#Hamr

Program Executive Officer (PEO) Soldier out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia recently tweeted an image depicting U.S. Army Brigadier General Anthony Potts (currently commanding PEO Soldier) on the test range firing a test rifle apart of “emerging technologies for Next Generation Squad Weapon” as spelled out in the tweet.

Today, a variant of the Heckler & Koch HK416 rifle is the standard squad infantry automatic rifle (IAR) of the United States Marine Corps, as the M27. At one time in the mid-2000s, though, companies from Colt to LWRC competed against each other in a competition to see which weapon would be the the Corps’ choice to fill the role, supplanting the belt-fed M249 as the squad’s automatic fire support capability. These weapons took a variety of approaches to meeting the USMC’s needs, from the constant recoil Ultimax MG, to the heat-sink equipped Colt IAR, to the open bolt full auto, closed bolt semiauto LWRC IAR. Ultimately, simplicity won out, and Heckler & Koch’s quite unambitious HK416-derived entry was selected to be the M27.

We all know the market is flooded with optics for the AR15 and similar rifles. However, this Leupold does stand out in the crowd for several reasons. I became interested in this optic when I ran into an acquaintance at the range who was running one on his AR.

Leupold’s newest tactical scope, the Leupold Mark 4 HAMR (High Accuracy Multi-Range), is aimed squarely at a product category dominated by Trijicon . The Leupold HAMR is a compact, lightweight, fixed 4x power scope designed specifically for the AR-15 and similar 5.56mm chambered rifles.

A reader emailed me this cool photo of the FN HAMR, equipped with a 150 round Armatac SAW-MAG, in all its glory. Apparently, the rifle operated in open-bolt mode in both semi and full auto if the temperature is to hot. Interesting.

This promotional video from FNH-USA shows the FN HAMR in action (at 1:41).

The FN SCAR IAR has been rebranded as the FN Heat Adaptive Modular Rifle (HAMR). This automatic rifle includes the clever IAR feature of firing from a closed bolt (increase accuracy) until it heats up to a certain temperature and transitions to a open bolt configuration (better air flow and cooling).