Theoretical: The SOCOM M4A1 post-adoption of the FN AC
 

As most of you here probably know, a modified version of the SCAR-L termed the AC, or Advanced Carbine, was entered into the Army's Individual Carbine competition.

http://www.guns.com/wp-content/uploa...2/fn_fnac1.png

And as we all know, SOCOM previously decided against ordering the SCAR-L since it doesn't do anything that a well maintained M4A1 won't. But I got to thinking, if the FN AC were actually adopted as the new standard US Army carbine, what would this mean for the M4s in SOCOM's inventory? Would they maintain it as their standard 5.56mm carbine (while the M4 becomes a second-tier weapon in the regular forces) or would there be a backtrack in SCAR-L acquisition by SOCOM? I can't see them accepting the FN AC since the charging handle was modified to be non-reciprocating, removal of a key feature that SOCOM specifically wanted. Or would they? Or would they take the opportunity to standardize the HK416 as organization-wide issue?

I realize SOCOM and FN are working on a 5.56mm caliber conversion for the SCAR-H, but let's say for the purpose of this discussion that it hits a dead end/gets canned/we go to war with Belgium over who makes a better waffle and FN decides to no longer supply us with guns/whatever, what happens?

Just for the record, I'm not expecting anything except maybe a piston-driven M4 out of the IC competition.

FN's not going to win the IC competition. The DoD's taking too many Colt backhanders for that. *hides the tinfoil hat*

I doubt the AC produces anything simply because the cost invovled in procuring a new weapon, regardless of being 5.56mm and taking STANAG mags, will far outweigh any supposed benefits of a new weapon system.

Sequestration and all that, you see.

Although from the looks of things FN's got it made anyway since the DoD's paying them $84 million for new M4A1s.

Yeah, Colt lost the M-16 contract awhile back and then lost the sole contract for the M-4A1.

In a way though, this makes me happy, since ever since then Colt has been concentrating a lot more on the civillian market.

Odds are, the Army is not going to adopt a new rifle because of the costs it would take it swap out the entire Army's inventory of M4s

And while they're are certainly improvements that could be made to the M-4, they're aren't big enough to justify an entirely new weapon system.

Maybe so, maybe not, we'll have to wait and see. That's not the point, though. If the AC were to win the IC competition, I can't help but wonder what the ramifications on SOCOM acquisition of 5.56mm carbines will be. If it were to come to pass, SOCOM's "standard" 5.56mm carbine would effectively be looked at as a second-tier weapon. Hell, some people already consider the M4 a second tier weapon and many don't even consider it a combat-worthy weapon at all.

It always make me chuckle when internet commandoes rail about how ineffective the M-4A1 is.

If it was really that bad, would SOCOM and other assorted world wild Spec Ops guys really use it?

I mean these are the people that actually get the money to get the very best thing, they aren't going to carry anything that isn't the best.

Oh, and I'm not implying that you are an internet commando, Spartan.

^Don't worry, I know weren't. I am just a civvie, though, so I'm going to leave such analysis up to the guys who use the weapon. But the fact that armed forces all over the world are running, and in some cases have been for years on end, DI guns like the M4 without mass failure, should speak for itself IMO. I don't need to have carried the weapon into combat to know that much.