Novice 1st Impressions: ACR vs. SCAR
Greetings - this will serve as my first post, but I have been reading the content here for a while. I like the protocol and overall courtesy and professionalism on this site.
I had a great opportunity to finally take my SCAR and ACR to the range today to fire them for the first time, and I thought I would offer my layman's observations.
The caveats - I am a novice rifle shooter; I have much more experience with handguns, so I will not comment much on the accuracy of these rifles, and a lot of my observations are subjective due to this inexperience.
My range visit was for "coarse" sighting in of the Aimpoints mounted on each rifle (getting them on the paper and then into the bull's eye to the best of my abilities). Shooting was from the bench and only out to 40m. I used 55 grain Winchester and Federal XM193 55 grain. My groups on both rifles with Aimpoints were about 2.5" to 3" (perhaps this should be embarrassing, but I've got to start somewhere).
It seems that there are two assessments when dealing with a firearm: perception and performance. Perception is when I hold it and assess its quality of assembly. Performance is when I shoot it, recoil, accuracy (moot for me right now), trigger, reliability, etc. I am sure there are many other factors.
Perception: It is interesting that the SCAR feels almost delicate and toy-like when handling it. I believe this is my perception due to its light weight. The ACR feels hefty and durable, possibly due to its heavier weight. Being a Land Rover enthusiast, I often associate weight with quality, but that also often results in misconception!
The ACR is definitely much more front heavy than the SCAR. I believe that Bushmaster really should offer a light profile barrel for the ACR.
As we have all read, the SCAR comes with additional features not offered on the basic ACR. I paid considerably less for the ACR basic than the SCAR, so I am okay on the price delta and do not feel as if I was ripped off with either.
It is clear, however, that both rifles are very well made and easy to disassemble/reassemble. Bushmaster should do something about that little rubber ring required for the bolt carrier assembly, though. I have not removed the barrels on either rifle.
For aesthetics, a highly subjective area, the ACR is a much nicer looking rifle, but I don't wanna go down like Williams in "Enter the Dragon," either. I call the SCAR "the camel," because of its color and stock hump. It is ugly in a functionally beautiful way - kind of like a Land Rover.
Performance: This is where the SCAR showed its prowess, IMHO.
Recoil impulse on the lightweight SCAR is seemingly non-existent. The ACR seemed to have noticeably more recoil. It was very surprising to me. The SCAR's toy-like feel completely disappeared upon firing the rifle. I have found this with other FN products like my light weight FNP-9. When I first looked at my FNP-45, I thought, "what a cannon." Well, when I picked it up and fired it, it seemed as if it shrunk, and it is now my favorite handgun.
SCAR has the edge over the ACR on trigger pull. It seemed lighter to me with a slightly crisper reset.
For me, the placement of the safety/shoot switch on the SCAR was better than the ACR.
No problems with the reciprocating charging handle on the SCAR. I must be a freakin' wimp, because for the life of me, my trigger/pointer finger could not release the ACR bolt down by the trigger guard. I guess I need to do some of those Bruce Lee finger pushups.
I did not shoot much ammunition at all - only 100 rounds total, but both rifles ran this limited amount with no problem. I switched rifles often and did not heat up barrels or perform "mag dumps" to torture these two new guns.
Final Thoughts: My first impression is that the SCAR is the superior firearm. How they compare and hold together in the long-term is another issue. Perhaps as I train with rifles and become more proficient, my impressions will change.
As of right now, if I could only grab one of these to scoot out the door with the wife and kids and blow out of town due to bad things happening, I would grab the SCAR.
