For those of you who cut and pinned your Scar 17s barrel I have some questions.

Do you do any hunting at longer distances? Like say 500 yards or so. How did it perform on animals?

Any issues with the gas jets or did you have to mess with them to get it just right?

Does it really make that big of a difference in the handling and balance of the rifle?

Those running them suppressed, how do they sound with the shorter barrel?

Any loss in accuracy with the cut barrel?

I have my 17s all setup finally with my Sandman S. It seems a bit front heavy, but manageable. And yes bro, I do lift. I plan to run my Sandman S pretty much exclusively on this rifle. Form 1 is out of the question. Not going through that NFA bs again, and for only another inch or so OAL. I'm a bit apprehensive about the velocity lost, but I'm running an ACOG on mine so it's not a long range precision setup. I'm more so about messing with the gas jets to get it to run reliably because this is my be all do all setup.

I cut mine to 14" and pinned the brake, oal is 16.25".  I could have gone to exactly 16" but I might changer the brake later to something smaller.  There is no difference in performance, you only will only lose 30-60fps in velocity, accuracy is the same (assuming re-crowning is done right). I shot mine and its seems more accurate (I think the brake was over torqued from the factory).  I went to 20ft/lbs, the minimum; because it's getting pinned anyways. Changed the gas jet to a stainless steel 1.7mm.  What you will notice is how much lighter the gun feels towards the muzzle.  It was a big difference in weight and very noticeable to me.  Think about it 13" factory barrel+2" brake= 15"  That's only one inch difference.

A friend of mine is a operator, his FROG buddies are routinely making hits at 800 yards with the factory 13" barrel.  You'll be fine.