Remington ACR (Adaptive Combat Rifle) “Leaked” Promotional Video Demonstrates Weapon in a 21st-Century Combat Environment: MagPul Masada Rifle/Carbine Finally Making it to Market?

By David Crane
defrev (at) gmail (dot) com

January 4, 2010

This is our first story of the new year (2010). DefenseReview has received a link to the “leaked” Remington ACR (Adaptive Combat Rifle) promotional/demo video (demonstration video) below that we presume Remington has actually released on purpose in calculated fashion (just a guess), pre-SHOT Show 2010. The video would seem to suggest that Remington has finally worked out all the ACR‘s large-scale production/manufacturability issues that’s kept the gun from coming to market. It would also seem that Remington has the FN MK16 SCAR-L (SCAR-Light) squarely in their sights, at least for the LE (law enforcement) and civilian market sectors. Here:

DefenseReview has been told by several tactical firearm industry insiders that Remington or Bushmaster, or whomever, has had multiple engineers–as many eight (8) of them–working together to solve the ACR’s (large-scale) production/manufacturability problem. This is just rumor-mill / inside-the-beltway-type gossip / unconfirmed/unverified reports, but it/they came to us by some pretty knowledgeable people. If true, that would not be good. You never want to put eight engineers / designers / developers on ANYTHING. As a general rule, the best gun designs have, at most, two designers / engineers / developers.

Anyway, assuming that the Remington or Bushmaster (or both) design/engineering team has completely worked out all the manufacurability kinks and they can get the ACR tactical rifle/carbine to market right after SHOT Show, or at least relatively soon thereafter, the weapon works as advertised in the video (i.e. reliably, accurately, and with good durability in all combat, environmental, and weather conditions), and Remington can introduce it at a price point that’s not too high AND maintain good QC (Quality Control), the ACR should do reasonably well out there. From a sheer ergonomics and features standpoint, there’s a lot to like about it, and DefenseReview likes having another gas piston/op-rod rifle/carbine choice out there. From a consumer’s standpoint, the more choices, the better. When DefenseReview first wrote about the ACR, then known as the aforementioned MagPul Masada ACWS, right after SHOT Show 2007–three years ago, now!–we liked what we saw and handled, overall. But manufacturing/producing a gun in large numbers is very different from hand-building a small number of prototypes.

Anyway, it’s about time. Let’s just hope the Remington ACR lives up to the hype. We’ll be sold on it when one of our evaluators or Special Forces (SF)/Special Operations Forces (SOF) contacts signs off on it. Until then, our money either stays in our wallets or gets spent on other weapons.

DefenseReview is curious as to whether or not Remington will purchase or has purchased the right to manufacture the MagPul Massoud 7.62x51mm NATO (7.62mm NATO)/.308 Win. rifle/carbine. Considering the trouble they’ve experienced getting the ACR into full-scale production, it would be understandable if Remington were hestitant. That said, they could most-likely apply at least some of the lessons learned from the ACR program to the Massoud.

Editor’s Note: The Remington ACR is formerly known as the Bushmaster ACR, which was formely known as the MagPul Masada ACWS (Adaptive Combat Weapon System). The “ACR” acronym is not short for “Advanced Combat Rifle”.

Company Contact Info:

Remington Arms Company, Inc.
870 Remington Drive
P.O. Box 700
Madison, NC 27025-0700
TEL: 800-243-9700
Fax: 336-548-7801
Website: http://www.remington.com/

Military, Law Enforcement, & Federal Agency Sales
TEL: 336-548-8899
Fax: 336-548-8798

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Remington Acquires AAC (Advanced Armament Corp.): Freedom Group/Cerberus Goes Silenced/Suppressed

MagPul Masada / Bushmaster ACR (Adaptive Combat Rifle) Update

MagPul Masada Rifle/Carbine Becomes the Bushmaster Adaptive Combat Rifle (ACR)

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Magpul Massoud 7.62×51mm rifle (The Firearm Blog)