Journal · Collector’s Guide
Leader T2 MK5: Australia’s Homegrown 5.56 Rifle
The Leader T2 MK5 is a 5.56 rifle designed in Australia by a private company that hoped to arm the Australian Army. Charles St. George designed it in 1978, Leader Dynamics built it in Smithfield, New South Wales, and it has a receiver made from square steel tube and a magazine well that takes American M16 magazines. The army went with the Austrian Steyr AUG instead, and the Leader faded out. The one in our photos is part of the Old Steel Arsenal collection, and we took it to the range.
Where the Leader T2 came from
The Leader was the idea of Charles St. George, a British weapons designer, and Leader Dynamics of Smithfield, NSW, made it from the late 1970s until the company broke up in 1982 and 1983. It was meant as a contender to replace the Lithgow L1A1, Australia’s inch-pattern FAL, and the M16A1 then in service. Wikipedia notes that Australia had never before designed and manufactured a commercial gas-operated semi-automatic rifle of its own.
St. George designed the production tooling himself. The Smithfield factory started at about 200 rifles a month and later reached about 400. Barrel blanks came from Parker Hale in Britain, and he built his own button-rifling machine rather than use barrels from Lithgow. The plastic for the pistol grip, handguards and buttstock was chosen with DuPont.
Leader made several versions under different Mark numbers. Forgotten Weapons identifies the MkV as the model Leader exported; the other Marks included two wood-stocked versions, a pistol and select-fire rifles and carbines. The select-fire guns drew interest from the Royal Australian Armoured Corps and from Portugal’s Braço de Prata arsenal, and Oman ordered 12 select-fire rifles and 12 assault carbines for trials. Franchi in Italy wanted a manufacturing licence, but Leader’s partners could not agree terms with it, and Franchi went on to develop its own rifle.
How the Leader lost out to the Steyr AUG
Forgotten Weapons says a later Leader variant with a folding stock was submitted to Australian military testing in 1986 with the aim of replacing the army’s FAL rifles, and that it did well, but not well enough to be adopted. The rifle Australia settled on was the Steyr AUG: the Australian Defence Force ordered 67,000 as the F88 Austeyr, made under licence at the Lithgow Small Arms Factory. Wikipedia dates that order to 1985, which sits awkwardly with a 1986 test date, and we have not seen the trial records, so we can’t tell you why the board chose as it did.
By then Leader Dynamics itself was gone. St. George split from his partners in 1982, the company folded in 1983, and the patents went to Australian Automatic Arms, which made the rifles in Tasmania. AAA dropped the carry handle, called its guns the SAR and SAC, and added a stockless pistol version, the SAP, and a wood-stocked SP-20 with a 20-inch barrel. Australia restricted semi-automatic rifles in 1996, and production ended soon after.
The Leader T2 MK5 in America
The rifles that came to the United States were semi-automatic. Our rifle’s selector has two positions, SAFE and FIRE; the select-fire guns added an AUTO position. The selector is similar to the AR-18’s.
Wikipedia names World Public Safety of California as the Leader’s original U.S. importer and reports that fewer than 2,000 rifles were imported. We have not seen the import records ourselves. On our rifle the importer’s stamp is on the right side of the magazine well and reads IMPORTERS, WORLD PUBLIC SAFETY, CULVER CITY, CAL. U.S.A.
How to identify a Leader T2 MK5
A carry handle is a useful first clue. Forgotten Weapons and Wikipedia both note that Australian Automatic Arms made its rifles without one, so a carry handle like the one on ours suggests a Leader Dynamics rifle rather than an AAA gun. Parts can be removed or swapped over forty-odd years, so read it together with the other features:
- A square receiver with a row of spot-weld dimples along the upper side
- An importer’s stamp on the magazine well; on ours it is World Public Safety
- A two-position SAFE and FIRE selector on semi-automatic rifles
- A rear aperture sight with settings for 100, 200 and 300 meters
- A cylindrical flash hider, though many owners swapped it for an M16A2-style birdcage
Built from square tube and spot welds
The receiver is a 16-gauge square steel tube, a stock size anyone could get, which spared Leader the expense of making dies. Spot welds hold the fabrication together, and early powder-metal parts were used for the rear sight and the magazine latch. Forgotten Weapons describes the rest of the rifle as made almost entirely from metal stampings, so it could be built with very little industrial plant. St. George designed it to be made with simple tooling.
Inside, it is gas operated with a short-stroke piston, and Wikipedia describes the gas system as self-cleaning, with no regulator. The bolt carrier group is derived from the AR-18’s but built as one module, so the bolt, carrier and guide rods stay together when you strip it. The bolt face is triangular, a shape compared to the Winchester Model 100’s; it replaced an original bolt face that was too complex to make. The non-reciprocating cocking lever runs forward along the left side, as on an HK G3, and folds out of the way.
The early rifles had known faults. The flash hider did little, the magazine well on some rifles was loose enough that the magazine could ride up when the bolt was pulled back, and some early chambers were tight enough to cause extraction failures. AAA later made the rifles to tighter tolerances.
An Australian rifle on American magazines
The Leader was designed around M16-pattern magazines, and Chartered Industries of Singapore supplied 20-round M16 magazines for production. On ours, a standard M16-pattern magazine seats and locks in the well.
How the Leader T2 MK5 shoots
It jumps, and it kicks hard. The trigger is sticky, with no clean break and no clear reset. Honestly, five out of ten for the trigger.
After shooting it, we kind of get why the army went with the AUG. That is our impression from the range, not the trials board’s reasoning. Rough trigger, a simple build, fewer than 2,000 imported. Would you still put one in your safe?
Specifications
Published figures for the original rifle, not measurements of ours.
| Item | Leader T2 MK5 |
|---|---|
| Designer | Charles St. George |
| Maker | Leader Dynamics, Smithfield, New South Wales |
| Designed | 1978 |
| Cartridge | 5.56×45mm NATO |
| Action | Semi-automatic, gas operated, short-stroke piston, triangular rotating bolt |
| Barrel | 16.125 in |
| Weight | About 7.5 lb (Wikipedia); 7.75 lb with an empty 20-round magazine (St. George Arms, 2018) |
| Magazine | M16 pattern |
| Rear sight | Aperture, 100, 200 and 300 m |
| U.S. importer | World Public Safety, Culver City, California |
The Leader after Leader Dynamics
In 2018 St. George announced, through his company St. George Arms, that the T2 would be made in the United States for the first time in its original form, for the 40th anniversary of the design, with parts interchangeable with the original. According to The Firearm Blog, the plan was an initial run of 250 rifles. We have not confirmed how many were finished.
On the floor at OSA
The Leader in these photos is part of the Old Steel Arsenal collection. If its story interests you, these pieces in our case connect to it:
- Colt Sporter Competition HBAR: an AR-15, the rifle family whose M16-pattern magazines the Leader was designed around.
- Desert Tech MDRX in 7.62 NATO: a bullpup, the same layout as the Steyr AUG that Australia chose.
- Arsenal SLR-106U in 5.56: a 5.56 with a stamped receiver, for comparison with the Leader’s tube-and-weld construction.
The grid below updates by itself as pieces come and go.
Arsenal SLR-106U 5.56×45 AK Pistol 10.5 Inch Circle 10 Mag Low Round Count$2,289.00
Colt Sporter Competition HBAR$1,475.00The short version, with the range footage, is on our Instagram. Watch it on Instagram.
General information for collectors, not legal advice. Production and import figures come from secondary sources; check the markings on the individual rifle.
Common Questions
What is a Leader T2 MK5?
It is an Australian 5.56×45mm rifle designed in 1978 by Charles St. George and made by Leader Dynamics in Smithfield, New South Wales. The MK5 (MkV) is the model Leader exported, and the rifles that reached the United States were semi-automatic.Was the Leader T2 adopted by the Australian Army?
No. According to Forgotten Weapons, a later Leader variant did well in Australian military testing but was not adopted. Australia chose the Steyr AUG, ordering 67,000 as the F88 Austeyr, built under licence at Lithgow.Does the Leader T2 MK5 take AR-15 magazines?
It was designed around M16-pattern magazines, the same pattern AR-15s use, and Chartered Industries of Singapore supplied 20-round M16 magazines for production. Early rifles could have a loose magazine well, so check how a given magazine seats.How many Leader T2 rifles were imported into the United States?
Wikipedia reports fewer than 2,000. World Public Safety of California was the original U.S. importer.How can you tell a Leader Dynamics rifle from an Australian Automatic Arms rifle?
Start with the carry handle. Australian Automatic Arms made its SAR and SAC rifles without one, so a carry handle suggests a Leader Dynamics rifle, though parts can be removed or swapped.What is the Leader T2 receiver made of?
A 16-gauge square steel tube, with the fabrication held together by spot welds. The design kept tooling and production simple.Sources
- Wikipedia, “Leader Dynamics Series T2 MK5” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_Dynamics_Series_T2_MK5 (designer, Smithfield production to 1982/83, rifles it was meant to replace, first commercial gas-operated semi-automatic, tooling and monthly output, DuPont plastics, Parker Hale blanks and rifling machine, interest from the RAAC and Braço de Prata, Oman trial order, Franchi, World Public Safety import, fewer than 2,000, square tube receiver, spot welds and powder-metal parts, self-cleaning gas system, triangular bolt face, AR-18-derived carrier, folding cocking lever, sight settings, selector, CIS magazines, faults, 1982–83 company history, AAA variants, 1996 restrictions, weight and barrel length)
- Forgotten Weapons, “Leader Dynamics T2/Australian Automatic Arms SAC” — https://www.forgottenweapons.com/rifles/australian-automatic-arms-sac/ (Mark numbers and MkV as the exported model, 1986 testing of a folding-stock variant, did well but not adopted, built from stampings, AAA removed the carry handle and named the SAR and SAC)
- Wikipedia, “Steyr AUG” (F88 Austeyr section) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr_AUG (1985 order for 67,000 F88 Austeyrs made under licence at Lithgow)
- The Firearm Blog, “Australian Leader T2 Rifle to be Made in USA” — https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/11/15/australian-leader-t2-rifle-to-be-made-in-usa/ (short-stroke piston, 2018 weight with empty 20-round magazine, St. George Arms 2018 announcement and 250-rifle plan)