Bundeswehr picks AR as new service rifle

[Slater]

It'll be interesting to see when ,if, or how Franklin Armory resurrects the Bushmaster brand, along with the ACR.

[Diamondback]

It'll be interesting to see when ,if, or how Franklin Armory resurrects the Bushmaster brand, along with the ACR.

Hopefully Franklin goes back to Magpul and works closer with them to debug it... with how tainted the ACR name is, it might be better to go back to the original "Masada."

[BoringGuy45]

Hopefully Franklin goes back to Magpul and works closer with them to debug it... with how tainted the ACR name is, it might be better to go back to the original "Masada."

I never liked "ACR"; there was already the failed AR replacement trials in the 80s called the ACR project.

[dwhitehorne]

Hopefully Franklin goes back to Magpul and works closer with them to debug it... with how tainted the ACR name is, it might be better to go back to the original "Masada."

The Remington version seemed pretty nice. I got to handle one at a demo a few years ago but didn't spend anymore than 5 minutes looking it over. David

[SteyrAUG]

I have a feeling that if Magpul had held onto the Masada, it would have been a different story; it would probably have been closer to what everybody had hoped for. I could see some smaller European country adopting it as its service rifle. I love Magpul, but farming the Masada/ACR out to Bushmaster seems like an incomprehensibly moronic decision. I know they had their reasons but...why a Freedom Group company??

Yeah, when I saw it at Shot Show that first year, it was like the "Jesus Rifle", but when they finally got it into production with Freedom Group of all places and the less than OMG It's Perfect...reviews of the FN SCAR started popping up, I got over the new plastic wonder rifle in general.

As most people have noted, we haven't dramatically improved beyond what the M4 does to justify twice the price and a lot of other factors. If I'm gonna spend big money, I'll be getting a Knights not a ACR or SCAR.

Despite rails and ambi everything, I still see AR-18s and FNCs in plastic frames. Even HK didn't manage to revolutionize the world with the XM-8/G36. Not sure who could have built the Magpul Masada without hosing it bad.

[BoringGuy45]

Yeah, when I saw it at Shot Show that first year, it was like the "Jesus Rifle", but when they finally got it into production with Freedom Group of all places and the less than OMG It's Perfect...reviews of the FN SCAR started popping up, I got over the new plastic wonder rifle in general.

As most people have noted, we haven't dramatically improved beyond what the M4 does to justify twice the price and a lot of other factors. If I'm gonna spend big money, I'll be getting a Knights not a ACR or SCAR.

Despite rails and ambi everything, I still see AR-18s and FNCs in plastic frames. Even HK didn't manage to revolutionize the world with the XM-8/G36. Not sure who could have built the Magpul Masada without hosing it bad.

I agree. Right now, we've reached somewhat of a plateau in terms of small arms technology. The difference between the so-called 2nd and 3rd generation assault rifles is minimal at best, the key difference in the 3rd gen rifles being greater modularity. Of course, with the way the AR has evolved in the past 50+ years, it's practically the same as a 3rd gen rifle now in terms of modularity. That isn't to say that I think it's foolish for a country to upgrade their rifles with only a slight upgrade (i.e. G36 to MK556, FAMAS to 416, etc). Incremental change can be a good thing, especially in peacetime when logistics aren't as much of a headache. The key is, as you pointed out, cost. If a rifle is 2.5 times more expensive than a quality AR, I expect it to offer 2.5 times the performance enhancement.