Shook Guns Part 5:
SCAR'd For Life
Things got pretty quiet in the Shook Guns department last year. Although the gun industry continues to pump new merchandise into the market, it is rare that anything comes along that is truly innovative or offers any improvement over existing designs. And usually when they do, they are limited to military/law-enforcement use only. I thought that would be the case with the FN Herstal SCAR-H, the 308 version of their 5.56mm rifle (SCAR-L) that was a contender to replace the M4/M16.
SCAR-L (tan) next to SCAR-H (black):
Although special forces that fielded the prototype SCAR-Ls found very little wrong with them, they weren't a big enough improvement over the M4 to take over. However, when they got their hands on the SCAR-H they found a gun that was nearly the same size and weight as the M4, but with the extra punch of the 308.
ammo comparison between .308 and .223/5.56mm:
I never really had any interest in the SCAR program, because I'm not in the military, and I figured they would never make it to the US civilian market. FN announced a few years back that they would, but I told people not to hold their breath; it would never happen. When the .223 version did in fact hit the market in 2009, I was impressed, but again said that the .308 version would never happen.
And then, to round out 2010 with a bang....
Thanks to a generous donation from C2D HQ to get this series rolling again, I brought this brown bastard home for Xmas
I'm not going to give a bunch of technical info about this rifle. A quick
Wiki Search or an inquiry of any Call of Duty player will probably give you more info than you want to hear. I will however point out some of the features that convinced me to give this $3k rifle a shot (no pun intended. Seriously. I'm way more clever than that...).
Light Weight! with a polymer lower and stock, and anodized aluminum upper receiver, this thing only weighs 8 pounds unloaded! (that is similar or less than most of my AR15 variants in 5.56mm...)
Folding Stock! not only is it gangsta-as-fuck, it makes for a much smaller package for transport
Adjustable Short-stroke Gas Piston system. Although I'm no advocate of piston-conversions for the AR15, this gun was designed from the ground-up as a piston gun, and therefore it works!
Simple Field-stripping, no tools required:
I haven't had the opportunity to shoot this one yet, but I got to demo one 2 weeks ago (which was the reason I got this one a week later...). The recoil is similar to a well-compensated 223; despite the lightweight design this gun does not jump around during fire. Any complaints? Sure...it comes with One 20 round magazine, and right now it seems like the only way to get another is to buy a second SCAR! (I'm trying to use my industry connections to rectify this...after all, I'm kind of a big deal...).
My only other complaint is a minor one: most rifles come with some kind of cheap carrying case, which I generally wouldn't use, but you kind of expect to get something with the gun.
but not the SCAR....
although I will admit...its some damn sturdy cardboard....
As always, questions and suggestions are welcome in the Comments
