Piston AR-15A2/Dissipator

[Quentin]

Good point what I was trying to get at is that there are better designs. Why do you think the military is looking at piston systems there has to be something to say about that.

Curious why you think a piston AR is better... And as far as the military looking at piston systems they've been doing that since at least the Garand and piston ARs since the 60s. You're not going to see a mass conversion for a real long time though.

Apologies to the OP, we've drifted off topic.

 

[benEzra]

Why do you think the military is looking at piston systems there has to be something to say about that.

SOCOM has considered and rejected a piston gun (the SCAR-L) as a replacement for its DI M4's, and has decided to continue to procure DI M4's. It is adopting the SCAR-H (.308/7.62x51mm) which is a piston gun, but that's replacing a piston gun (the M14).

For the wider military, there is no serious movement to replace the M16/M4 with another rifle, piston or not, and I firmly believe the U.S. military will still be issuing DI Stoner-pattern rifles for decades to come. The system *is* very reliable; most of the M16/M4/AR's faults are due to its magazines, and that problem is fixed by going to something like a PMAG, not by changing the gas system, IMO.

I'm not slamming on piston systems---they do seem to work fine, if the design prevents carrier tilt---but they are not necessarily better than the DI system, just different.

 

[zooski22]

Just go to Google and type in m4 replacement. There are multiple sources military and not saying its going to happen. It may not be something totally new but the possibility is there.

 

[benEzra]

http://www.military.com/news/article/spec-ops-command-cancels-new-rifle.html

Spec Ops Command Cancels New Rifle
June 25, 2010
Military.com|by Christian Lowe

In a surprising reversal that follows years of effort to design a one-of-a-kind commando rifle, the U.S. military's Special Operations Command has abruptly decided to abandon the new SOCOM Combat Assault rifle – the "SCAR," as the rifle is commonly known – in favor of previously-fielded carbines.

(more at link)

Again, the headline is a little misleading in that SOCOM is not cancelling the SCAR-H M14 replacement, just the SCAR-L (Mk-16) M4 replacement, on the grounds that the Mk-16 doesn't offer all that much improvement over the (DI) M4. The Mk-17 (SCAR-H) is a significant improvement over the M14 in the DMR role, though (lighter, shorter, easier to keep running well).