August 09, 2018
This is a personal story on why I chose XCR-M for a primary and the only rifle I own.
Firstly, I have never written a review of any firearms and doing it for the first time to share my own experience with firearm enthusiasts who never held or shot Robinson Armament rifles.
Imagine a scenario where you don’t have the ability, capacity or desire to own more than one rifle, one that you would want to be with you most of the time, to use it in hunting, defence against wildlife, and the one that you would have to trust with your very life if alien or Russian invasion was ever to occur where you would need to spit fire at prolonged defence events., or simply a scenario in which your own wife threatens with a divorce unless you stop collecting and piling up all kinds of rifle models, makes and calibers or numerous other scenarios.
In some of those scenarios, one would probably want a practical, rigid and super-reliable semi-automatic rifle, made of all metal parts and no cheap plastics since you wouldn’t be able to order parts online in such disastrous scenario, one that you could quickly disassemble to a size that would make bullpup style rifles like Tavor look like a cannon in comparison, and pack it in your backpack with no tools, swap barrels on the go (only one Allen Key required) or even calibers like 6.5 Creedmoor to reach out even farther. It would have to be pleasant to carry all day and, to me personally, nice to look at and hold in hands, low recoil and super easy to maintain, disassemble and clean, yes, the weapon system that would grow on you and literally replace all others in one’s vault.
Added bonuses would be its proven record of fastest magazine change, one that will reliably work with all and most available mags that AR-10 or AR-15 could use depending on what caliber you chose. I don’t want to start another “caliber war” but it should suffice to say that for this scenario I have personally chosen .308 Win (7.62x51 NATO) in order to cover more possible roles and target distances.
At first, the idea of obtaining such a weapon system had been pushed under the rag for some future times considering its price and pre-2009 reliability and accuracy issues. That is until I held and shot one purchased by my range buddy who bragged about its 18.6” heavy barrelled XCR-M (made in 2017) and ability to carry it in his backpack disassembled and fully assembled in less than 2 minutes (try to do this with any bullpup out there). Holly Mother-in-Law, there is no such a thing as a perfect rifle but let’s keep on going, wanna know as much about it as possible?!!
OK, I said, it does feel in hands better than any rifle I ever held before (won’t mention any makes and models here in order to respect the owners of those rifles), but a great rifle isn’t only about such nice ergonomics, it’s about what it does on the field, how durable, reliable and accurate it is. “Let’s shoot it!” I said. The results of this quick trial were nothing short of amazing in terms of accuracy and its reliable function; after shooting 100 rds of 150gr Winchester Power Shok and another 100 of reloads without a single hiccup I knew then and there that I must own one of these gems.
Getting one wasn’t an easy task for me when it comes to funds as it required a careful financial planning so I decided to sell quite a few firearms in order to afford it, but if you continue to read you will find out why would I go to such a length to put one of these into my vault, not to mention how happy it made my wife seeing all the firearms gone in place of one single rifle lol. After a careful deliberation, reading all reviews I could find on the net and all youtube videos, countless hours of research and testing many other platforms out there, I have finally decided to order an XCR-M .308 Win with a heavy 18.6” barrel.
Yes, my whole vault is now housing one single rifle which sits there all by itself clean and oiled and ready for any scenario imaginable. Wish I could be this firm and determined when it comes to keeping one single pistol as well, but that is another story altogether as my search isn’t over yet in pistol department.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with Wolverine Supplies or Robinson Armament, my observations here are the result of my experience as a buyer, shooter and a passionate hobbyist who wishes to share his experience with folks who are not sure which way to go when it comes to deciding on their primary firearm.
But before I get into my whole experience and detailed review of the rifle, I feel compelled to mention that Wolverine Supply’s stellar customer service further contributed to my firm resolve to obtain XCR-M.
Now to the rifle. As per thousands of happy owners, any and all previous issues have been worked out by RA and all design flaws eliminated while making the platform better than ever before. But hey, those happy customer accounts were not enough for me, I wanted to test XCR-M for myself and once and for all remove the element of doubt.
Fit and finish and strong overbuilt mechanism, build quality need not be even mentioned here, its top notch craftsmanship is a kind that leaves one in owe. Nobody disputes the quality of these tough and well built rifles made to withstand anything one could throw at it in terms of ammo choice, will run steel or brass cased ammo with ‘impunity’.
But, one may think, words are words and mean nothing unless you could prove it otherwise.
How about shooting 10.000 rounds of 7.62x51 Hirtenberger with regular cleaning/oiling schedule? I won’t be an idiot and try to cause deliberate damage to my rifle and see how many rounds can it shoot before malfunction occurs without cleaning. Will leave torture tests for “youtube kids” to entertain their viewers.
Hirtenberger in 308 isn’t a slouch of a round, it is fairly hot as per many ammo reviewers and if something should break on this rifle it should be within 10k of these hotter rounds shot. Being far from any match quality ammo, if I could make decent groupings with this military surplus ammo of, say 2 MOA at 200 yards it would be more than satisfactory in my book.
During the testing, will focus on proper barrel break in, the distance of the ejected brass, brass dings/scratches or deformations, any malfunctions, performance under heat buildup, hopefully shooting 100-200 rounds per range day. During the 10k rounds testing, all malfunctions (hopefully none) will be carefully logged for all readers here and updated regularly as the test unfolds.
After a proper barrel break in the rifle will go through its paces and strings of fire at 5rds intervals will be conducted along with MOA testing on cold and hot barrel.
Stay tuned for part 2 and the commence of 10k rds testing, first results should be updated here within a month.
This is a personal story on why I chose XCR-M for a primary and the only rifle I own.
Firstly, I have never written a review of any firearms and doing it for the first time to share my own experience with firearm enthusiasts who never held or shot Robinson Armament rifles.
Imagine a scenario where you don’t have the ability, capacity or desire to own more than one rifle, one that you would want to be with you most of the time, to use it in hunting, defence against wildlife, and the one that you would have to trust with your very life if alien or Russian invasion was ever to occur where you would need to spit fire at prolonged defence events., or simply a scenario in which your own wife threatens with a divorce unless you stop collecting and piling up all kinds of rifle models, makes and calibers or numerous other scenarios.
In some of those scenarios, one would probably want a practical, rigid and super-reliable semi-automatic rifle, made of all metal parts and no cheap plastics since you wouldn’t be able to order parts online in such disastrous scenario, one that you could quickly disassemble to a size that would make bullpup style rifles like Tavor look like a cannon in comparison, and pack it in your backpack with no tools, swap barrels on the go (only one Allen Key required) or even calibers like 6.5 Creedmoor to reach out even farther. It would have to be pleasant to carry all day and, to me personally, nice to look at and hold in hands, low recoil and super easy to maintain, disassemble and clean, yes, the weapon system that would grow on you and literally replace all others in one’s vault.
Added bonuses would be its proven record of fastest magazine change, one that will reliably work with all and most available mags that AR-10 or AR-15 could use depending on what caliber you chose. I don’t want to start another “caliber war” but it should suffice to say that for this scenario I have personally chosen .308 Win (7.62x51 NATO) in order to cover more possible roles and target distances.
At first, the idea of obtaining such a weapon system had been pushed under the rag for some future times considering its price and pre-2009 reliability and accuracy issues. That is until I held and shot one purchased by my range buddy who bragged about its 18.6” heavy barrelled XCR-M (made in 2017) and ability to carry it in his backpack disassembled and fully assembled in less than 2 minutes (try to do this with any bullpup out there). Holly Mother-in-Law, there is no such a thing as a perfect rifle but let’s keep on going, wanna know as much about it as possible?!!
OK, I said, it does feel in hands better than any rifle I ever held before (won’t mention any makes and models here in order to respect the owners of those rifles), but a great rifle isn’t only about such nice ergonomics, it’s about what it does on the field, how durable, reliable and accurate it is. “Let’s shoot it!” I said. The results of this quick trial were nothing short of amazing in terms of accuracy and its reliable function; after shooting 100 rds of 150gr Winchester Power Shok and another 100 of reloads without a single hiccup I knew then and there that I must own one of these gems.
Getting one wasn’t an easy task for me when it comes to funds as it required a careful financial planning so I decided to sell quite a few firearms in order to afford it, but if you continue to read you will find out why would I go to such a length to put one of these into my vault, not to mention how happy it made my wife seeing all the firearms gone in place of one single rifle lol. After a careful deliberation, reading all reviews I could find on the net and all youtube videos, countless hours of research and testing many other platforms out there, I have finally decided to order an XCR-M .308 Win with a heavy 18.6” barrel.
Yes, my whole vault is now housing one single rifle which sits there all by itself clean and oiled and ready for any scenario imaginable. Wish I could be this firm and determined when it comes to keeping one single pistol as well, but that is another story altogether as my search isn’t over yet in pistol department.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with Wolverine Supplies or Robinson Armament, my observations here are the result of my experience as a buyer, shooter and a passionate hobbyist who wishes to share his experience with folks who are not sure which way to go when it comes to deciding on their primary firearm.
But before I get into my whole experience and detailed review of the rifle, I feel compelled to mention that Wolverine Supply’s stellar customer service further contributed to my firm resolve to obtain XCR-M.
Now to the rifle. As per thousands of happy owners, any and all previous issues have been worked out by RA and all design flaws eliminated while making the platform better than ever before. But hey, those happy customer accounts were not enough for me, I wanted to test XCR-M for myself and once and for all remove the element of doubt.
Fit and finish and strong overbuilt mechanism, build quality need not be even mentioned here, its top notch craftsmanship is a kind that leaves one in owe. Nobody disputes the quality of these tough and well built rifles made to withstand anything one could throw at it in terms of ammo choice, will run steel or brass cased ammo with ‘impunity’.
But, one may think, words are words and mean nothing unless you could prove it otherwise.
How about shooting 10.000 rounds of 7.62x51 Hirtenberger with regular cleaning/oiling schedule? I won’t be an idiot and try to cause deliberate damage to my rifle and see how many rounds can it shoot before malfunction occurs without cleaning. Will leave torture tests for “youtube kids” to entertain their viewers.
Hirtenberger in 308 isn’t a slouch of a round, it is fairly hot as per many ammo reviewers and if something should break on this rifle it should be within 10k of these hotter rounds shot. Being far from any match quality ammo, if I could make decent groupings with this military surplus ammo of, say 2 MOA at 200 yards it would be more than satisfactory in my book.
During the testing, will focus on proper barrel break in, the distance of the ejected brass, brass dings/scratches or deformations, any malfunctions, performance under heat buildup, hopefully shooting 100-200 rounds per range day. During the 10k rounds testing, all malfunctions (hopefully none) will be carefully logged for all readers here and updated regularly as the test unfolds.
After a proper barrel break in the rifle will go through its paces and strings of fire at 5rds intervals will be conducted along with MOA testing on cold and hot barrel.
Stay tuned for part 2 and the commence of 10k rds testing, first results should be updated here within a month.
