06-26-2013, 10:44 AM
Good eval. I agree with most everything that is said, but worthy (usually=costly) optics are not trashed by the SCAR-H. I can speak to that personally.
LRRPF52 Wrote:Both the SCAR-L and SCAR-H trash optics and SOPMOD accessories due to increased g-loadings on the return stroke of the action. I suspect it's because the SCAR does not have a sectional reciprocating mass like the AR15 family does, where the bolt carrier, buffer, and buffer weights are separate parts. The SCAR has no buffer system. It's basically an AR-18 operating system, which Armalite settled on in the 1960's because they had already licensed the Direct Impingement system to Colt, and could no longer legally make weapons with DI...but they wanted to.
The SCAR deals with recoil impulse and reciprocating mass with an elongated longitudinal cam pin travel in the carrier, which is great for dwell time and longevity of the bolt. The problem is that you have a BCG/oprod that weighs what a complete M4 carbine operating system weighs, impacting all at once when it chambers a new round. This has been identified as a source of major problems for things like optics, night vision, laser aiming modules, etc.
Within fragmentation range, the 5.56 can be brutal to be hit with, on an outside vital zone shot at that. Heck, people shot in the arms and legs with 5.56 within 200yds look horrible. I've seen it several times, and I only saw massive tissue damage, even on deflected rounds off body armor and rocks (fratricide incidents). It canoes people's heads open viciously, blows muscle tissue apart, fractures bones without even hitting them...basically all the hype isn't hype within 200yds.
It does get blown around by the wind-even the 77gr with a wimpy .362 BC sucks for energy and wind at distance. That's where 7.62 NATO comes in handy. It retains energy and cuts through the wind better. It is not ideal for kicking in doors or most of your close quarters engagement distances, unless everyone is wearing electronic muff ear pro and preferably using cans. 7.62 discharged indoors or even in blown-out buildings will rock your world, even when you're behind the guys who are blasting.
What I've heard about M855A1 is that is buckles guys in half, even from 10.5" Mk.18 CQBR M4A1's. I never used it as it came after I got out, but the sources who have related its performance to me are reliable.
In the end, I would opt for a deployable unit that had undergone a focused marksmanship training package that included shooting in wind conditions at distance more than an equipment solution. It wouldn't matter what caliber they had either, even though some are better than others. If your riflemen have no experience shooting in wind or at distance with formal instruction, they will just be missing anyway.