Every time the Robinson Armament XCR reenters the chat sphere, this time with Mike Jones, I have to think about what could have been had this little company been able to compete with what the Belgians can produce. That isn’t a comment on the rifle design, it is a comment on sheer production capacity and the random things that can get you disqualified from a government contract. The Blank Firing Adapter did the XCR in from the SCAR competition back in the early 00’s.
But that is what it is and the FN SCAR has been a sturdy rifle of excellent repute if high price tag. But RA didn’t go away, not in the least. They kept refining the XCR on their own and improving the design piece by piece. Keymod craze, they built them. M-LOK supremacy? They adapted and the XCR had never felt sturdier.
The XCR is a brilliance in motion type system. Taking some of the best aspects of the FAL, AK, and AR-15 and combining them into a modular rifle system. The barrel, gas regulation, and bolt carrier designs all feature a robust simplicity and make maintaining and modifying the rifle a breeze with any simply workbench. Far more maintenance friendly than the AR or AK when it comes time to replace parts and just as easy to do the simple maintenance upon.
In short, it was a brilliantly cool rifle built here in the US that got DQ’d for not having a BFA and should have been allowed to compete for the SCAR title. FN may have still carried it but it should’ve been able to play the game. It’s a solid little carbine.
