I stopped by the FN booth at SHOT Show and spoke to an old colleague that had just returned from Afghanistan. He gave me some gouge on issues they were having with the SCAR heavy.
The light version with the 5.56 round is very weak in my opinion and like hunting big game with a 22 caliber. He was a fan of the system overall but, he had some issues that some of you may be familiar with.
Noteworthy: Most of the snipers I know are actually pulling their scopes off the SR25 systems and putting the optic on their SCAR heavy because of reliability issues with the Knight's Armament SR-25s.
Here's his quick list of pros and cons.
Pros
- Very accurate. It's a sub minute of angle bad ass. In simple terms, the gun can hold a quarter size group at 100 yards (with the right shooter of course)
- Reliable
- Weight is very manageable given the 7.62 platform
Cons
- Loose rattle on the rear of the stock near the adjustable cheek weld
- Only two cheek weld positions
- And more importantly, the pins on the folding stock are shearing off (not good)
I've always been a fan of the SCAR heavy but there's some QA issues that need to be addressed. The FN rep said they were working these out.
Thoughts?
Brandon out --
Kit Up! contributor Brandon Webb is a former SEAL, sniper instructor and author of 21st Century Sniper: A Complete Practical Guide.
