Got a SCAR 17

[Alaskapopo]

After a weeks delay in shipping I got the SCAR in Yeasterday right after I got done working out and just before I had to got to work. So once I got home I stayed up late installing the trigger and the extended rail and the optics. Can barely wait to shoot it.

The only thing I did not like was how the gun feels cheap. I know plastics are the modern way to make a firearm. But it just feels different from what I am used to. Still excited to have it though.

I also have Trijicon TR-24 in a Larue mount for it but one of the screw heads on the mount was stripped so I am going to have to get a friend of mine help me remove it so I can remove the scope and flip the mount around and mount it on the SCAR. This optic set up is for patrol and the TR024 will be for when I use the SCAR in three gun in TAC Heavy optics class. The irons will be for TAC Heavy Irons class.

Pat

[gng4life]

Nice, let us know how it works out and how it compares to your other ARs.

Edited March 16, 2012 by gng4life

[Alaskapopo]

Will do. I got it as a jack of all trades rifle. It will be a patrol rifle at work and a semi precision rifle as well as a three gun rifle in the divisions I discussed earlier. Of course in three gun I am not going to run the optics in the picture as open is no fun with a .308.

Pat

[Alaskapopo]

Shot my SCAR today. Was a great day no wind about 30 degrees out. The SCAR functioned nearly flawlessly. I did have it fail to lock back once. But no failures to feed or eject. Accuracy was about what I expected but not as good as I had hoped. I wanted 1 to 1.5 MOA but was ready to settle for 2 moa due to it having a light chrome lined barrel. I sighted the gun in with its irons at 50 yards, the side mounted red dot at 50 yards, The Trijicon TR 24 at 50 yards and the Nightforce 2.5-10x32 Low Velocity Reticle at 100 yards on the 100 yard mark. I used 2 factory loads that I am going to use for duty. The 155 grain Hornady TAP AMAX load for general duty to limit penetration. The other load I am going to carry is Hornady’s 165 grain TAP Barrier load. Which I will use for animal calls and for situations where you need more penetration like shooting in and around vehicles. I also fired 3 different handloads I had on hand from my bolt gun testing.

Here are the targets.

After all the bench work I shot a department qualification so I can carry this at work. Since I am the firearms instructor I can qualify myself. (Honor system)

I dropped 3 points. I jerked one shot after reloading on the reload stage. The other two were pulled low on the walking and shooting stage. Overall about the same as my typical performance with a 5.56 AR.

This was an easy .308 rifle to shoot but it was still a bit harder than my 5.56 patrol rifle due to the increased recoil. I need to find a good magazine coupler for this rifle. The reload was slow. The Geisselle trigger was absolutely fantastic like all my Geisselle AR triggers. It was easy to make good shots. I can only blame the 3 pulled shots on myself not the trigger or the gun.

I am happy the gun is light for what it is and handles well. Its reliable, and its accurate enough for what I need it to do. I also like the fact that my ball reload was shooting nearly as well as my reloads with match bullets. I do want to work with this gun to get my accuracy down to 1.5 moa. I think I can do it just need to find a load it likes. I plan on taking the SCAR to a local three gun match this coming Sunday. I will post the videos afterwards. I am happy with this gun. I just wish some different barrels would come out soon. (Praying for a 18 or 20 inch stainless medium contour barrel for three gun)

Below is one of my handloads compared to my log entry for my 20 inch Remington 700 Tactical.

Remington 700

Load 168 grain Amax Federal cases trimmed to 2.05, Federal Primers, N140 42.3 grains.

Accuracy average .88

Chrono

Avg 2441

Spread 35

SD 16

Weather conditions 30 degrees no wind.

SCAR 17

Load 168 grain Amax Federal cases trimmed to 2.05, Federal Primers, N140 42.3 grains.

Chrono

AVG 2263

Spread 51

SD 26

Avg group size from 4 5 shot groups 2.20 MOA

My Rifle LOG on the SCAR to date.

SCAR 17 Log

3-18-12

Round count used gun claimed 400. Added 160 Total 560 rounds.

Factory load 155 grain AMAX TAP

Chrono Data

Avg 2706

Spread 15

SD 8

Average accuracy of 5 5 shot groups 1.84 inches

Factory load 165 grain TAP barrier load

Chrono

Avg 2552

Spread 21

SD 11

Average group size for 2 5 shot groups 1.84 inches

Hand load 168 grain AMAX 42 grains of N140 Federal cases and primers

Chrono

AVG 2263

Spread 51

SD 26

Avg group size from 4 5 shot groups 2.20 MOA

Handload 43.6 grains of H335 147 grain Winchester FMJ CCI Primers Federal cases Lee crimp die used.

Chrono

AVG 2577

Spread 12

SD 7

AVG group size 2 5 shot groups 2.22 moa

[Alaskapopo]

Guys I need a magazine pouch for this rifle or a few magazine pouches. Where can I find one. Can't seem to see them offered at Blade Tech where I usually get this type of thing.

Pat

[J-Rob]

Does it have to be Kydex? If so, Id try Raven Concealment. If not and you need one now I'd recommend an HSGI TACO.

[Outsydlooknin75]

I'd send an email to B.A. Custom Kydex. They make 2 different styles of mag holders and can do them with either a Tek Lok for on standard belts or molle locks for on a war belt. Their lead time is under 2 weeks right now as far as I know.

b.a.customkydex@gmail.com

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

[Bear1142]

Pat,

Safariland has ELS mag pouches for the SCAR. Just order the ones for the M1A. They fit the 17 also.

Would you mind sending me your Patrol Rifle Qual course. We are looking at adopting a new course and I'd like to try out your course.

Thanks,

Erik

[Alaskapopo]

Pat,

Safariland has ELS mag pouches for the SCAR. Just order the ones for the M1A. They fit the 17 also.

Would you mind sending me your Patrol Rifle Qual course. We are looking at adopting a new course and I'd like to try out your course.

Thanks,

Erik

Materials needed.

30 rounds of ammunition, 2 magazines, and 1 modified USPSA target made for Anchorage Police Department or corrections. (You can substitute a standard USPSA target)

Course of fire.

Stage 1. Range 100 yards. Shots fired 3. Par time 8 seconds.

Start position 100 yards from the target. The shooter may start prone or leaning across a bench to simulate using cover in the field. Safety is on and the shooter is pointed in at the target with the finger off the trigger. At the buzzer the shooter fires 3 shots to center mass of the target .

Stage 2. Range 50 yards, Shots fired 3 Par time 8 seconds.

Start position is standing 50 yards for the target with the rifle in low ready safety on finger off the trigger. At the buzzer the shooter has 8 seconds to fire 3 rounds center mass of the target.

Contiuned on next post

Edited March 19, 2012 by Alaskapopo

[Alaskapopo]

Stage 3. Range 25 yards. Shots fired 6. Par time 15 seconds. (made long for officers who chose AK or M1A weapons) Mandatory reload stage.

Start position is standing 25 yards from the target. The range master or another shooter loads the shooters magazine with between 0 and 4 rounds and inserts it into the shooters rifle so the shooter cannot see how many rounds he is getting. Start position is low ready with safety on and finger off the trigger. At the buzzer the shooter shoots 6 rounds to center mass of the target in 15 seconds. At some point the shooter will run out of ammunition and will have to perform an emergency reload and then continue to fire.

Continued on next post

[Alaskapopo]

Stage 4. Range 15 yards. Shots fired 6 Par time 15 seconds.

Start position is standing 15 yards from the target with the rifle slung. (safety on of course) At the buzzer the shooter fires 3 rounds standing and 3 rounds kneeling to center mass in 15 seconds.

Stage 5. Range 10 yards to 5 yards while moving. Shots fired 6 Par time 5 seconds.

Start position is standing 10 yards from the target in low ready with the safety on finger off the trigger. At the buzzer advance to the target shooting 6 rounds in 5 seconds while moving before you reach the 5 yard line. All shots must be made while moving.

Continued on next post

[Alaskapopo]

Stage 6. Range 5 yards. Shots fired 6 (3 per string) par time 2 seconds.

Start position is standing at 5 yards with the rifle in low ready with the finger off the trigger. At the buzzer the shooter fires 2 rounds to center mass and one shot to the head in 2 seconds. You repeat this stage once. (Mark the head shots when done or make of mental note of where they hit as its important for scoring)

SCORING

This is a fixed time course of fire. Over times or shots fired after the buzzer count as -5 points per shot. Extra shots are -5.

A zone hits are worth 5 points.

B zone hits are worth 4 points except on stage 6 where they are worth 1 point. (Head shots)

C zone shots are worth 4 points (except for head shots on stage 6 where they are worth 0, the logic being if you hit below the neck you hit armor)

D zone hits are worth 1 point (except for head shots on stage 6 where they are worth 0, the logic being if you hit below the neck you hit armor)

Passing is 80% which means the shooter needs 120 points out of the possible 150.

[Alaskapopo]

Did some more shooting. I had a grab bag of ammo left over from testing some reloads in my Remington 700, so I decided to shoot the stuff up in my SCAR to see if it liked any of them. I found I need to reload some more 178 grain AMAX bullets because they showed a lot of potential. Wish I had enough ammo with me today to test them proper. (at least 5 5 shot groups is my standard) Found out my SCAR does not like 155 grain Sierra Parma match, but then again neither did my bolt gun. I really like this gun. I am going to load up a 100 178 grain AMAX bullets tonight for shooting tomorrow. I also got a new pistol grip in for my rifle after I took these pics so I will take some more. I got an ergo grip as I hate the standard GI grip.

[Alaskapopo]

Most of the information is in the pictures. I fired both my Remington 700 and my SCAR 17 today with a variety of loads. Here is the summary.

SCAR 17 Remington 700

178 grain AMAX load 1.66 2121 fps 1.21 2226 fps +105 Rem -.45 moa

168 grain AMAX load 1.73 2318 fps .88 2451 fps +133 Rem -.85 moa

147 grain FMJ 2.51 2620 fps 1.89 2703 fps +83 Rem -.62 moa

155 grain Hornady TAP 1.84 2706 fps 1.10 2792 fps +86 Rem -.74 moa

Overall accuracy SCAR 1.94 Remington 1.27

Velocity gain for Remington 101 fps (20 inch bolt vs 16 inch auto)

The Remington has shot .55 moa in the past with 169 grain Sierra’s and I need to get some more of those bullets and try them in the SCAR as well. Overall I like both guns a lot. The Reminton showed great potential with the 178 grain bullets by putting 4 shots into nearly 1 hole then a flyer would open up the group. Before when I tested this load it averaged .90 in the Reminton (178 grain AMAX). The SCAR likes this bullet the best of anything so far.

Remington

[Alaskapopo]

[Alaskapopo]

SCAR 17

[Alaskapopo]

[Alaskapopo]

Some videos from a three gun match.

It keeps getting better. I tried a new load today. I also found something by accident. I was testing a tall 25 round mag that would not work well with my bag so I ended up turning the bag sideways to make it taller and resting the gun by the front of the mag well only. It was a bit wobbly but I shot better groups. My best average yet 1.32. In fairness it could also have been the ammo that was loaded with once fired Hornady brass as opposed to this same load in older brass before. Either way I am happy. Next time I go shooting I am going to use the big pod from the rail section close to the mag well. My theory is my extended rail my be influencing the barrel. (not free floated)

SCAR 17 groups.

Thanks for the link on the mag pouches they came in just in time for the match. Our local match director runs only two divisions Open and limited (which is really tac optics with limited mixed) he made the rules so .308's only need one hit on paper. So shooting the SCAR was a blast and it gave me an edge. I got 3rd in limited. Getting beat by a friend I let shoot my SCAR and another buddy who pretty much always beats me. This year in Texas I am shooting open. But next year I think I am going to give Tac Heavy Optics a try.

Pat

Edited March 27, 2012 by Alaskapopo