Earlier this year we reported that the Peruvian military had decided to adopt the FN SCAR-H. Only the SCAR-H was able to read the final round of the competition. MKE dropped out because they were not willing to guarantee a 20,000 shot lifespan, LWRC’s rifle failed the beach and sand test and H&K’s entry failed the mud test. The SCAR-H passed all these tests but in video footage obtained by Peruvian website Elcomercio.pe, it appears to fail the final test. You can see the test in the video below …

In the test the rifle was unscientifically dropped 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) onto concrete seven times. I assume this is the same rifle had already been subjected to all the previous torture tests. Given that it appears no rifle entered into the competition was able to complete all the tests, I think it is safe to say that the tests were at fault rather than the rifles.

We would all like an accurate and light rifle that required no maintenance, could be used as a hammer, thrown off buildings and submerged in mud and still continue to function with sub-MOA accuracy. Instead we make compromises because a modern full/semi-automatic rifle built like a tank with loose tolerances would not be a pleasant rifle to carry nor would it be accurate. Peru will probably be mounting expensive optics on their new rifles that anyway would fail all or most of the tests.

What do you TFBers think? Are modern rifles all junk? Should we be using the AKM or a Lee Enfield? Or is Peru looking for a magical unicorn rifle that does not exist?