What is this thing? The FNAR in .308 

We used the FNAR for anti piracy (PCASP). It did the job.

FN: function over form. More accurate than many AR-10’s. I’ll keep mine over other AR 308’s. Owned mine since they came out. Fortunately I have four 20 round, two 10 round, and one five round magazines. Thanks for the review of an oldie.

Browning bar mk3 in dbm vesion is similar to this gun. Also magazine very similiar too.

Swedish company Infitech makes proper handguards, stock adapters that accept AR-parts. Highly recommend their parts.

I have a BAR in .243 I inherited from my grandpa. It's my main "deer rifle." It is super smooth shooting and reliable, with a great trigger. Mine has a Lyman, 3-9×40 that my grandpa claimed to have traded his prior rifle for, a sporterized springfield. I always wished the mag was removable instead of the hinged, box magazine. He's been gone almost 20 years now.

One of the smoothest shooting .308 rifle i have ever used.

I like this remote view of your targets, that is a great idea 💡

Nutnfancy raved about this rifle back in the day. That Norma 147 gr ball ammo is amazing!

This is sorta produced today as the Browning BAR DBM (detachable box magazine)

I just got a Remington 742 in 30-06 and the operating system seems very similar to this gun. I love to see these old types of rifles since I'm a youngen and didn't grow up seeing advancements in firearm technology before the the ar15 was the end all be all. Thanks for fueling my gun addiction and keep up the great work Mac.

I absolutely love mine; it's a gem of a super accurate semi-auto- I actually have gotten quite tight groups. Have taken deer with it, mostly it's just a unique piece I really enjoy pulling out from time to time. The take down is a bit involved compared to other options but I wouldn't trade it away over that. Did get it for a great price in 2012, 2013; pre-owned but unfired for just under a grand.

Someone needs to make aftermarket mags for them $130 for one mag is insane

I picked up an FNAR in the summer of 2012 when the price dropped to $995, because I wanted an accurate and reliable semi-auto .308 to go with my Howa bolt action .308. I never shot it much. I think it looks like a hump back whale, but form follows function and I liked that the stock was made for a proper cheek weld with a scope, and I liked that there were cheek risers and butt pads that could be interchanged to fit the rifle to the shooter. I still have my 308s but have mostly moved on to 6.5 Creedmoor. Maybe it's a caliber fad but I have three bolt action 6.5 Creedmoor rifles and a very nice Aero Precision AR-10 semi-auto. I need to get to the range a lot more.

Thanks

My BAR MK3 dbm is basically the same gun and I love mine

Had mine almost 10 years, first one had the rail issue and I had to return it to FN and they sent me a new one. It does get attention at the range for sure. Mine likes 168gr or lighter due to the twist

I have a Browning Bar Match, which is the same rifle in Europe. It's my primary hunting rifle since 2016. We can't get AR10's for hunting. There's a Swedish company making handguards to free-float the barrel, helps a lot with accuracy. They also make a AR stock and grip adapter, fixes the geometry, helps with follow-ups and staying on target. Mags are ridiculously priced... But overall a really good semi hunting rifle.

I recently saw that the blue competition model was still up for grabs on the FN website. Browning (made by FN) still offers the mark 3(?) version for around $1800 minus the pistol grip and pick rails in case anyone is interested in collecting the odd bird 🦅

I’ve had the same heavy barrel version now for many years. Overall I find your assessment quite accurate though the trigger on mine is quite heavy and gritty. In fact back in the day the forums always talked about the poor triggers and who was offering trigger jobs to remedy this. I find the rifle annoyingly front heavy with the bull barrel. Mines been 100% reliable and very accurate. So glad you took the time to do a review. Nicely done!

I dig this thing, was not familiar with it until now. I don't know what it is exactly but something about it just hits right for me, would love to own one but I wager that is not easily accomplished.

You aren’t kidding about the take down and cleaning. I have a bar mark 3 dbm. Royal pain in the ass to disassemble. Found a pretty good video on it helped tremendously. Other than that a nice gun.

I would’ve got this rifle if it didn’t go out of stock since it’s one of the only semi auto 308 in Canada

When the FN SCAR came out my neighbor wanted one desperately. He couldn't find one (incidentally..though the SCAR was expensive back then it was no where as pricey as it is now). He came back from an FN dealer's shop with an FNAR. He could only get the one 20rd mag and had me look for them whenever I was in a gunshop. I ended up finding three more at 58 bucks each. The rifle has been shot once and I was with him. It was okay accurate, but honestly my Dad used to have a BAR wood stocked sporter in .308 and it was more accurate...at least with the hunting style federal ammo we shot that day. He still has the FNAR....he likes buying guns more than shooting them!

I appreciated your video setup with the target camera displayed next to the shooter. It provided nice real-time feedback. Thanks.

If this would have used g3 mags or m14 mags or even fal mags the platform may have survived

It's basically a browning BAR Mk2/3. They actually make a mlok rail and folding stock for them. The whole package will save you enough over the SCAR-17 to afford you a NICE optic. Having the barrel threaded would be a nice addition.

One of my dream rifles is the H-CAR.

The FNAR shoots 1/2 inch groups all day with the right stuff. This is very underrated rifle

I love mine. I had the barrel threaded for the PWS PRC compensator. Tames the kick nicely. Slick shooting rig for sure.

Thank you for showing the FNAR an the Browning BAR rifles, Tim. I'm a big Browning fan and own several Browning firearms, specially my 1970 grade 2 Browning BAR in 30-06 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have the exact same gun that you used in the video. Mine is super accurate with any ammo and I use it mainly for deer hunting.

Beautiful Work

Almost bought one of these that a previous owner had kind of kitted out as a "police sniper", back when they were still in production, and the price of the magazines soured me on the deal. That and the complexity of even routine maintenance like field stripping to clean it after a range trip.

I LOVE mine, came with shims to get the stock dialed in, highly accurate and light recoil. PITA to clean though, and heavy. But I still did a 4 day practical rifle class with it LOL just need to hit the gym a bit beforehand

I have several of these, in various furniture configurations, some branded as Winchester, and they have all performed flawlessly. Have harvested numerous elk up to 400 yards, about as far as I like to hunt with 308. The Browning BAR Mk III is similar, without detachable magazine in 300 Win mag, if you want to reach out further. Sure wish they offered it in 338. You can always rely on FN's quality. IMHO that makes them worth the money. Used examples can be found as low as $1000. My state limits mag capacity while hunting to 5 rounds, but the 30 round mag dumps are a blast at the range. Love your stuff MAC, keep up the good work.

Great video I have an FNAR but have not been able to take it to the range lately. I'm going to take it out this week. Thanks again.

I remember back when I got one FN was trying to market them as a sniper rifle for SWAT teams. There weren't as many semi auto options on the market back then as there are now. I was averaging 1" to 1.25" groups with general ball ammo. Match ammo I could get 1" sometimes less. I've be told by law enforcement buddies that the average SWAT sniper shot is typically 100 yards or less. I think this was kinda the nitch that FN was going for as some departments were starting to consider moving away from bolt actions for faster follow-up shots. Pain to field strip but fun to shoot.

Incredible rifle. Extremely accurate

And this rifle is one of the survived semi automatic rifle for Canadian civilian while liberal government took a right to own firearms.

Bought mine around 2012. Cycles well and pretty accurate like you stated. Since the mags we're proprietary I purchased 6 20 rd mags at the time I bought the rifle.

I have a Browning badged version of the fnar called the sxar. Came in mossy oak camo. I absolutely love this rifle, 1 to 1.5 inch is normal, light bullets are not it's favorite. It really is a crazy rifle with no clear purpose, but I'm glad to have it.

There is a shop in Sweden, infitech, that sells adapters for the Euro version (same as the US though) to allow AR stocks and grips. Could just get an AR-10 at some point, but there are options for it.

I have one. I bought mine in 2012 when ar10's were reputed to be unreliable. It works just like he said

Be a cool gun if you could modify it to look like a BAR. Bi-pod, wood stock. I've been wanting to get a BAR for a few months now and really started to appreciate the battle rifle class of weapons recently.

A VERY obscure rifle I have been to gun stores all over DFW and various gun shows for a year in the area. I’ve looked at thousands and thousands of guns. The only one I have ever come across I bought. It wasn’t cheap but I knew I had something special. I was lucky it came with 3 20 round magazines.

It's a modified Sporting& hunting B.A.R / win super X rifle type . Given a pistol grip stock, tacti-cool barrels and " extended" detachible box magizines. I wanted one baddly because it was pre safe act compliant,but could never afford one.

Also I paid $999 new for mine, very similar to a mid tier bolt gun at the time and I got a box mag fed semi auto.

The trigger is adjustable. Mine is set to 3lbs but it will go up to 6lbs. I went to a. Counter-sniper course at fletc and brought my issued sr25. It broke and they loaned me an fnar with leupold glass. It impressed me enough that I bought one in Valdosta on the way home. I get 1 to 1.5moa with federal and hornady.

I have had my rifle for many years and enjoy shooting it but as you stated it is a bear to take down. I actually took mine to a gunsmith and had the end of the barrel threaded as I considered suppressing it but never went through with it. The flash hider that I selected had a proprietary suppressor that would engage in a 51t mount

I own one I have had it when they came out and it is a tack drive I can shoot half inch groups at 200 yards all day! I love mine never had any problems with my gun! Under appreciated firearm in my opinion but that’s just me. Good video thanks.

I’ve wanted one of these for years.

Glad I have one in my collection. Good video.

These B.A.R’s cut to fit under a trench coat must have been an absolute BEAST when used in the 20’s gangster style,the noise and flash must be nutty.

I had one for the better part of a decade set up with a Leopold VXR Patrol. It ran everything I tried through it, and held pretty consistently at 1moa. Ended up trading it in the long run due to a lack of aftermarket options for it. Never had a complaint about it other than that though

Fired the Browning BAR mk3 in 30.06 (with a 8 round mag. but I'm not sure) a long time ago in a hog hunt. Twas a beautiful rifle, and a great shooter. Appreciate this vid! Greets from the Netherlands, T.

Did you ever do a video on the HCAR? Wasn’t that also some sort of “modern BAR” I vaguely remember that thing.

I had mined threaded and it doesn’t seem to be over gased, spent case lands in the same spot and distance 😊

I was lucky enough to get one on clearance at Academy for under 1k, then spent almost $400 on 7 20 roundmags 😮

Mine is picky when it comes to ammo. It loves the Remington core lokt 150 grn or my 150 grain hand loads. With that round, I get 1" groups pretty consistently. It's been a great hunting rifle.

Mine is 1/2 MOA gun with Federal 168 GMM through a Vortex Viper PST and Seekins rings off a bipod and rear bag.

Love your camera system. Nice added touch.

I have one. I like it. It’s my only .308. It’s heavy but smooth. I put a bipod up front.

This is the legendary nutnfancy anti pirate rifke. I bought this under browning bar match name last week here in Sweden for almost 2000 bucks. I love it!

Looks clunky awesome, wanted one of these as a kid.

They still sell them here in Sweden under the BAR brand.

Do you have access to the fn police .308 bolt gun Tim?..older friend of mine has 1 that is a shooter…very few vids on em but Jeff Quinn’s is my favorite…love that shootin shack…I handload everyday and have plenty of range just have to pack tarp..board for crono…and walk 100yrds 20 or 30times to target…loadin 6.5prc atm…thanks buddie…matt

great content great review: I would say that if FN was to re-release those B-AR's that it would most likely get a better following this time around. I know I would personally love to have it. that is if I could afford it.

Seen ya today @ copper. Didn't realize it was you til I fully passed you. Thanks for the videos. And the local business. Love both

I had one and miss it. Super reliable and grouped most ammo under 2" and could get an inch out of ammo it liked. I only paid $750 for mine and had several magazines for it. Someone offered me $1500 for it and I couldn't say no. I got a Galil ACE in .308 to replace it.

How did I miss this episode?? This is my favorite no non-sense reliable gas gun that puts bullets on target. Yes, it is a consistent 1.25 to 1.5 MOA gun with match ammo and groups 147/150gr ball ammo well. For best performance/accuracy consistency, reloading the ammo is recommended for these as some factory match ammo is loaded a bit tame even for gas guns on the charge weights and the group consistency suffers. Yes, the cleaning steps isn't the simplest but if you've done it at least twice properly and pay attention to details, it's not that big of an issue. FNARs were a great deal when they were discounted down to $900 new, cheaper than buying a Browning BAR mark2 in 308. Yes, I've taken it hunting several times.

*13:56** Nice Shot!* *I have no use for it, but the information was interesting.* 👍

I love mine. It's great to shoot. As for accuracy...it loves Mil Ball ammo.. About a month ago My Dad & I were trying different loads. We had Gold Match, Norma, Remington, Fusion, 3 different handloads and Military Ball. At best all the factory loads would shoot 1.5 to 3 inch groups. The hand loads were ok with 2 inch groups. The Mil Ball ammo was sub MOA. At 100 yds I was grouping 3 out of 5 shots cutting holes. The hotter the barrel got, the tighter it would group. So I sighted it in center mass on target. Last volley was 10 rds on target in rapid succession. It shot out the center dot completely and grouped 1.25". So This is probably why the Norma Ball you used did so well and the other sucked. These rifles love Mil ammo.

nutnfancy made a great video about it back in the day. Great anti-Pirate gun i think he named it

I've got a 16" heavy barrel FNAR. Had the muzzle threaded and a compensator put on it. An absolute blast to shoot! I also struggle to get better than 1.5-2moa accuracy with hunting ammo. Mine seems to prefer lighter bullet weight ammo. Best I found was the 150gr Core-Lokt Tipped ammo.

Purchased in 2012 for $1150 w-3, 20 rd mags and 1, 5 rd mag. Shoots like butter to me but I have the hvy bull barrel. This thing feels like a classic car. Yeah, its heavy but it's made of metal where it needs to be to handle bigger cal semi auto use. When you hold it, you can feel the old school tough that Brownings were famous for. There is nothing scary about stripping down this rifle.... to me it's like a walk through a beautiful park of engineering and design. After seeing the inner works, I loved it more. Due to the piston design general cleaning and maintenance is the barrel, and wiping down the outside, so no need to field strip. I agree this would never compete with the modern AR developments, in terms of market popularity, but I'm not sure it was meant to. It is a classic semi auto chambered for more powerful rounds, brought up to speed utilizing modern furniture such as poly stock, grip, and picatinny rails that allow for easy custom configuration, with quality built in features like a fluted and crowned barrel, butt stock fitments, etc. As far as the magazines go, Magpul has spoiled our expectations, but if you run out of ammo you could always smack someone in the face with the large metal magazines that fit this rifle. Worst case scenario, this rifle will not diminish your hopes of effective fire power utilizing a good sling.

I wanted one of these when they 1st came out. Should've grabbed one.

I feel blessed to be given the chance to purchase mine new in box for a great price. Back in 2011, a local gun dealer in southern Alabama was the only place I had seen one in stock, with a price tag of $1200 dollars. A lot of money for someone recovering from a divorce. A year later, he was liquidating his stock to close his permanently close his store. As I was the only one who wanted the FNAR, he offered to drop the price to $800 dollars if I took it that day. I didn't hesitate, bought as soon as he said the price. He closed his doors for the last time a week later and another business wound up with the leftover inventory. He died three months later of cancer. I own a SCAR 16 & 17. The FNAR is sweeter to shoot, but the SCAR is what I would chose when SHTF.

Do t use or shot mine much, a bit heavy compared to the lightweight hunting rifles of today, I did lay down a 5 shot .75 moa group at 800 yards a few years back so I have always thought of it as a much more accurate rifle than it probably is. Your video has got me curious I’ll let you know Keep it up!

Thank you 😊

Had the twin to it....except the Browning Hogstalker version in 308. Alot of rounds thru it over 8 years. Sold it this year.....coulda sold 20. Very few sold in Canada.....probably why I coulda sold 20.

Thumbs up for the 5 shot groups

That fourth group looks pretty awesome. I would totally own one of these if they were affordable. The prices on some of these guns is insane, not just FN. This is one of the big reasons why the AR platform is so popular. Even a really low priced AR type rifle is usually going to perform not horrible and still have perfectly usable accuracy, and if you add a couple hundred dollars or more, the accuracy goes up significantly, plus the end user doesn't have to be a gunsmith to vastly improve the performance for not that much money. AR everything gets boring but nothing else can compete on the price - performance equation. Until recently the Glock was in the same category, at least until that 3rd gen patent expired but now that platform is really taking off with a bunch of other brands. You can buy something that is mechanically just like a Glock, with a 3 as the first number of the price, and if you really make an effort maybe even a 2. I would be comfortable going to battle with my homemade AR and my 3rd gen Glock. They would both be accurate enough and reliable enough.

I own one I like it it's better than my armalite ar 10 but much more time consuming to clean great video thanks Tim

Great summary! Some facts are wrong though; they are still being manufactured. Its a popular rifle in Sweden. Cost is close to 3k though. Magazines some 300 usd. I personally know 5 owners and they all get sub moa with standard ammunition. Again thank you for a great walkthrough of the rifle!

This was my first gun purchase at 18 💪🤘🇺🇸❤️

I bought a new one, back in the day. I've never fired mine. I have the box and all of it's goodies. I was thinking mine is threaded from the factory. Winchester had the civilian hunting model, named the BAR. They had a wooden stock. Most of those were .30.06. I bought this FNAR with the understanding they were built stronger, and with better tolerances than the Winchester brand. I've personally never seen an FN brand BAR, only Winchesters. 🤔

Use EC-tuner on mine and it make a different both in recoil and accurate.

I keep waiting for a spent case to hit your tablet😂

Been years since I've heard about the FNAR.

Have you guys thought about doing a video/post on the 350 Legend? I don't know if you have.

Yeah I can't believe you Put that rifle on RU-vid. That was my 1st rifle and I still own it.. Maybe I'm weird , But I love it.

Browning bar match is still for sale in sweden

Noticed your tomlinsons shirt. That shop is local to my area. Not bad selection.

I saw an article in Shotgun News about it several years ago. FN recommended you send it to the factory to be cleaned. I thought really.

Finding magazines for this thing is a pain

Interesting Review, like Elliott Delp’s channel, always a learning moment

This is the pirate rifle! Nutnfancy, back before YT suppressed him into the dirt, did a vid on this and showed footage of a cargo/ocean liner guard firing on pirates attempting to seize the ship. .308 out-matched their 7.62x39 AK's and drove them off before they could even get within 100m of the ship. Always wanted one but the accessories seem quite pricey, and I believe the gun is now d/c'd so it's a soon-to-be collector piece, imo. Love wood stocks and blued steel so I should probably buy one before they really explode in value...

These always reminded me of that Benelli MR1

13:07 - Until 2023 in Sweden, the laws prohibited use of "rifles that has a miltary wibe to them" but the FNAR rifle made it through. Thus this rifle was the only legal semi-auto .308 available. This year the laws changed so everyone is running for the AR10/15, so you can easily find fine FNARs for less than $1000 with several 20-round-magasines. :)

Reminds me of my FN FAL