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Posted: 4/15/2015 10:39:06 PM EDT
I recently acquired a brand new SCAR 17 (yesterday).

I discovered that the front sight dovetail seems to be a sloppy fit - the front sight base can wiggle around in the dovetail on the gas block.  The windage screw is the only thing holding it in there.

This seems wrong, so I called FN today.  They told me that it's a feature and that it protects/helps the front sight somehow during recoil.
After a lot of bitching, I got the guy to agree to look at a video and give me his thoughts without just sending the rifle back.
(This was a different video I took yesterday, cell phone and all, so it was poor quality.  I can't guarantee that they understood the issue I was trying to address, but they stood by "it's a feature" FWIW.)

This doesn't make sense to me and is contrary to everything I've ever seen, used, or handled with a dovetail.
Not to disparage the FN/Browning customer service guys, or accuse them of being disingenuous, but I've gotten that from CS crews before, so I want to bounce it off you guys.

Does this make sense to you, and do your SCAR rifles do this?



I got better lighting and a real (yet old and low quality) camera for this one.  I lost some video quality during the upload and haven't been able to sort that out, but I think it shows the dovetail looseness well enough.


Link Posted: 4/15/2015 11:02:00 PM EDT
[#1]
Mine moves around about as much.

I've never noticed before and it doesn't seem to affect groups at 200 yards as I get about the same size groups with the irons as I do with an Aimpoint.

AJ
Link Posted: 4/16/2015 7:00:50 AM EDT
[#2]
The 16 and 17 I had were both like that. It didn't effect zero or cause a POI change so I didn't care.

You don't have anything to worry about.

I do understand though... I like my AR receivers to fit tight even though it probably has no effect on function or accuracy.
Link Posted: 4/16/2015 7:26:36 AM EDT
[#3]
Thanks guys, it's good to hear that my rifle isn't loose or wrong compared to everyone else's.

My only point of comparison so far has been my Swiss Sig rifle, where the front sight is solid in its dovetail (coincidentally, like every pistol ever made).

ETA: I could see this affecting accuracy, vs how AR receivers wouldn't; if the sight wobbles from one spot to another it'll change the POI based on how far it moved.
Front to back movement probably doesn't change things much, since the sight would stay in roughly the same place from the view of the rear sight, but a side to side wobble would show up in POI shift.
I'll play with it a bit when I get it to the range to see if it settles in one spot or another, of it moves between shots.
Link Posted: 4/16/2015 12:02:35 PM EDT
[#4]
I'd be interested to see if you have a measureable change.

I was confident enough with the factory irons that I could hit a silhouette out to 3-400yards without checking them. I don't think you'd do well in a service rifle match with them though.

I would check them on a regular basis on an SR5 target at 200 yards with 145g PPU. My shots were always pretty well centered in the black which is 12 inches or so.
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