This is why I didn't bring up heat.
The AR tests I've seen have been barrel failures or at the gas tube/block, not BCG's, just as MistWolf said...
(Not sure why someone felt the need to point out the BCG is a piston - there is a reason I am careful to call it the AR gas tube/key/carrier system, and studiously avoid calling it "DI" - although I suppose I could add "bolt" to the end of the description)
Also, what the military chooses to do, and not do (like the KAC longevity bolt design) is subject to... a whole host of factors (and massive inertia) - which the history of US Army firearms development illustrates repeatedly - and decisions made under one set of conditions and assumptions sometimes aren't revisited for decades, even when conditions change drastically and assumptions stop being valid. Effectiveness may well end up not being one of the factors given any weight.
Oh and I like the charging handle in the middle of the rifle because (a) it's near the mag release, so my hand is basically going the same place for a stoppage and (b) I can also work the bolt while still maintaining (at least some of) my sight picture. Too far to the front (HK) or rear (AR), and I find it too awkward. Personal preference... (Probably irrelevant in actual practice, but that's this whole conversation anyway.)
The AR tests I've seen have been barrel failures or at the gas tube/block, not BCG's, just as MistWolf said...
(Not sure why someone felt the need to point out the BCG is a piston - there is a reason I am careful to call it the AR gas tube/key/carrier system, and studiously avoid calling it "DI" - although I suppose I could add "bolt" to the end of the description)
Also, what the military chooses to do, and not do (like the KAC longevity bolt design) is subject to... a whole host of factors (and massive inertia) - which the history of US Army firearms development illustrates repeatedly - and decisions made under one set of conditions and assumptions sometimes aren't revisited for decades, even when conditions change drastically and assumptions stop being valid. Effectiveness may well end up not being one of the factors given any weight.
Oh and I like the charging handle in the middle of the rifle because (a) it's near the mag release, so my hand is basically going the same place for a stoppage and (b) I can also work the bolt while still maintaining (at least some of) my sight picture. Too far to the front (HK) or rear (AR), and I find it too awkward. Personal preference... (Probably irrelevant in actual practice, but that's this whole conversation anyway.)
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