FN SCAR 17 Heavy/Mk17 review with a Green Beret and Chris Bartocci (Accuracy with Federal GMM 175gr)

in this episode of 9 Hole Reviews, we look at the FN SCAR 17s, or SCAR Heavy we also hear from a US Army Special Forces commander and his thoughts on running operations with this rifle... and small arms development specialist Chris Bartocci from Small Arms Solutions talks about general issues that the SCAR 17 platform runs into... in a parking lot now let's get on with it SCAR stands for soft combat assault rifle or Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle. Yes indeed it's an acronym within an acronym for a rifle that was developed at the Special Operations Command's request to develop a new family of rifles. The SCAR is one of FN's flagship products It is a short-stroke gas piston operated rifle system that was designed with portability and ruggedness in mind. The variant spanned from personal defense weapons assault counter sniper and designated marksman rifles the scar is also chambered in 5.56 nato and 7.62 nato the scar heavy was specifically designed to replace the m14 m 21 and m 1/10 weapon systems almost universally the initial shock value of picking up the scar heavy is a lack of weight at 7.9 pounds with nothing on the scar heavy is almost the same weight as a loaded m16 a to the fires a full sized 7.62 nato cartridge the scar retains the m16 style pistol grip magazine release bolt hold-open and yet the folding stock is adjustable for comb height and the length of pull the rifle comes standard with an adjustable gas block to accommodate increased back pressure from suppressor use. This particular rifle has a Geissele trigger installed, as the original trigger is said to be very... plain A Kinetic Development Group rail had also been added to the front, eliminating the original picatinny rails, and further slimming down the rifle's grips the gas block mounted front sights flip out of the way, but perhaps the most controversial part of the rifle is the reciprocating charging handle but we'll the SF operator explained that later on in this clip. Since this was designed to replace some pretty significant designated marksman rifles in the arsenal, we were naturally most curious about it's accuracy topped with a Trijicon 1-6 Accupower scope, it was easy to clock the rifle's potential. We ran two types of ammunition through the rifle First it was a Federal Gold Medal Match 175 grain a standard staple for long range applications. At 100 yards the gold medal match clocked an 8.952in 9-hole group, a very respectable grouping for a semi-automatic rifle. Subsequently when we tried some Israeli 168grain match ammunition optimized for semi-automatics, we were sorely disappointed the IMI delivered a 9-hole group at the same distance and are very disappointing 2.245 inches that's barely over 2 MOA for close handling, the rifle performed very well despite the full power cartridge running through the lightweight rifle, it is very easy to shoot this was partially due to the primary weapon systems muzzle break and later swapped out for a surefire SOCOM muzzle break I should add that the concussion from those two muzzle breaks gave a very "uncivilized" experience to whomever was shooting or observing right next to the rifle however with a Surefire Warden attachment on the end it does help mitigate the significant amount of concussion despite the positives there are issues one very unlucky coincidence was that the SCAR 17s receiver design was able to hit harmonics and has earned its reputation of a scope killer in the beginning days a lot of problems with the optics because of the base of the tuning fork action of the upper receiver what it's doing is actually destroying the optics inside of it but also any electronics like if you were to have a night vision in there? DEAD. Just that that vibration would destroy the electronics in there as well it's any kind of laser product be ok but any kind of thermal any kind of night vision any kind of true optic like first this I have on mine I have an Elcan Spectre which Elcan and says that they consider theirs SCAR-rated. the SCAR won't destroy it. most optics get as few as 100 rounds or as more as a few thousand rounds it's a it depends on any individual optic and that was the thing that the guys at [NSA] Crane noticed One of the mounting guys came up with a solution with the shock absorber to try to prevent that from being a problem (did it work?) It did, but they never adapted it. It was too expensive. I see... We recommend purchasing mounts that are specifically SCAR-rated and quality optics. So on that notes we turn to someone with much more field experience and ask for his thoughts on the SCAR 17 enter US Army Special Forces Maj. (ret) Western Amaya... I was a team leader in the US Army Special Forces Green Berets detachment commander for an ODA or Operational Detachment Alpha. For me personally, it's an awesome weapon. As far as reliability, durability and functionality goes, it's to me the gold standard. For most guys in the Special Forces I think they've they've come around to it it's kind of been a slow progression... initially it was met with a lot of resistance just like any change to any organization. I'd say it was probably a 50/50 off the bat. There is a very specific tactical employment for the SCAR it can in my opinion take the place over the M110, subbed out for a belt-fed system, if it's a quick target you just need some 7.62mm punching power to punch through walls, to reach out and touch somebody beyond what the effective range of the 5.56mm, the SCAR is able to do that very well. That being said there are some specific drawbacks. obviously the loadout for an assaulter is much heavier with the SCAR in 7.62mm loadout versus a 5.56mm load out so it's a trade-off between terminal ballistics versus kit weight it's considerably heavier and you're not able to bring as many rounds to the fight however it's still a huge advantage when you compare it to a Mk48 or M240b One of the downsides of this rifle in my opinion is is actually the charging handle it moves as you shoot. This is obviously by design It's very functional, you charge it with two fingers you can charge it with no hand you can charge it against the wall if you have to... but the way that it moves as you fire is actually a liability because it can get impinged upon a lot of things A lot of times when you find yourself in a firefight you take cover behind whatever you can and sometimes it is on an awkward position or it is a very small cover and you find yourself manipulating your rifle into a position that is less than ideal just to fire from basically any part of the rifle could be touching the ground touching a wall anything that's moving on the outside of the rifle is likely to get it pinched at the worst possible moment. This is the first time I've seen this rail system on the SCAR heavy it's a it's a very functional it feels a bit lighter it ran very well like something on this on our SCAR heavy on the team for sure I think I personally wouldn't do on this weapon is the pressure switch on the tactical light. I'm not a believer in pressure switches at all, especially having one right on the grip to me it's a liability if you're talking about shooting that and you nick it on something or you get a little fidgety and and the white light goes off because it's right under your thumb... no big deal in a shooting match, but in a tactical environment it's not ideal because you want to be very deliberate with your white light. White light AD in a dark room this puts you at risk your team at risk. You let yourself give away your positio. The other thing that I don't necessarily like about this setup is having the weapon light on the outside of the rifle. I basically like to have the outside of a my own rifle it's slick as possible fewer things to get hung up on when you're coming through your narrow doorways or coming out of a vehicle or anything like that where the space is confined. For me personally I would have mounted the light on the shooting side, on the left side of this because I'm right-handed and no pressure switch just a regular end cap where I could manipulate that with my thumb There are guys out there on on message boards and blogs that claim a specific weapon system is clone to the exact setup of a special operations unit in SF we have a saying "if it's stupid but it works it's not stupid" so no matter what someone may argue about someone's setup of their kit or their weapon system, if they've trained with it and that's what they're comfortable with and that's how they shoot well then it works for them and no matter how stupid do you think it looks or how not "clone to specifications" of what you assume is what an SF guy or Delta Force guy or a Navy SEAL uses, it's not stupid if it works for them to say that you could clone a Special Forces guys individual weapons system is like saying that you cloned a Green Beret's beard... everyone's is different and everyone kind of uses what works for them. Many team guys will buy their own foregrips their own buttstocks their own pistol grips their own optics even sometimes based on what they're used to shooting and what they found works for them. Overall it's a great weapon system to have in the right conditions later after the cameras were switched off we asked Maj. Amaya if he would ever purchase ask a SCAR heavy for his personal use, the good Maj simply responded, "yeah if you give me $3 grand" And there you have it a rugged, accurate yet nimble rifle that was designed with specific purposes in mind the SCAR 17 is a phenomenal rifle indeed but perhaps with an even more phenomenal $3,499 MSRP Thanks again for tuning in to another 9-hole review video I'd like to also extend our gratitude to Clear Advantage TV for letting us borrow their rifle we've enjoyed testing the FN SCAR and we really look forward to shooting some more Until then we'll see you on the range!

Channel: 9-Hole Reviews

Views: 1,506,534

Keywords: FN SCAR, SCAR, SCAR 17, SCAR 16, SCAR Heavy, SOCOM, Assault Rifle, 5.56, 7.62, Marine, USMC, Special Forces, SEAL, Navy, Special Operations, SOF, Gun, rifle, assault, Ghost Recon, Battlefield, rainbow six, homefront, call of duty, modern warfare, golden eye, ArmA, ArmA II, G.I. Joe, Combat, Metal Gear Solid, Counter Strike, Unit, Nato, Afghanistan, ISAF, Iraq, OEF, OIF, SAS, United States, Delta Force, Green Beret, EOD, PUBG, Dr Disrespect, shroud, chocotaco, lurn, vigilant elite

Id: Xc6cdQUL0aQ

Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 09 2018