Built to address perceived shortfalls of currently fielded NATO systems.....
Perceived by who?
Adding a piston system to the AR design isn't the answer to any "perceived shortfalls".
14.5" only sure ought to keep most of the regular public from trying one out too. I'm guessing it won't be cheap to begin with, and to need a tax stamp just to try it out doesn't sound like a good way to dive into the market.
14.5" only sure ought to keep most of the regular public from trying one out too.
I doubt we'll have access to such a beast.
I will agree with the cooler and less heat, but good lord they are expensive compared to many of the other AR variants on the market. Is that because each company makes their bolt different?
I am going to laugh when the new rage 5 years from now is the amazing "piston-less" AR system that retails for lower than comparable pistoned ARs.
When everyone gets tired of making overpriced ARs with little to no innovation that have little market movement, give me a call...
I gotta agree with the one post earlier: Percieved? By who? Actual troops or gobberish spewed by shows like "Future Weapons" to get us hyped up over overhyped weapons features that add complexity and parts numbers to weapons that are already working just fine...
Besides, for the cost of these rifles, who is actually buying them? Police? Don't they know a recession is on and their market share is shakey at best? Depending on LEO or miltary contracts when those are pretty well set is a gamble at best. Hey Remington, Barrett, Ruger and all the rest, 2004 called, they wanted their rifles then when people had the money!
If you take care of your AR/M16 variant there is (are) no problems!