For a combat or defensive arm, I'd probably throw my vote in for the VZ-58.
However, the SKS as a truck/ranch rifle is still unbeaten.
I'd like the RA XCR version better if it weren't reliant on what I understand to be AR mags of sketchy reliability. ARs are out for the same reason, and because there are no piston ARs in that caliber that I am aware of.
The new HK roller lock in 7.62x39 that JLD just came out with was initially intriguing for the first two seconds. Then I realized it was almost 9 pounds...
And speaking of overweight, I've kind of lost all interest in the hefty, over-priced and hyped Bushmaster rifle.
A wood stocked rifle with a full length barrel and a milled steel receiver manufactured 50 years ago is one thing at 8.5+ pounds, and acceptable at $150. A supposedly ultra-modern space-age plastic and alloy carbine at 8.5 pounds is not acceptable--esp at an asking price of over $2500. ACR? You guys realize the Russians dropped the milled version of the AK because it cost too much to produce and weighed about the same as the ACR, right? And that the FN 17S/SCAR-H gives you REAL 7.62mm firepower from the same size package, right? So does a POF308, and I suppose any number of carbine AR-10s, FALs, and M1As--all supposedly using obsolete technology. Sorry, tangent...don't understand the ACR hype...