Novice 1st Impressions: ACR vs. SCAR

[Magsz]

Josh,

Good info man, thank you very much.

[YVK]

Alot of people are commenting on how light the recoil impulse is on the scar and ive always got to wonder if that is due to the FSC556 attached to the barrel.

Do you have any prior experience with compensators?

Magsz, I've just looked at this again, and yet again haven't been able to find any difference objectively. SCAR in fact feels to be very steady on target, and many commented on easy control on full auto and with SCAR 17. However, I end up getting the same results with equally weighted and comped midlength AR as with SCAR. Most of my drills weren't timed, but shooting 5 rounds strings at 50 yards as fast as I can while maintaining reasonable accuracy yields identical results.
Additionally, I think that SCAR actually recoils a bit stronger. Given that 5.56 recoil is mild to begin with, the difference is very minimal. But, owing to hot weather, I've been shooting in very light clothes during last 2 weeks and, absent dampening effect of gear or heavier layers, I feel fore-aft feedback from SCAR a bit stronger.

[wild_wild_wes]

I wonder how much of this recoil issue is just subjective, percieved due to ergonomics. I would like to see recoil force measured by instruments before I believed to two very similar rifles had different recoil levels.

[YVK]

I wonder how much of this recoil issue is just subjective, percieved due to ergonomics. I would like to see recoil force measured by instruments before I believed to two very similar rifles had different recoil levels.

I think most of it is subjective. As I said, it took me to shoot it in paper-thin T-shirt to arrive to this conclusion - and I am sure that there are people that will come and call it BS.
I wish I knew there was a way to measure it objectively but I don't know if such contraption exists. Trying to put any semblance of science under my conclusions, I can only say that reciprocating mass (bolt carrier and bolt) is considerably heavier in SCAR than AR.
Ultimately, the most objective assessment to me would be running timed drills repetitively and impartially and reporting results without emotional investment to one system vs. another - be it SCAR, ACR or AR.

[flanntastic]

yesterday i took my ACR, SCAR, MSAR, and AR shooting for the day.

The ACR is a dream shooting suppressed its like a airsoft gun in the recoil dept w a can, BUT i as i was shooting a hodgepodge of ammo from the "extras" can, and i had allot that would not run in the S setting, so i ended up shooting in the u setting even with my can. It needs true 5.56 pressure to run in the S setting. Trigger is to gritty and has a weird break. Still feels front heavy and my stock is a little to short. and it does take a manly finger to release the bolt.

SCAR, feels so lite and flickable, i do not have a adapter on it for my can, so i cannot talk about it suppressed. Trigger is stiff but crisp

MSAR, I hate how loud it is on your ear, its just weird going off on the side of your face, guess thats any bullpup though even with trigger work its not as good as the rest. Mag changes suck, and the adj on the MSAR scope are not very crisp

AR, i forgot how nice and familiar a AR is, glad i saved it for last. It felt like a part of me, i did miss the ambi safety, and got tired of huffing gas from the can be blown back at me, BUT if i could only have one it would be hard to give up.

AND......
two of these four had T1s, the MSAR had a MSAR 1.5 optic, and the AR15 had a eotech 512. The eotech just works for me, best bang for the buck out there.

[joshua79109]

I wonder how much of this recoil issue is just subjective, percieved due to ergonomics. I would like to see recoil force measured by instruments before I believed to two very similar rifles had different recoil levels.

I really believe this is the right answer.

I do get quicker times with my SCAR, but I don't doubt for a second that it could change from person to person. I would agree that it is subjective due to ergonomics. It took a while for my times on the SCAR to get better than my times on the AR. I will say that the SCAR recoil impulse does feel different than the AR, now everyone would have to decide what carbine has more or less felt recoil.

Maybe it's just the lack of the boing from the AR buffer/spring that speeds my time up, maybe I'm easily distracted - kidding of course.

[99HMC4]

I think we can all agree that the SCAR seems to be a better weapon than the ACR. True or not? Not saying the ACR is sub pare or crap but rather both are good but one comes out in front.....

[Velcro]

IMO,

The SCAR feels better than the ACR as far as shouldering it...to me. I did not like the ACR's weight for what it is supposed to be...I can stick to my G36 for a plastic rifle, but I did like the positioning of the controls on the ACR...for me, I am split!

Question...who is claiming the ACR now? I am seeing BM advertisements & Remington advertisements...and yes I know that RMGTN owns BM...and they are both Cerebus (sp), but who is going to stake claim on the gun...or both!



Velcro

[YVK]

I think we can all agree that the SCAR seems to be a better weapon than the ACR. True or not? Not saying the ACR is sub pare or crap but rather both are good but one comes out in front.....

I think it is too early to say. I have zero interest in ACR but, in all fairness, there hasn't been enough time to evaluate ACR well enough. SCAR's been out for over a year now, and we really don't have too many of feedback reports in regards to actual performance - whether it is in theater or in formal performance-measured training. How many SCAR owners here took theirs to classes? Most of SCAR reports fall into a category "I took mine to the range again this weekend" - which is just one step better than "I examined one in the shop". ACR has even less of objective reports. We should give it a bit more time, and I am really grateful that people go out and buy both rifles and report results here.

[JessR45]

Great review and thanks very much for your effort ! I've handled both (but not fired) the ACR and SCAR and I agree with your observations on the heft and balance of both rifles. I've been sitting on the fence for a while now, being very happy with my DDM4 and Steyr AUG A3, but funds permitting, I'll spring for the SCAR shortly. Seems like a good evolutionary step worth adding to the hoard. Thanks, Jess