A Farewell to SCAR: Was it Really That Amazing?
Recently, TFB reported that FN Herstal is discontinuing all commercial models of FN SCAR. The news hit me like a ton of bricks. Why? Because back in the day, I had a unique chance to see SCAR-H in one of the most demanding weapon trials of the last few decades.
I already mentioned some stories from weapon trials in Pakistan in my article about BW20. What I didn’t mention is the fact that SCAR won those trials, besting all other contenders in the “battle rifle” category.
The AK 103 and CZ 807 were tested as “CQB weapons”, but that is a whole other story for another time. The main competition was between some of the best modern battle rifles, namely FN SCAR, CZ Bren 2, Beretta ARX-200, MPT-76 from Turkey, PWS from the US, and Zastava M77 from Serbia.
The trials were conducted from January 2016 to August of the same year, and I was there for the entire time. And the more time passed, the more I fell in love with FN SCAR. But let’s start from the beginning.
It was February, a chill and rainy morning in the city of Rawalpindi, which some call “the military capital of Pakistan”. Located right next to Islamabad, Rawalpindi houses an unimaginable amount of military infrastructure, including the departments responsible for trials of small arms.
Teams of different arms manufacturers gathered in the large courtyard, and FN's display was the most impressive, at least for me. Not only did they bring SCAR-H, they also had a version of SCAR-H PR, which was not available in the US at the time. Only 2 and a half years later, in the fall of 2018, a similar rifle called SCAR-20S was released on the US market.
The company representatives from Belgium, dressed in all black tactical clothing, were very knowledgeable and also happy to answer questions. Before that day, I was vaguely familiar with SCAR, field stripped it a couple of times, but I had never seen the barrel swap on this rifle. FN representative showed it to me - he unscrewed the barrel in mere seconds using a small T-handle torque wrench.
I changed plenty of barrels on AKs and ARs, so the SCAR barrel swap looked like some black magic to me. I don’t usually take photos with someone else’s weapons, but that day I decided to make an exception.
In the coming days, SCAR continued to surprise me. I knew it was light, but when we went to the range and weighed the rifles, the scale showed 3.7 kilograms (8.1 pounds), and it blew my mind. A battle rifle that weighs less than an AK-74 with Zenitco upgrades! Surely something must be wrong with it!
The time went by, but there was nothing wrong with SCAR-H. When the time came to do drop tests, the “Ugg boot” stock did exceptionally well - even when it was dropped in the fully extended position, it never broke, unlike some other stocks.
Consistently, it was one of the most accurate rifles at the trials. The FN team did not use the most sophisticated gun mount or any trickery; the gun just did what it was designed to do, over and over, at every distance.
I became pals with the FN team, and during some technical shooting tests (muzzle velocity, rate of fire), they allowed me to shoot the SCAR. The recoil was a bit snappy, but that is expected for such a light rifle chambered in 308.
The most interesting part was the endurance test. Every day, we shot 1200 rounds through each of three rifles, bringing the total round count to 3600 a day. Each morning, we tested the accuracy, trying to see any degradation. It was there when I saw the true reliability of SCAR-H.
It was downright scary. The gun chewed through thousands of rounds every day, and the only stoppages I witnessed were due to primers falling out of cases. Each time, ten rifles, all chambered in 308, started firing in full auto simultaneously, even ear protection did not help; the sound was so loud it got under my ear pro.
But when the firing was over, each time representatives of FN walked out with a smile, the SCAR never choked.
The SCAR was not invincible. It failed some of the mud and sand tests - but only when every other battle rifle failed as well.
Reportedly, there was one cookoff during troop trials, when it was so hot the round cooked off in the chamber. But I personally observed a cook-off test during technical trials, and nothing happened; the rifle did not have any issues when tested within the set parameters.
I asked FN representatives about the SCAR issues I heard about: problems with the rear trunnion and destroyed scopes. They had nothing to hide: “Well, you can look at our trunnions and see for yourself”. For scopes, they used various Aimpoits and Schmidt & Bender for longer range testing, and not a single sight failed in 6 months.
According to my sources, the SCAR was a clear winner of the trials. The Pakistan military didn’t procure it for reasons that have nothing to do with SCAR performance or even its price.
To come back to the question in the title of the article, the SCAR is indeed amazing, certainly a better rifle than I expected. Light, accurate, reliable - after witnessing those tests, I would not hesitate to recommend it for those who seek a modern and capable battle rifle.
Sadly, it seems that soon it won’t be an option, at least for the US civilian market - apparently, the production of SCAR for MIL/LE customers will continue.
FN SCAR 20S NRCH 7.62X51 Rifle
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Vladimir Onokoy is a small arms subject matter expert and firearms instructor. Over the years he worked in 20 different countries as a security contractor, armorer, firearms industry sales representative, product manager, and consultant. His articles were published in the Recoil magazine, Small Arms Review, Small Arms Defence Journal, Overt Defense and Silah Report. He also contributed chapters to books from the "Vickers Guide: Kalashnikov" series. Email: machaksilver at gmail dot com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladonokoy/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/machaksilver
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"clear winner of the trials. The Pakistan military didn’t procure it for reasons that have nothing to do with SCAR performance or even its price."
Nobody expects you to reveal your sources, but setting this up as basically the most important / interesting point in the article - and then not telling us why - is kinda cruel.
For 20 years, the 5.56x45mm FN SCAR-L never gained popularity. When it was introduced, the AR-15's patent had expired, leading to the emergence of numerous inexpensive AR-15 clones that were freely adaptable and customizable. If people needed a 5.56x45mm automatic rifle, they didn't need to buy the expensive FN SCAR-L.
But the 7.62x51mm FN SCAR-H once held great promise. In the 2000s, Western armies only had Marksman rifles, modified from Cold War battle rifles. These rifles were often difficult to install with modern accessories and were heavy due to their heavy use of steel parts. The SCAR-H was lighter and easier to install with accessories. Of course, over time, the SCAR-H was eclipsed by the proliferation of AR-10 clones.
As far as I know, FN's SCAR patent expires in 2025. We can expect to see a surge in cheap SCAR clones and parts using its modular design. This may be the reason FN stopped selling the commercial version—which isn't good for FN, but it could be good for SCAR.
For example, I've seen someone build a custom 7.62x39mm version of the SCAR-H platform that accepts AK magazines, but it seems to have been blocked from market due to patent issues. Perhaps it will be released now.