Prior to SCAR, SOCOM asked for a 7.62x39 carbine. They called it the SPRV

Just as the War On Terror was getting underway, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) created the Special Purpose Rifle—Variant (SPR-V) program to fill the need for a modular assault rifle capable of shooting 5.56 in addition to
7.62x39mm.With barrel and bolt switched, it was to fire 7.62x39mm from indigenous AK-47 magazines. It needed to retain the characteristics of the M4 and remain compatible with the Special Operations Peculiar Modification (SOPMOD) accessories. LMT had an MRP based AR15 style weapon, Robinson Armament produced the RAV02 and Knight’s Armament Corp produced the SR-47 in response to the USASOC SPR-V solicitation. Ultimately, the SPR-V program was rolled into the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Special Forces Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR) project, and fell victim to politics and the project was canecelled

KAC, LMT and Robinson entered the trials. LMT flunked out early and KAC's SR47 proved to be unreliable. Robinson won and 400+ carbines went to SOCOM.

The RAV02 was the foundation for Robinson's SCAR spec XCR. The RAV-02 and is only sold to .MIL/LEO

Here it is.




And here is a statement from the man himself about the RAV02 and the XCR

And some video of the RAV02 in action (notice the XCR style folding stock)

www.robarm.com/SPR-V%20BJ.wmv

www.robarm.com/SPR-V%20FA%20AR.wmv

In 2000, some soldiers from the U.S. Army's special forces purchased some of my M96s rifles. They we so impressed, that they asked me to participate in a rifle program to outfit some rifles to accept the 7.62x39mm round. Our firm and Knight's Armament were awarded contracts to develop such a rifle. We had 60 days to develop, test and deliver samples. We both amazingly did it but our rifle (which we called the RAV02 in public) won the contest. The rifles were operationally tested by 12 or more specially picked soldiers. They all chose our weapon but politics cancelled the program. After the above mentioned project, we continued to work with our special forces connections to come up with the design of the ulitmate rifle for special forces. The SCAR program grew out of these efforts. Not many firms have built rifles other than those based on the M16. There's truly very little innovation in the industry. Though we are small, we have more experience with different rifle actions than any firm except perhaps FN and H&K. During the M96 development, we learned that the Stoner multi-lug system has many drawbacks, including but not limited to bolts which are not durable, poor extraction, poor ejection, etc. H&K with its multi-lug stoner type design (now copied by FN in the SCAR) has better extraction and ejection than the AR15s but not by much and still does not have the robustness of the XCR bolt system. The XCR bolt system is based loosely on the Kalashnikov system. It is actually an improvement of the Kalashnikov system in that it has three locking lugs instead of two and has and even better extractor system. Even though we have patents pending on this system, we have not shown this system to anyone yet. This is purely for competetive reasons. Pictures of it will not be shown until we begin shipping rifles. For most of us, rifles are toys. This rifle however, was not built to be a toy. It was designed for the requirements of the special forces. It was designed to last three or four times as long as an M4. It is caliber changeable, more ergonomic, and much more reliable. It's not magic; it's just superior design after lots of deliberation. Sincerely, Alex J. Robinson Manager

That's some good info, thanks!  The only gripe I have with the XCR (which didn't stop me from buying one ) is that it won't take standard AK mags when (or if) the 7.62X39 bbl and bolt are available.  I don't know of any decent AR compatible mags for that caliber that have ever been available.  At least 6.8 is pretty easy to use in slightly modded AR mags.  

Quoted: That's some good info, thanks!  The only gripe I have with the XCR (which didn't stop me from buying one ) is that it won't take standard AK mags when (or if) the 7.62X39 bbl and bolt are available.  I don't know of any decent AR compatible mags for that caliber that have ever been available.  At least 6.8 is pretty easy to use in slightly modded AR mags.

Robinson gives a pretty solid reason for not using AK47 mags. There is a plus and minus to both sides of the arguement

Many have asked why we are not going to use the AK-47 magazine for the 7.62x39mm caliber conversion.  The reasons are as follows: 1)  AK-47 magazines can be inserted wrong under pressure and cause problems. 2)  The AK-47 magazines have no bolt hold open feature.  This makes magazine changes slow.  No serious operator would use a rifle with no bolt hold open feature if he could have one with a bolt hold open feature. 3)  The magazine release for the AK-47 magazines is different. Under stress one may forget where the magazine release. 4) Training and practicing with the XCR is the same no matter which caliber one is using.   In other words, one inserts and releases the magazine the same way regardless of caliber.  THIS IS BIG. The next question that comes up is:  What magazine are you going to use for 7.62x39mm.  The answer is that we have our own design and will use it if we cannot cajole someone else to make them for us in the next month.

Quoted: Quoted: That's some good info, thanks!  The only gripe I have with the XCR (which didn't stop me from buying one ) is that it won't take standard AK mags when (or if) the 7.62X39 bbl and bolt are available.  I don't know of any decent AR compatible mags for that caliber that have ever been available.  At least 6.8 is pretty easy to use in slightly modded AR mags.   Robinson gives a pretty solid reason for not using AK47 mags. There is a plus and minus to both sides of the arguement Many have asked why we are not going to use the AK-47 magazine for the 7.62x39mm caliber conversion.  The reasons are as follows: 1)  AK-47 magazines can be inserted wrong under pressure and cause problems. 2)  The AK-47 magazines have no bolt hold open feature.  This makes magazine changes slow.  No serious operator would use a rifle with no bolt hold open feature if he could have one with a bolt hold open feature. 3)  The magazine release for the AK-47 magazines is different. Under stress one may forget where the magazine release. 4) Training and practicing with the XCR is the same no matter which caliber one is using.   In other words, one inserts and releases the magazine the same way regardless of caliber.  THIS IS BIG. The next question that comes up is:  What magazine are you going to use for 7.62x39mm.  The answer is that we have our own design and will use it if we cannot cajole someone else to make them for us in the next month.

I read the "excuse list" before, still don't buy it all though.  Yes, the mag release is different and a lack of BHO sucks, but those aren't show stoppers by any means.  This part "have our own design and will use it if we cannot cajole someone else to make them for us in the next month." reads ominously to me like "we will never get around to making mags for that caliber", whatever old crappy frankenmags you can scrounge up will have to do.    The bottom line is that people here who might use something like the XCR would like the 7.62X39 because you can pick up countless AK mags anywhere in the world, and if you could slap them in and go it would be nice.  The reality is the two most common mags on battlefields anywhere on the planet will continue to be AK and AR mags, when you introduce a strange proprietary mag to the mix it tends to drive people away.  I wouldn't own an AUG or Sig551/2 for instance, due to lack of availability of mags.  MGI seems to think a lower that takes standard AK mags is a good idea.    

I wouldn't own an AUG or Sig551/2 for instance, due to lack of availability of mags

Oh I can handle the SIG551 mag issue just fine thanks. Too bad SIG is clueless

That looks like a M96 reciever. So why was a AK-47 conversion kit not released for it, since the developement work has already been done.

Do you have any wait figures for this?

Better tell all those serious operators to ditch their HK91s and MP5s since they dont have a bolt hold open device and have a paddle mag release lol.  

I think most of them are. Maybe not for those reasons though.

Anyways, I know a guy who's shot one of these, he said the manageable recoil on full auto was because the gun is so freaking heavy.