, leaving the place at the top for the sights / accessory rail.
 |
| SAR-21 RIS (Rail Interface System), with reflex-type ("red dot") sight and a detachable vertical foregrip. |
The housing of the SAR-21 is made from tough, high impact resistant polymer, and consists of barrel section with the barrel / gas system, forearm and sights,upper receiver with the pistol grip and magazine housing, and the lower receiver with the buttplate and the hammer unit inside. All major parts are held together by the push-pins and can be separated for dis-assembly without any special tools.The upper receiver also incorporates a special safety system, which protects the shooters' face in the event of the cartridge case rupture or explosion.
The safety switch is located at the front of the enlarged trigger guard and is of the cross-bolt, push-button type. SAR-21 can provide 2 modes of fire, single shots and full automatic fire.
The SAR-21 is fed using proprietary 30-rounds box magazines, made from the translucent plastic.
 |
| SAR-21 field stripped into major sub assemblies |
The standard sighting equipment includes an integral 1.5X magnification telescope sight, with the emergency backup open sights formed at the top of the telescope housing. The SAR-21 P and SAR-21 RIS have no integral sights, instead these rifles featured a NATO-standard Picatinny type scope rail at the top of the gun, that can be fitted with wide variety of day and night sighting devices. Another interesting feature of SAR-21is that it incorporates a laser aiming module (LAM, also sometimes referred as a laser pointer) as a standard feature. The LAM is mounted below the barrel, inside the forearm, and can emit either visible or infrared beams. The LAM switch is built into the forearm of the rifle.
The standard SAR-21can be fitted with the 40mm under barrel grenade launchers, either US-made M203 or Singapore-made CIS40GL. The SAR-21 can sport a wide variety of add-on tactical accessories, including vertical "assault" foregrip, tactical lights etc.
Caliber: 5.56x45mm NATO
Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt
Overall length: 805 mm
Barrel length: 508 mm
Weight: 3.82 kg without magazine and accessories, 4.44 kg loaded with magazine and 30 rounds of ammunition
Magazine capacity: 30 rounds
Rate of fire: 450-650 rounds per minute
Effective range: about 500 meters
