I'll be interested to see it get more widely adopted by the DoD. Perhaps as a Designated Marksman rifle with the 7.62x51 SCAR-H. But I give up trying to predict future procurement practices of the military.
Old NFO... You had the 7.62 version at Northcoast? I would not have guessed that. I assumed it was .223. It didn't FEEL like 7.62 recoil...
Price be damned, I'd already own one if the mags were the same as the M14. M14 mags you have to rock into place. SCAR .308 mags are like M16 .223 mags. They go straight up and in to a mag well. Which makes sense since this is FN, maker of the FAL, and not some US gummint armory in Springfield. Anyway, the mags I have are not compatible.
So you DID get to shoot it at NorthCoast,eh? That's why I've been drooling over the SCAR "Heavy" since I shot OldNFO's at Jay's NorthEast Shoot. But think about this: If the 7.62 Nato shoots like the 5.56 Nato, then the 5.56 Nato must shoot like a......22 Magnum? And since AR Mags and Ammo are so cheap now, well, there in lies the Quandary. As we age and our eyes get worse, do we Scope the 7.62's and save them for Sniper work during a Level 4 outbreak and use the 5.56 for Street Level Work, or just save the Bucks and stock up on more 7.62 ammo. Decision, decisions.....
ReplyDeleteI was as enamored with the ACOG as I was with the rifle, too.
ReplyDeleteMy FAL mags rock in too!
ReplyDeleteThe SCAR mag looks like it was made on left over tooling from when FN was making FALs too. You start thinking that you COULD make an FAL mag work...
I don't think anyone has had much success, yet.
So what is SCAR using? AR10 mags? I'm all confuzzled again where I thought I had my poop all in one sock...
ReplyDeleteThere's an episode of Tactical Arms where the SCAR System is showcased. Turns out that when FN decided to update the FN-FAL for the Army Trials (which is what a SCAR's ancestor is, think M-14 derived from the Garand), they decided to re-engineer the old FN Mag, also. They wanted the SCAR to be as similar as possible to the AR's in terms of the controls as they could. Supposedly, a large percentage of the SCAR "Heavy" parts can be swapped with the SCAR "Light," and the SCAR "Light" can use standard AR Mags. But to make THAT happen...
ReplyDeleteBut it's a Moot point anyway. DOD said "NO" to the SCAR, so only SOCOM has it. But think about it. One of the AARs after WW2 said that there was too much of a Weapons Mix in the Standard Infantry Platoon during the War. M1 Garands, M1 Carbines, Thompsons, Grease Guns, BARs,etc all mixed together didn't help with the Resupply Situation. Flash Forward to Afghanistan. 5.56 for the SCAR "Light", Belted 5.56 for the SAW, then 7.62 for the SCAR "HEAVY" (and how many of them would just "show up" one day?), Belted 7.62 for the M-240, all of it having to go up into the Hindu Kush, you can see the Dilemma.
But it all doesn't matter. The Hippies have declared a TimeTable, the War will be declared over, the Military will be cut down to the size of a High School Football Squad, and most of the weapons will be Melted down to make Chevy Volts.
Morale of the Story? If you can afford a SCAR "Heavy" and the ACOG, go for it!
The SCAR uses its own magazine that's not compatible with anything else.
ReplyDeleteExpensive, hard to find, proprietary? Just made of win!
Using an AR-10 mag would have made entirely too much sense, I think.