Why buy a Scar?

[DustyGmt]

Just wanted to hear from some Scar owners. What makes them awesome and worth the expense. Also, why are they so expensive? I am aware they have been very hard to come by at times, but even in the peaks and valleys of availability they are always very expensive. What are people really digging about the SCAR and what if any drawbacks are there to the weapon?

Just curious. Not planning on hunting one down and buying one but I think it looks like a neat platform but I'll be an AR guy forever, by taste and the dictates of my finances.... but if I shot one and really liked it, who knows.

A younger guy I know from the job site showed me a video of him shooting his SCAR in 7.62x51 and was really in love with it. Asked me for an optic suggestion and I didn't really have anything for him, not really sure what's a good optic for the lad? LPVO with a small reflex @ °45 or atop the optic or?

 

[WrongHanded]

I don't know much about them, but I assume they're expensive only in a relative sense, and also because (again I assume) the design is still under patent. If Colt was still the only company that could produce an AR, they'd probably be pretty pricey too.

 

[BreechFace]

I do know the SCAR 16’s are good to test out an optics durability.

 

[kimberkid]

I bought a “lot” of 10 guns from a pawnshop that was closing, in the “lot” was a SCAR 16 and I could find no logical reason to keep it. I own a Bushmaster ACR that I did a side by side comparison and there was nothing about it that my Bushmaster ACR couldn’t do and a couple features that the Bushmaster did better; the charging handle is non-reciprocating, the QD barrel is easier to remove, and can be replaced with an AR barrel but you do have to move the QD hardware over to the replacement barrelmove the SCAR stock is much more flimsy than the Bushmaster … the stock on the SCAR and Bushmaster are interchangeable and as I understand it it was a common upgrade that SCAR owners preformed soon after acquiring their SCAR.
Lastly, you can replace the ACR fire control group with that of a AR, although you do have to tweak one of the hammer spring legs (or use the original ACR hammer spring)
For these reasons alone, I’ll never buy another SCAR (16 or17) for my personal collection.
I know Bushmaster has a gotten stigma, which I don’t understand but if you can get past that you can have a better 233 than the SCAR, unfortunately they sold out to Remington before they got the 308 to market.

 

[mavracer]

 

[marksman13]

I’ve had two SCAR-17s. I didn’t keep either of them. They aren’t nearly as light as they feel initially. I didn’t hate them, but neither blew me away in terms of accuracy and I figured out (twice) that I’d be better served by selling the SCAR and picking up a couple other rifles.

 

[FL-NC]

Never owned one, but have some experience with them. People buy them because they serve a very limited role in the SOF community. Not worth the $ IMO.

 

[DustyGmt]

I've not shot one but they look like they need some tuning on the recoil impulse. Hard to judge not having shot one but they don't look like particularly soft shooting rifles and it seems like they should be. They also don't look to be very well balanced either but it seems the people that own them love em. Kind of want to get my hands on one and try it.

 

[21H40]

I have some limited experience with the SCAR from a while ago when working with an SF team. We traded some of our engineer skill sets for some off the books training for my platoon. They had a couple of SCARs and lots of other cool weapons that we got to fire.

When compared to a standard issue M-4 in 5.56 the 7.62 SCAR felt awesome. Perhaps it works better in high volume firing than an AR-10, but I don't know. As a non-government entity with the ability to purchase your own rifle, I just don't see the value add a SCAR has over an AR-10 platform. Durability over thousands of rounds and full auto firing is the only reason I can imagine the SF guys picking them up.

 

[375supermag]

I have lots of scars.
Some accidental and some from surgeries.
Paid for all of them one way or another...mostly with pain.

 

[Gordon]

I had a Scar 16 almost ten years ago and sold it within a year (for a slight profit) after doing a course with Louis Awerbuck with it . It was reliable . but it just didn't handle for me moving and shooting nor longer range accuracy . The thing felt like a bar of soap to me , which is NOT good in a rifle IMHO.

 

[d2wing]

It is an alternative for people that don't like AR's. Some see it as an upgrade. As owners report, it isn't.

 

[DustyGmt]

Never owned one, but have some experience with them. People buy them because they serve a very limited role in the SOF community. Not worth the $ IMO.

That's what I would be interested in. In what cases are they a better option and what role do they excel in as opposed to an AR/M16/M4 or AR10. Is it a better more controllable 7.62 weapon where FA may be required or?

 

[FL-NC]

That's what I would be interested in. In what cases are they a better option and what role do they excel in as opposed to an AR/M16/M4 or AR10. Is it a better more controllable 7.62 weapon where FA may be required or?

The SCAR project was an answer to a question no one really asked. The 5.56 version was rejected outright (personnel who were issued them in my unit also had their M4's, and as far as I know, no one opted to use SCAR). The 7.62 version was used in a DMR role because they were available, and far superior than the 5.56 MK12 SPR and any of the M14 variants that were in the inventory. The SR25 rifles we had at the time only had 20" barrels, which made them really long when the suppressor was attached- whereas the SCAR had shorter barrel, a decent trigger, and sufficient rail space for needed accesories. To my knowledge, FA never was part of the equation because it was never used in my experience. Use of the SCAR -H as a DMR rifle was the only thing that kept the whole project from being an abject failure, at least where I worked. SInce I left active duty, shorter carbine versions of the SR25 have been aquired by SOF, so I don't even know if the SCAR H is still being used at all.

 

[Mark_Mark]

People buy a SCAR because it looks COOL!

If I had the money, I would buy one and take photos with it!

then Put it aways because I don’t want to scratch it up. Pull out the Cheapo but effective Areo M5 lower with a BCA Upper! Rock solid and CHEAp. Side Charger YES!

 

[Mike J]

I have never owned a SCAR. I did get to shoot a couple of them a while back. I went to see a friend & his neighbor that he shoots with that came over. We were messing around shooting steel. The neighbor had 2 of them one in 5.56, one in .308. They were sat up with ACOGs on them. I enjoyed getting to shoot them but I wouldn't know of any advantage or disadvantage of shooting them off hand or in combat style training compared to an AR. Both my friend & the other fellow are a bit older, My friend shakes, they do most of their shooting off a rest. I wasn't trying to break up what they had going on. I was just enjoying getting to shoot some different guns & socializing.

 

[kje54]

Let's see, I have a couple on my left knee, one on my neck, one on my right elbow, one on my pinky and a couple others here and there........ Oh the gun!! My bad.

 

[jyo]

As I live in California, I'll never get to own a SCAR anything, and I don't know if I'd part with the kind of $$$ a SCAR requires, but I might (I can afford it), if I had a choice... So I guess I'll just shoot my factory FN FAL 50.00 I bought new in the mid-80s for $750 and spend the rest elsewhere...

 

[lovethosesooners]

I’ll buck many of the “meh” responses

I have many upper tier rifles in both piston and di and my experience over 9 years of ownership
is MUCH different than some of the replies..kinda baffling to me actually

1st bought 17 and liked it so well I had to have the 16…if I had to sell any of what I have, those would be THE last to go

Both of mine are extremely accurate, easy to clean, the 17 is very light for a 7.62, completely reliable, and yes, they not only look cool, they ARE.

IMO, there’s nothing NOT to like after thousands of rounds between the 2 and the 17 makes heck of a hog rifle (and yes, I like the stock as is..know the early ones had an issue of being fragile but that was addressed a long time ago and I’ve never had any issue of any kind with it or anything else in either)

“ymmv”

 

[Rule3]

Why? I guess because they are great guns. To much money for me but the same reason some folks buy over the top 1911's or some kinds of cars.
People around here have boats the cost twice what a house costs and technically it s a"fishing" boat

 

[BreechFace]

Have looked and handled them in the stores, not worth the money for what one gets. There is a lot a person can do with $3500, and be better off than with a SCAR 17, but different strokes for different folks. In my mind if it were $2,200 then I would give it a good look, and probably buy one.

Now the SCAR 16, really not sure much of the point, much better 5.56 options out there and especially when one is talking about $3,200.

Glad there are those out there that love them, makes the firearm industry go round and round.

And all of the above from one that loves the FN FAL and most everything that FN produces.

 

[Pat Riot]

Guy at a gun store tried to sell me a SCAR.
My first question and every question after that was “Why?”
He finally gave up. He probably still talks about me as “The the grown up 4 year old that came into the shop.”

 

[DukeConnor]

I shot a friend's in 308. He bought it for his son. ACOG on top. I thought it was phenomenal. Low recoil and accurate. He has around 4K in it.

 

[silicosys4]

I've never gotten to play with one in the flesh and I'm not a huge fan of their size or appearance, but I would love to get my hands on a 17 to see if I need to forget about a SFAR10 and just keep saving for the 17

 

[valnar]

If you're going to buy something "proprietary", then the SCAR can be compared to a host of piston AR's as well. Once you go that route, I stop at PWS.