The Firearm Blog

Jeff and Boge Quinn of GunBlast have reviewed the SCAR 16s and liked what they saw ...

With the MK 16, FN Herstal has set out to build the world’s best 5.56mm fighting rifle, and the SCAR 16s is as close to that rifle as most of us can get, legally. It is a well-built rifle, very reliable, easy to shoot, and match-accurate. The price tag to own such a piece is not cheap. As of this writing, the MSRP is bumping right up against the three thousand dollar mark. However, that is not too far out of line with some of the AR-based piston rifles available, and the SCAR system must be pretty good, as it beat out other designs for the USSOCom contract. FN manufacturers the great majority of our small arms now in use with U.S. troops, and the SCAR seems to be well-accepted by those who handled, fired, and fielded the new rifle. The SCAR 16s comes with one magazine and an owner’s manual, and is available either in black or the Flat Dark Earth finish shown here. You never regret buying the best.

Thanks to Jason for the photo.

Hat Tip: Michael Bane and SaysUncle

This photo, which is purported to be real, shows a Ranger using the 7.62x51mm FN SCAR-H ( MK 17 Mod 0 ).

The photo is said to have been taken by Spc. Walter Reeves.

The semi-automatic civilian model is called the FN SCAR 17S and will be on sale early next year.

SCAR-H on display at Tactical Evolution Expo and Conference '09. Photo by Dominique

Thanks to jdun1911 and SaysUncle for the link.

Hat Tip: AR-15.com

The semi-automatic FN SCAR 17S, which chambers 7.62x51mm NATO, was supposed to be on sale this year, but FN-USA have announced that it won't go on sale until 2010 ...

Released for 2010 is the highly anticipated SCAR 17S now available for civilian purchase. Chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO (308 Win.) and slightly heavier than the SCAR 16S, this unique carbine offers long-range accuracy, exceptional reliability and match winning versatility.

Both SCARs have fully ambidextrous operating controls, a free floating, cold hammer-forged Mil-SPEC barrel with hard-chromed bore; a receiver-integrated MIL-STD 1913 optical rail plus three accessory rails for mounting scopes, electronic sights, lights, or lasers. The side-folding polymer stock is fully adjustable for comb height and has six settings for length of pull. The SCAR also features a tactically advantageous reciprocating charging handle for quick ammo and magazine failure response.

SCAR 17S (top) and its smaller brother the 16S.

A matte black finished model of the 5.56mm FN SCAR will be on sale to consumers next year. I think it looks great (... and yes, I know getting excited about a gun being black is pretty sad).

Earlier this year FN gave dealers the chance to pre-order a limited edition black SCAR. One dealer is trying to sell one of these for $9,999!

Now, it appears, that the black SCAR is going into full production and will be offered as a standard model, not a limited edition. I suspect there will be some unhappy customers who pre-ordered a limited edition, only to find it is now a full production model.

Other than the opportunists on Gun Broker, I have seen the black SCAR listed for between $3000 and $4000. When it is actually available, it will probably sell for the same as the tan, aka. Flat Dark Earth, colored model ($2500 - $3000)

Interestingly, early prototypes of the military SCAR had a black finish:

Military prototype.

UDPATE: Replaced top photo with better quality image. Thanks Elaine.

fluwoebers, who must be in one of the SOCOM units, has written a must-read review of the FN SCAR, both light (5.56mm) and heavy (7.62mm) models.

Reciprocating Charging Handle
I remembered to keep my thumb down most of the time, but while practicing switching back and forth between strong hand and week hand, the charging handle caught me.
My thumb slowed it down enough that it caused a FTF.
It was not painful enough with 5.56 to learn my lesson.
I did it again with 7.62. That hurt.

…

“Softness/Brittleness” of plastic
The polymer is very dense.
It is a little on the soft side, so it is not likely to crack very easily.
It is not so soft though that it bends or deforms easily.
It feels like a pretty good balance in strength and rigidity.

…

Bottom Line:
The SCAR is a good system. I’m not ready to give up my M4.
As the SCAR evolves over the next couple years, it will be a top-of-the line rifle.
I’m not convinced that it is worth the cost to purchase and train on a completely new system.

I highly recommend reading the whole review. It is very comprehensive.

Big thank you to Jay for emailing me the link to the review.

The Rangers were showing off their new SCAR rifles on the weekend.

Rangers from 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, G.A. stand at attention on the infield of the Lowes Motor Speedway as they are honored for their service to the nation during the Coca Cola 600 NASCAR pre-race military appreciation show in Concord, N.C. on May 24, 2009. (U.S. Army photo by Trish Harris, USASOC News Service)

A large high resolution version of the photo can be seen here.
Can anyone tell me what the device attached onto the muzzle is? I am guessing it a device to prevent the gun firing or chambering a round?

Hat Tip: Defense Tech

The Army Times (via. Murdoc) report that the 75th Rangers are receiving new FN SCAR rifles:

About 600 members of the 75th Ranger Regiment will soon take the Special Operations Combat Assault Rifle into battle.

The 600 SCARs are the first of 1,800 that U.S. Special Operations Command began fielding in early April, SOCom spokeswoman Air Force Maj. Denise Boyd told Army Times.

The first photo I saw of the SCAR in the “wild” was when Defense Tech linked to this Navy photo taken last month showing a SEAL with the SCAR replica (see update below) slung over this shoulder.

090415-N-6403R-006 SEAL BEACH NAVAL WEAPONS STATION, Calif. (April 15, 2009) Special warfare combatant-craft crewmen (SWCC) assigned to Special Boat Team (SBT) 12 conduct an equipment check before getting underway for a training exercise at Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua T. Rodriguez (Released)

UPDATE: Turns out that the above photo shows a replica SCAR. From a Wikipedia discussion:

“I received an email from FN confirming that the image appears to show replica weapons (FN mentioned Independent Studio Services, the same company that the earlier editor did). Actual FN SCAR rifle stocks are solid plastic in “Flat dark earth” color – solidly that color throughout, not a paint or coating over a darker black color. The FN employee has some of the ISS replica weapons and confirmed that they are manufactured in a solid black base material then painted the flat dark earth on top of that. He also confirmed that ISS has made replica SCARs for the SBS teams for training, and that SBS and SEALs routinely do use replica weapons in this manner to avoid training wear and tear on actual rifles.”

Thanks to Anon for the link to the Wikipedia discussion.

These photos, posted on AR-15.com by m1ajunkie, compare AR-15 parts to the equivalent SCAR parts. They are very interesting photos.

Bolt Carriers

Bolt Faces

SCAR carrier disassembled.

Many more photos here.
Many thanks to Jay for emailing me the link.

The new FNP-9 and FNP-40 USG flat dark earth colored model is the perfect pistol to complement your new SCAR rifle.

Press release here.

According to MarineSniper8541 @ AR15.com (without any collaborating evidence) the limited edition run of FN SCAR 16S rifles with their gold colored upper receivers was in fact a botched run that came out the wrong color. The marketing department then decided to sell them as a limited edition.

Apparently, the initial factory run of SCAR upper receivers went to anodizing and came back way too “gold” for FN’s specs. (Look at all advertisments, videos and such for the actual FN spec color of the upper, the upper and lower should pretty much match). It has been described to me that the anodizing of parts in FDE is tricky and can come out very “gold” looking if the process isn’t done correctly.

So anyways, FN gets its first commercial run of uppers back from anodizing and they are very “gold”. FN decides to go ahead and sell this huge batch of “gold” uppers and to call it a limited edition so that they can sell them without having to have them blasted and re-anodized…HAHA!

The next production run will be in the correct color for the uppers. So in a nutshell, the people paying $4500 for a “limited edition” are getting rifles that were actually screwed up and made in the wrong color. Smart move on FN’s part. They took a botched run of uppers and turned them into a “gold” mine. No pun intended.

Limited Edition SCAR.


Standard color scheme

This is just a rumor, and is not confirmed. If it is true it was a stoke of genius by the marketing department. I actually like the gold look a lot.

Many thanks to Jay for the link.

As a child I was taught the concept of inflation with this analogy:

If Joe has 1000 oranges and you really really want one how much would you pay? If Joe has 1 orange and you really really want it how much would you be willing to pay?

I never forgot the story of the guy with oranges that “I really really wanted”. Anyway, here is a modified version of the story:

If Joe has 1000 SCAR 16s rifles and you really really want one how much would you pay? If Joe has 1 SCAR 16s rifle and you really really want it how much would you be willing to pay? Answer: $9500

Checkout this gunbroker auction

Michael Bane commented that while the SCAR is cool, 10 AR-15s are a much better!

Jason emailed me photos of his SCAR 16S (5.56×45mm). He must have been one of the lucky few to get hold of one of the initial limited production run. Click to expand the photos.

A big thanks to Jason for taking the time to take the photos.

More photos after the jump. Continue Reading »

The FN IAR is based on the SCAR. It has a rate of fire of 650 RPM and weights in at 10.4 lbs.

FN IAR. Click to expand.

One very interesting features is that it switches automatically from closed bolt to open bolt depending on the chamber temperature. From FNH-USA:

Today FN offers the new Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR), a unique, highly-adaptable, modular selective fire weapon system that fills the roles of both individual battle rifle and squad automatic weapon in one light, compact package. The magazine-fed FN IAR is capable of firing from a closed bolt in both semi-automatic and fully-automatic modes, yet automatically transitions into open-bolt operation in semi-automatic or fully-automatic before reaching cook-off temperature for a chambered cartridge.

I do not think the temperature switch would be electronic. Most likely there is a piece of metal that expands when heated and causes a switch from closed to open bolt.

Again, a bit thanks to Daniel Watters for pointing this out to me.

Over the past four years TangoDown have been working with the Navy Special Warfare Command and the United States Special Operations Command on a new polymer M16/SCAR/AR-15 magazine called the ARC. Although the magazine prototypes have been around for a few years, the ARC is finally entering production and should be on sale in January 2009.

Click to expand.

As the photos suggest, the magazine is manufactured in two parts. These parts are then “glued” together (I am sure they use a fancier word). The join is supposed to be very strong.

An o-ring type silicone seal prevents dirt getting into the action through the magazine well.

The design has no floorplate which adds to its strength. Cleaning is done by holding the magazine upside down and spraying water or compressed air through holes in the follower. If the spring needs replacing you throw out the magazine and buy a new one.

I dug up this forum post from earlier this year:

The two-piece housing assembly allows us to use optimum ammunition ’stack’ in the design. We can tightly control the molding process at the same time, as we are making 2 small shots instead of one long one. Material freeze off is no longer an issue. The industrial adhesive we use to join the 2 halves exceeds the strength of the base material. Additional benefit is that we can mold the entire lower half of the magazine in a transparent/translucent material for ammunition viewing, keeping the superior strength reinforced material up top for the feedlips, etc.

The ‘gasket’ between magwell and magazine is actually a soft durometer silicone seal that is bonded to the magazine. It can’t shift or migrate on the magazine body. We used a foam seal at the Show for demonstration purposes. A specific type of magazine carrier design is underway, to answer that question. It will be trick.

In all the studies we researched, the primary mechanical cause of magazine failure to feed was due to feedlip issues. Springs and followers were down the list. By using a high quality coated spring, our sealed design would need to be replaced only when the lips were worn out and/ or damaged.

The follower is pretty novel, and is driven differently than existing baseline G.I.-type followers

This photo by SMGLee of a rapid prototype model shows the follower design and the o-ring/gasket seal clearly:

The retail price is $24.95. The magazine is currently available for preorder at BravoCompanyUSA.com. At that price I can’t imagine it going up in price or going out of stock due to excessive demand.

A video of SMGLee testing the magazine:

More photos and the full press release after the jump …
Continue Reading »