The Black Rifle

Welcome back!

Its been a while since I last got on here, but laziness mixed with vacation time is a potent formula for not getting on and writing, much to my loyal fans disappointment (all 2 of them).

Today we will be looking at The Armalite patent 15, better known as the AR-15. This is an infamous rifle, easily one of the most recognizable in the world. It's military version, the M-16, has been in service with the armed forces for almost 50 years, longer than any other primary service rifle. It has earned its place as America's battle rifle, if by nothing else than by that fact alone.

First a little history. The rifle was first designed by the Armalite company in the late '50s as the AR-10, chambered in the 7.62. It was made form the start as a military weapon, for thier trials to replace the M1 design. The government wanted a smaller caliber to help manage recoil in full auto and a few other features added, so Armalite came up with the AR-15 chambered in the Remington .223/5.56. Eventually the rifle was adopted, and saw service as the Armalite AR-15, XM16-E1 rifle. The X designator on a weapon denotes it as an "experimental" model in the military. It was fielded with units in Vietnam, where it first earned its reputation as "The Black Rifle". Enemy units saw the American troops with thier space age plastic rifles, and thought that they looked positively evil. Any soldier can tell you, if the enemy is scared of you and doesn't want to fight you, all the better. These big Americans with thier evil looking Black Rifles were the stuff of nightmares.

During these initial fieldings, the rifle was touted as "Self Cleaning".

Now that any of you who has even a little bit of knowledge about the AR rifles are finished laughing, we can move on.

For the rest of you, this is what is called an outright lie. An AR's operation requires that it use the gases from an expended round to drive back the bolt carrier. Not a new idea, but the AR bolt carrier itself is the piston in the acuation, it doesn't have a seperate piston as many other rifles do. This cuts down the weight of the rifle, but it fouls its own chamber and action with carbon and debris from every shot. So the more rounds fired, the less likely the rifle is to work. They found this out the hard way when the GI's wouldn't clean the "self cleaning rifle" and it jammed on them. A lot. The rifle was reissued with chrome plated bolts and chambers. This cut down on the friction and made the rifle easier to clean. GI's were also issed cleaning kits, and given the proper training on how to clean the rifle. With regular maintenance the rifle was moderately reliable.

The 5.56 also came under fire as being a "pop-gun" round. While substantially less powerful than the 7.62, the 5.56 turned out to be a great round against soft targets. When it enters, instead of punching straight through the way a 7.62 will, the front end of the bullet will slow down while the rear of the slug will continue at the same speed. This makes the round begin to spin head over heels while still in the target. The result: massive amounts of damage as the bullet cuts a swath through the target while following an erratic path. It was nicknamed by GIs as "The Meat Axe".

Since then the AR-15 has filled every role there is in modern combat, short range, long range, tactical, and more. There are apporxamately 600 million different versions of the rifle, variations according to need and preference. It is easily the most adaptable and prolific rifle in the world today.

Everybody under the sun makes a version of the AR. Most of the military rifles are made by Colt, follwed by FN. Lately many major companies have taken to making piston operated ARs, where the piston actuation is above the barrel, keeping the gasses out of the main chamber, thus making the rifle cleaner, cooler, and much more reliable. There are also many retrofit kits available to make a standard AR piston operated, but some have been known to damage the buffer tube by tilting the bolt carrier back with excessive force during operation.

I have had a great deal of expeirience with the M4 variant of The Black Rifle. As an Infantryman and as a civilian I have worked with both. To be honest, while it is very adaptable, and very scary looking, I never thought it was cut out for military use. Civilian and law enforcment would probably be fine, as they are cleaner, not as harsh conditions as the field, but I have had my M4 jam on me one too many times (once is too many times) when I needed it the most. Now, I know some NCO out there will say "If you had been doing proper weapons maintenance, then it wouldn't have jammed!" Not true. The thing will jam after you crawl through the dirt (A basic skill as an Infantryman). And every time you fire it, the likelihood of it jamming increase. Not to mention all of the dust that just kind of hangs out in the air and gets everywhere when in the desert. The rifle is not airtight. That's why I stuck with my M-14 whenever possible. I also often carried a confiscated AK with two mags in my assault pouch, for not if, but when my M4 would jam. I like to equate it to defecating where you eat. Not really a good idea.

It's also kind of a pain in the butt to clean. Lots of little pins and parts that have to come out, because the gasses get everywhere during operation.

That said, the rifle is accurate, easy to handle, and can do almost any job for a small arm out there. The ideal place for it would be police, SWAT teams, and civilians where the conditions are not as harsh and a rifle's ruggedness is not really an issue. Because when clean the AR is a wonderful rifle, light, low recoil, accurate and reliable. There is a reason it is so popular amongst police and civilians.

All in all, the main problem is that the rifle is dated. As it exists now, it needs to be retired from military use. At a service record as long and varied as it has, it has earned it's place on the walls as America's Battle Rifle, but there is better stuff out there. It has already been partially replaced in some units. The 75th Rangers now carry the MK17 (see my posting on the SOF Combat Assault Rifle), and some Deltas use the piston operated HK416, a piston operated AR made by HK (Because you suck, and we hate you). Even if replaced fully, the AR will never fully go away. The parts and rifles are much to prolific in today's market. So much so, that the price of a civilian AR has dropped dramatically in the last 10 years. It has earned its place in America's history. As long as there are shooters, there will always be The Black Rifle.

Special forces Combat Assault Rifle: SCAR 16S

The author firing with the buttstock folded

The author firing in the standard configuration

The author's SCAR and Jeep Rubicon

From another angle

The author with his SCAR 16S at the range

Welcome all to the first installment of It Goes "Bang!" I will be writing in with updates hopefully every week or so with news, reviews, praises, gripes, tips or anything having to do with the world of shooting and firearms.

For our first foray today I figured I'd start out with a good old-fashioned review. And what better to start something like this than with a beauty like Fabrique National's Special Forces Combat Assault Rifle, or better known by its acronym, the SCAR.

Fabrique National is originally a Belgian company. It's US branch is one of the major manufacturers for weapons for the US military, making most of the machine guns our troops use. The SCAR was developed completly from scratch for US Special Forces operators, and is currently in service with some of our elite units right now. It comes in two versions; The SCAR-L (light) MK16 chambered in the NATO 5.56 and the SCAR-H (Heavy) MK17 chambered in the 7.62 NATO.

FN recently started making civilian versions of the SCAR, the 16S and the 17S, corresponding to thier military versions, the MK16 and MK17 respectively. The only difference between the military and civilian rifles is the civil models lack the full-auto capability of the military versions. Aside from this, the rifles are identical to thier military counterparts.

I was lucky enough this week to be contacted by one of my distributors, telling me that he had a SCAR 16S for sale. For many people, there is a waiting list three miles long for a SCAR rifle. The rifle only went on the market at the end of 2008, and the last I heard if you wanted one, you had better be prepared to wait a year or two for it. I had added the SCAR to my wish list with my distributor earlier this year, thinking it was a pipe dream at best. So when I received this call, I jupmed on the opportunity to own one of these coveted rifles quicker than a Trekkie at the chance for a Leonard Nimoy autograph. I ordered it and two days later, I received a plain brown box labelled "SCAR GUN BOX" on the outside. Like Ralphie in A Christmas Story, I opened the box, eagerly anticipating wrapping my hands on that dealy peice of cold blue steel. I got it out of the box and the first thing I notice is how light the gun is. Fully loaded the SCAR 16S weighs 7.5 pounds, a full two pounds lighter than its M4 counterpart that I spent so much time carrying during my time in the Infantry.

On top of its light weight, the SCAR has many user friendly features, most of which are listed on the SCAR's website in its product video here at: http://www.fnhusa.com/le/products/firearms/model.asp?fid=FNF054&gid=FNG006&mid=FNM0152#

It has so many, in fact, that I'm not going to actually list all of them, this blog is long enough anyway. First is the folding buttstock, something not possible on the M4 rifles. This folds the collapsable buttstock to the right side of the weapon, but still keeping it clear of the brass defelctor, so the weapon can be fired in this configuration. It has full rails for accesories and optics. It also comes with flip up front and rear sights, both of which have windage and elevation adjustment. That was nice for someone like me who is such a strong left side shooter, I've cranked my peepsights on other rifles so far left that they won't move anymore and I have to use that ol' "Kentucky Windage" to hit what I was aiming at. The sights are not an after thought like the Masada or the various piston AR's out there, they are integral to the weapon. The charging handle can be moved to either side of the weapon, facilitating left or right handed shooters. In fact, the whole weapon is made for ambidexterity, with safety controls and sling hardpoints on both sides of the weapon. This was nice for a southpaw like myself.

When I got my SCAR out to the range, I set up my military standard 25 meter zeroing targets, and got fixed in. The first three rounds came out like a dream. I have shot a lot of 5.56 in my time with the military and afterwards, and the 5.56 is not a round that is not known for its tremendous kick. The M4 does have a recoil, but it is easily manegable. The SCAR eliminates even the little kick the regular 5.56 rifle has. If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn that I was shooting a 9mm luger carbine or a light .22 rimfire rifle. Every round, aimed with my EOTech or the iron sights, stacked one on top of another in dime sized groupings. I got it zeroed to 25 meters, but I found that the rifle is accurate to a fault. What was just a minor deviation to the right at 25 meters was exacerbated to a 5 inch deviation at 100 meters. The groupings were always consistent, but additional adjusment was necessary. I worked my zero out to 300 meters, then started to have some fun. I went through tactical drills, reloads, and basically just having fun for the rest of the day. The rifle is good for at least out to 300 meters. That was the farthest the range I was at went out to. and shot consistantly at any distance. I even folded the buttstock in and was able to consitently hit a 12x6 inch metal plate that was positioned at the 50 meter distance. The rifle hit the mark every time.

I only noticed two faults with the rifle. First the more important; my polymer Magpul PMAGS do not work so well in the SCAR. When loaded and inserted to the rifle with bolt open, if you try to close it by pulling back on the bolt and releasing, the bolt will not go forward, you have to press the bolt release lever on the side. They also tend not to lock the bolt back when emptied. I had no problems with the standard metal mags I used. The second fault was my one point sling tends to pop the buttstock out of place when its folded in the side position due to the placement of the left handed sling hardpoint. All in all, minor concerns, at best.

In short, the SCAR is the finest assault rifle I've ever fired. It is easy and intuitive to use and sublimely accurate. It has little to no recoil and can be shot accurately without having it in your shoulder. I fully approve and recommend this rifle to anybody, assuming you can get your hands on one. Find your local gun nut and make nicey nicey, its well worth the invite to the range.

I'm going to sign off now, but I'll be back with more posts, updates, news, and reviews. Safe shooting everyone!