• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

FN Loses M-16 DOD Contract - Award Goes To Saber Defense Of Nashville, TN!

ChuckMK23

ChuckMK23

Standing by for the RIF !
pilot
So FN and Colt are out of the M-16 contract for now - Sabre Defense of good ol' Nashville, USA was awarded the M-16 A3/A4 contract last week...

These folks must have impressed somebody - previously they had been making AR's and M2 "Ma Deuce" spares kits.

http://www.sabredefence.com/index.php

Would guess that the Marine Corp would be most impacted - aren't they the only ones still issuing the outdated 20" "M-16 original rifle design ???
 
Z

Zissou

Banned
Colt still has the M4 contract. Turning out 700 or so rifles per week until FY2012. In comparison this contract is tiny. Colt is struggling as many know and has defaulted on several contracts.

FN is swamped with MK46 and MK48 commitments. Not too mention they are 27 months behind in delivery of the SCAR to SOCOM.

Barrett declined to bid as they are rolling out the REQ-7 in 5.56 soon.

Sabre is an excellent company known for high tolerance machine gun barrels, specifically the GAU.
 
ChuckMK23

ChuckMK23

Standing by for the RIF !
pilot
Zissou said:
Colt still has the M4 contract. Turning out 700 or so rifles per week until FY2012. In comparison this contract is tiny. Colt is struggling as many know and has defaulted on several contracts.

FN is swamped with MK46 and MK48 commitments. Not too mention they are 27 months behind in delivery of the SCAR to SOCOM.

Barrett declined to bid as they are rolling out the REQ-7 in 5.56 soon.

Sabre is an excellent company known for high tolerance machine gun barrels, specifically the GAU.
Click to expand...

Zissou - any opinion you'd like to share as to why the SCAR is so far behind?

also , what's the REQ-7? A new Barrett rifle?
 
Z

Zissou

Banned
I dont know what the reason for SCAR delays for sure but I'll bet the Army order for MK48's was as much a curse as it was a blessing. Instead of a couple hundred, they were hit with an order for about a thousand of them. Though they have parts commonality with the 5.56 MK46, the specs are MUCH tighter for the heavier chamber pressures. This has slowed production.

The SCAR was an exciting gun when unveiled.

Now almost 4 years later there have been some manufacture process improvements that brought about the MAGPULL MASADA. The HK416 and now the Barrett REQ-7.

The Barrett REQ-7 is the most impresive rifle I've seen in year. Here is a link:
http://www.barrettrifles.com/rifle_rec7.aspx

Right now its 6.8SPC but SOCOM hasnt come up with the cash for a Command wide caliber change, especially one that requires stand alone ordnance support for small deployed elements. (a SEAL Task Unit would have to ship several million rounds to support itself as opposed to simply borrowing from Big Army in theatre)

So now its coming out in 5.56.
 
ChuckMK23

ChuckMK23

Standing by for the RIF !
pilot
A short stroke piston 5.56 mm rifle from Barrett - nice!

With so much innovation in rifle technology, at what point does the SCAR become OBE? WHen does SOCOM say "f*ck it" and buy a mess of 416's or Magpul/Bushmaster Masada - no magazine or caliber change? 77 Grain MK-262 for all!

Seems like a no brainer to me! But I'm sure this is max political stuff too :)



So folks are gas guns truly dead? (even considering the M-4 contract?)
 
Z

Zissou

Banned
Yeah, I believe gas guns are going away.

The piston is just too damn reliable.

When will SOCOM say F%$ it? No shortage of rumors here. But you know that phenomenon where you are convinced everyone two pay grades above you is an idiot until you get there yourself and see the bigger picture? I think thats at play.

Its so obvious and simple a solution that there has to be more going on behind the scenes. I wish I knew.

The SCAR really is yesterdays technology right now. The Barrett and HK416 are leaps and bounds above it in nearly every measurable criteria.

Who knows whats going on?
 
squeeze

squeeze

Retired Harrier Dude
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Zissou said:
Colt still has the M4 contract. Turning out 700 or so rifles per week until FY2012. In comparison this contract is tiny. Colt is struggling as many know and has defaulted on several contracts.

FN is swamped with MK46 and MK48 commitments. Not too mention they are 27 months behind in delivery of the SCAR to SOCOM.

Barrett declined to bid as they are rolling out the REQ-7 in 5.56 soon.

Sabre is an excellent company known for high tolerance machine gun barrels, specifically the GAU.
Click to expand...

If Colt would stop completely disregarding the civilian market, maybe they'd do better. Otherwise, they can get bent.
 
Z

Zissou

Banned
Squeeze,

I feel you, Colt seems to be above the civilian market. But in truth, they are so far behind in Mil contract execution that they face fines for delivering products to anyone but DOD for now. Alot of people dont know this but any Colt firearm for civilian sale in the past couple years has been a mil spec reject.

KAC is in the same boat. Their rails seem to be made of unobtanium but in truth they cant manufacture for civilian sales until they catch up the DOD order. IIRC they are about 14 months behind.

HK is the real Anti-Civilian gun company.

Z



Flash,
I never noticed that, you must have read the whole specs to spot that.

Z
 
pourts

pourts

former Marine F/A-18 pilot & FAC, current MBA stud
pilot
So the CQC version of the SCAR heavy will be shooting the 7.62x51mm NATO round, just like the longer ones, right? Is that a little overkill maybe? It is interesting that on that powerpoint it really isn't replacing anything, unlike the other versions. I can't imagine that was a stipulation from the operators or written into the procurement request.

Why not just take an old m60 and saw off the barrel? Or maybe just carry around a minigun a la Jesse Ventura in Predator. Then you could really get some. :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top