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October 29, 2009

SOCOM SCAR/ Remington ACR Updates

The FN SCAR (Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle) that has been deployed in small numbers with U.S. Special Forces will finish an initial deployment in December. Jane's is reporting that a much larger follow-on order of 15,000 5.56 SCAR-L(ight) and 5,000 7.62 SCAR-H(eavy) modular rifles is expected to follow in 2010.

Jason Spradling of Remington addressed rumors about the 6.5 chambering listed for the much-anticipated Remington ACR (Adaptive Combat Rifle).

The Firearms Blog had assumed that the 6.5 cartridge would be the 6.5 Grendel, but an industry insider informed him that Remington was not developing a 6.5 Grendel variant, and someone else said that Remington may be developing their own 6.5 cartridge.

Jason confirmed with me via email yesterday that Remington was not actively working on a 6.5 Grnedel variant... or a 6.5 cartridge of their own.

"We have mentioned the 6.5 in our communications on the ACR simply because that platform is capable of handling the Grendel or something like it. At this point, there are no plans to chamber the ACR for the Grendel. However, that may change if we receive enough input from the marketplace to make it seem necessary."

The SCAR-L and ACR are destined for a collision course in the defense market as direct competitors as a replacement for the M-4 carbine. Both rifles are also going to be developed with semi-automatic variants for the civilian market. The SCAR-L and SCAR-H are currently priced north of $2,500 (sometimes far more).

Pricing for the ACR has not yet been released.

Posted by Confederate Yankee at October 29, 2009 08:55 AM
Comments

I've seen the SCAR up close... BAAAAAADA$$ is the only way to describe it... The SF kids love it. The only issue I have with it is the name... Say it quickly and you sound like you are obscenely describing a bad wound...
"Whats that?"
"Oh that? Thats my F'n scar..."

Posted by: Big Country at October 29, 2009 11:00 AM

The Magpul Masada (predecessor to the ACR) was projected to cost around $1400 for a 16" carbine with magazines, according to the original Magpul press releases. (http://www.magpul.com/pdfs/masada_technote.pdf)

Posted by: Eric at October 29, 2009 11:21 AM

Interesting. Any word on an 6.8mm version of SCAR for SOCOM? Or is the whole 6.8 concept moribund?

Posted by: Brad at October 31, 2009 08:09 PM

Brad: There was some interest in a 6.8 SPC SCAR at some point (by the Marines, IIRC, and not SOCOM) and some prototypes were developed for testing. Haven't heard any more about it.

Posted by: Murdoc at November 1, 2009 12:39 PM