I own one. My opinion in short is:
Pro:
- Nice build quality in general. Good materials and machining Nice aluminum upper and lower. Far far ###ier than the tupperware of the AR types.
- Excellent ergonomics. Great placement of action release, mag release and safety.
- Adjustable gas system
- Piston driven (Clean action that never jams)
- I like the design where the bolt locks into the barrel shroud.
- Super quick field strip with no tools.
- Unbelievable service w/ a manufacturers rep here in CGN.
Con:
- Sloppy trigger, rough first stage.
- Not really that accurate at all. ( with factory WWB 55gr FMJ best I can do is 2.5", more often 3.5" and occasionally worse.
- Front heavy (This is not a robarms prob, just a "Canadian version" prob. because of the heavy bull barrel.)
- A little pricey, but you pay for the materials in the build.
- The main pin that holds the upper and lower is held in with a cheap cotter pin. For 2k I expected better.
All in all if I had to do it again, I would in a heartbeat. I really do love the gun. With a 4 MOA Aimpoint red dot and cheap factory ammo I can shoot a 10" gong all day long while standing which is what a rifle like this was meant to do IMHO. It is by no means a benchrest shooter, but it was never meant to be. While some design features are exceptionally brilliant, it does have a few minor, but almost unbelievable flaws. If falls somewhere between the cheaply made and plasticky AR bunch and the nice but super pricey SIG black and green specials. The price puts it int he middle more or less. Those who wnat quality and flawless design and are willing to pay for it go for the sigs, those with no money but appetites for black rifles go for AR's and the XCR falls into neither category and is probably more of a niche market rifle than any of the other ones, but there is a $1200 gap between the cheap and the expensive. That is almost a 2 for one deal when comparing the ARs and the SIGs. I think there is room for the XCR.
FWIW I will never sell mine.
