[em2vn]

What is the 7.62 X ? I missed the length of the cartridge. My apologizies if this is a repeat.

[Perdogg]

7.62mm X 51mm (NATO).

[Chode]

i want one...

[stumpjumper]

7.62 X 51. Also called a .308

Everything old is new again. General Patton called the M1 Garand the best rifle ever developed. It used a .30-06 round. .30 caliber rounds seem to work well in all applications: AK, M1 Garand, M14, and now the SCAR M-17.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

The info was in the article:

It can also fire the standard 5.56mm bullets now used in the M-4 – the mainstay of special operators – or the larger, 7.62mm bullet, which is more effective at longer distances.

Lets hope that it doesn't require the maintenance that the M-4/M-16 required to stay functional. Not very practical in field conditions.

[A. Morgan]

http://defensetech.org/2007/07/12/meet-the-scar/

[101voodoo]

"New military rifle lighter, more powerful"

Confusing headline. Sounds like a description of a rifle shaped cigarette lighter. Perhaps a comma after "rifle" or even a period.

[LSUfan]

Thank goodness someone finally broke the 5.56mm mafia monopoly.

Let’s hope this opens the way for more military units to adopt the SCAR-H as well.

[LSUfan]

For an idea of how much more powerful a 7.62mm NATO round is over a 5.56mm round, just watch this video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOm3dfYYNeI

[Vaquero]

[tlb]

Interesting looking weapon but really must the wheel be re-invented? Wouldn’t a cut back M14 but with a new lighter stock served as well.

Not to mention years earlier in the field.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Here are some more specifications.

It appears that this weapon will also fire 7.62 x 39mm ammunition from the AK-47.

[TXnMA]

Might's well see what we're discussing"

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***dubbed the SCAR by its Belgian manufacturer FNH***

And the cvilian version will be dubbed the SCARY! by the US news media and Brady Bunch.

I WANT ONE!

[llevrok]

I just hope, for our troop's sake, it has some basic features:

It's reliable
It's accurate
It has hitting power

And it was chosen for those reasons, not some pantywaist NATO political reasons

[Sudetenland]

First question, is there a civilian version and when will it be available? :)

[Spok]

When my son was at the MCRD, he wrote me that he missed his Mauser (chambered 7.62mm) and said the M4 felt like a tinker toy. The 5.56mm is proving less effective in the open country of Afghanistan than it did in the jungle in SE Asia. I carried an M14 and my dad had a BAR in the South Pacific; both full auto capable and superior to the M4-IMO.

[Iron Munro]

There was a time we manufactured all of our own weapons and supplied half the world to boot.

Now we buy battle rifles from Europe and our so-called President is blocking the re-importation of 850,000 Korea War era Garands and Carbines.

[Joe Brower]

[philman_36]

Initially, the rifles will be made in Belgium, says Bailey, until a domestic manufacturing plant can be brought on line to produce them. Components will be made at FNH's plant in Columbia, S.C., he says.

Well that's a relief!
I would hate to see us without such a plant if, like in WWII, Belgium was over run by a foreign nation.

[dagogo redux]

A .308 by FNH - didn’t we turn one of those down last time? The rest of the free world certainly didn’t. :)

I’ve got an M1A, a PRT-91 (HK G3), and an FAL - I’ll take the Belgians any day! (and a .308 over the .223 any day as well).