Hi there,
Gag-Reflex pretty much sums up my opinion! My musings based on my personal experience with both (I have owned multiple examples of each) as follows:
I love the swiss arm rifle for it's robust reliability, and the non-restricted iron-sighted rifle is pretty hard to beat (ie: the way it was designed and deployed by the swiss military). The ones that I had were all capable of 1 to 2 MOA (with iron sights none the less!) and I've only ever had two malfunctions. The first was a small pin shearing off in the gas system and piling up the works, and the second was a pin in the ejector system shearing off. The ejector issue was a big one as there are few people in Canada with the tools and training to fix it. These both happened on guns with very high round counts (in excess of 5000).
When it comes to optics though the iron sighted model is less than ideal. The rear diopter sight sits too high to allow proper head position/cheek weld when you get your optics high enough to clear the rear sight. Folks will argue that all you have to do is add the $300 swiss cheek piece and you are good to go, however I have never liked rifles set up this way as they still feel awkwards to me. The flattop models are much better suited to optics.
Swiss Arms Magazines - expensive! And also hard to find. Also there is no 10 round pistol mags available. This might change when the swiss AR5 magazine lower comes out, however it will be an expensive widget too.
Swiss Arms Barrel changes - Very difficult, both from the perspective of getting a replacement barrel as well as coming up with the proper jig to hold the upper receiver. Re-barreling can be done without the jig (I have done it several times), however beware because it is possible to break your receiver when done improperly (also been there and done that! talk about an expensive mistake). Barrel quality on the Swiss Rifles is exceptional though, and I can see the average shooter ever having to replace one. When examined with my boroscope all of my swiss barrels were smooth, free of tool marks, and just generally beautiful. It's no wonder that they all typically shoot really well.
Swiss Arms Spare Part - Available from only one source that I am aware of and expensive as h*ll.
Swiss Arms overall fit and finish - In the bolt, bolt carrier, and trigger group components, greatly superior to that of the XCR. I was initially worried about this in my XCRs however they all seem to run just fine, so my worry is going down.
Shooting off the factory swiss bipod though is somewhat problematic. It bears on the gas block and significantly shifts (upwards) the bullets' point of impact. A free floated handguard is available for these rifles from B&T, although it is, INHO, ugly as sin and has a very unattractive price tag.
Swiss Trigger - Better than that on the XCR, but not by much.
Robarms XCR: I'm relatively new to the XCR world, but I have to say that I think the XCR-L is better value for your money than the Swiss Arms, especially one with their new FAS stock. The rifle geometry has enough adaptability that pretty much optimal setup is possible with any type of optics...elcan, acog, standard scope with rings, full sized aimpoint, aimpoint micro, etc etc...they can all be made to work the way they were designed to with very little monkeying around. The XCR's I've been playing with have all been 100% reliable, and they are much easier on brass than the swiss guns.
Barrel change on an XCR is dead simple - one bolt comes out and you're off to the races. This bolt is the rifle's achilles heel in the accuracy department though...if it is not torqued properly you will experience accuracy issues. When examined with a boroscope though I was surprised at how rough the Robarms barrels are. Tool marks galore! This does not seem to effect the accuracy in the ones I've got, though I am aware of one guy who's reports on his barrel's roughness would have me sending it back to RobArms.
I like the safety on the XCR better too....it's throw is significantly less than that on the swiss rifles and it's position makes it easier to use.
The adjustability of the XCR's gas system is nice, and it combined with the replaceable polymer ejection deflector makes it's treatment of fired brass grossly superior to that of the swiss rifles.
The one thing I'm a little worried about on the XCR though how the gas system is put together. What has me worried is the relatively small bearing area that holds the plug in the gas block. The gas plug on the swiss guns is built like a tank, however by comparison the size of the little lug that holds the plug in on the XCR. I don't have enough rounds through my XCR to be comfortable, although I guess that if it does break replacing the gas block is easy. I guess I should order another one to feel safe, although all my spare barrels have the gas block already installed, so I guess I already have extras.
Caliber - This is the biggest advantage to the RobArms rifles...I have light rifles in both .223 and 7.62x39 and have played with their new 7.62x51 rifle. They seem very receptive to trying new things, and the modularity of the rifles lends itself very easily to this approach. I plan on hunting deer with my 7.62x39 gun this fall, and I'm seriously considering building a .300 blackout project XCR, neither of which are realistic options on the swiss arms guns.
How long is Robinson Armament going to be around? That is about the only other thing that worries me but my plan to address this is to have enough spare parts on hand that I can support myself. I guess the same can be said of swiss arms, given that there is only really one or two places in Canada with a factory trained armorer and the parts have to come from Switzerland. Anyway...parts for the swiss arms rifles are expensive, and parts for the RobArms rifles are comparatively dirt cheap with currently higher availability.
Which one do I like better? Right now it is the XCR but ask me again in a couple months after I've had a chance to get several thousand more rounds through my XCRs.
Cheers, and good luck with your decision. Either way, you won't be disappointed (unless you want to go big game hunting with a swiss...
)
Brobee
but probably the better gun
