Boneheaded Move

Bushmaster has just released the specs for their ACR.

Dead Link Because Cerebus Bought Bushmaster

And pricing. Basic version MSRP is $2,685. Enhanced version MSRP is $3,061. Dealer pricing is about $500 less.

A little perspective on this might help. The prices above have no optics or accessories.

My 6.8 gun totaled $2,486, including a $736 Aimpoint optic and $200 weapon light. The basic gun was only $1,550. This is significant because the oddball caliber makes a few parts essentially prototype priced. A non .223 AR is the most expensive way to do it, and this is the most expensive AR I own. Because I have a collapsible stock and a 4-rail handguard, it's more comparable feature-wise with the enhanced model.

It gets better, the ACR weighs in at 8.2 lbs without a magazine; 9.2 loaded. My 6.8 is 9.6 lbs loaded WITH an optic and light; not to mention that it's firing ammo that's 70% heavier!

Since the world is awash in AR-15 parts for dirt cheap, perhaps I am not being fair. Perhaps I should give them some slack because it's a completely new design. OK, how does the competition in "all new gun" stack up?

Robinson Arms is a boutique manufacturer in Utah. They make a gun called the XCR. Their gun is aluminum forgings instead of polymer (more expensive to make) and they manage an MSRP of $1,955.99 for a gun that's equivalent to the enhanced version. Empty weight is 7.5 lbs, which should give a loaded weight of 8.3 lbs. Dead Link Because Robinson Arms

FN-Herstal makes a competing product, the SCAR 16S. It's equivalent to the enhanced and has an MSRP of $2,696.56. FN is known for being a tad expensive, but this gun's full-auto version is the winner of the Army's SCAR competition and is being procured on a limited basis. 7.25 lbs empty for 8 loaded. Dead Link Because FN

SIG-Sauer's SIG 556 has many of the same features, they are known for being expensive as well. The 556 is noted for being heavy in several reviews and the Classic SWAT (equivalent to the enhanced version) tips the scales at 8.3 lbs without a mag or 9.3 lbs loaded. It's an old fashioned Swiss-way-of-doing-things gun and it's mostly steel with some aluminum and polymer. MSRP is $2,399. This gun is an M16 mag version of the SIG 550 which is current issue for Swiss troops.
Dead Link Because SIG

Even more fun, DSA makes a semi-version of the FN FAL. The SA58 Standard is 10.4 lbs loaded, and cost just under $2,000 ($1,700 MSRP) when I got it during the Obama panic. Just a pound heavier than the ACR and chambered in a far more effective caliber with the 50+ years of proven reliability under adverse conditions being used by "troops" that make an ad-hoc militia seem like the Swiss Guard. EDIT It should be pointed out that the FAL is notorious for being difficult and time consuming to machine, and there's hardly a part on one that isn't milled from a solid block. The FAL is the old school way, if the ACR is expensive because machining is expensive, why is the FAL cheaper? Dead Link Because DSA

Now that you can see your options, Bushmaster has posted this: Dead Link Because Cerebus thread on Arfcom (read the whole thing) attempting to do damage control on this. It should also be noted that FN and SIG have sterling reputations for quality, Bushmaster does not. Bushmaster also has a noted tendency to bring oddities to market and quietly dump them, like their M17S Bullpup.

The ACR started out life as the Magpul Masada. Magpul sold the rights to Bushmaster to avoid having to tool up a gun manufacturing capability from scratch. Magpul's representatives have maintained for three years the MSRP would be in the $1,500 range and the gun would use standard AR fire control parts and off-the-shelf barrels. Bushmaster managed none of that.

Considering that the street price for an FN SCAR 16S is running about $2,350...