SCAR-L Cancelled?

From being touted as the next-generation 5.56 combat rifle for the U.S. Army to the scrap heap in record time (Via The Firearm Blog).


On the record, SOCOM told me spending money on the Mk-16 wasn't worth it since it was only a marginal improvement over the M4 and saw no use in spending SOCOM dollars on a weapon the services buy their snake eaters already. And the meme that that Mk-16 wasn't "cancelled" and that only hyperbolic "reportage" "interpreted" the fact that the command had decided to stop buying the Mk-16 and have all those in the field returned as a "cancellation" is borderline delusional. Give me a break. It's CANCELLED! Live with it!

The SCAR simply didn't make sense in 5.56 Mk-16 trim as it didn't offer next generation improvements over the existing M4/M16 family of weapons.

Unfortunately for manufacturer FN Herstal, there is little chance that the closure of the military market for the Mk-16 will be made up for with civilian sales. At more than $3,000 retail on the street, the rifle simply costs more than it's performance and caliber justifies.

I'm not an industry insider by any measure, but the only way I could see the civilian variant of the Mk-16 having any widespread commercial success would be a combination of it experiencing a significant price drop so that it competes against piston-ARs, and availability in 6.8 SPC.

I would personally find it most attractive if they could find a way to market/sell it as a 5.56/6.8 SPC combo kit, especially if they could drop the price of that kit below $2,000 on the street. Is that actionable? Would that be profitable? I don't know. But if they don't come up with something, I suspect the civilian variant of the SCAR Mk-16 will fade away just as quickly as the military variant.


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In other gun-related news, today is the last day I'll mention that I'm accepting donations (yellow button on the right) for accessories for my BCM Mid-16 Mod 2.

My unexpected knee surgery is covered 100% by my insurance, but the twice-a-week physical therapy is killing me with co-pays, and that is eating up my gear budget.

Thanks to those of you who can afford to donate (and those of you who already have), and to everyone else, thanks for simply being readers!

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 01:43 PM

Comments

1 Forget the SCAR or the overpriced ACR and just get a Robinson XCR in 5.56, 7.62x39, 6.8SPC or 6.5. (also rumored that a 5.45 kit is about to be released) You can swap out barrels for whatever calibre you want in about 60 seconds and there's no cheap plastic on the XCR! (and no silly buffer tube either as all rifles have folding stocks).

Ok, I'm an XCR fan. ;-)

And lets not forget that the XCR is made in America by some great people in Salt Lake City.

Posted by: David at July 22, 2010 01:39 PM (R53O4)






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