Is the gas piston a new thing?
I remember the first time I pulled the trigger on an AR15 rifle I thought it was the rich boy gun. Back in the 1990s there was a mentality on the State Game ranges I use to dwell on where a certain level of snotty attitudes went with the expensive firearms. Since just about everyone and there dog owns a 5.56 AR 15 now, I don’t really look at it that way anymore. The new trend in 5.56 calibers is to move away from the direct impingement and towards a gas piston driven gun. There are plenty of people that can honestly claim that their AR15s don’t give them problems, but now that I know more about firearms, this is because they are maintaining their firearms properly.
Alth0ugh you can get the job done with a DI gun, I really have to say the that biggest reason I would want the United States Military to change to an H&K 416 style weapon is so our troops don’t have to break down their guns every day and do as much maintanace. If we all drove a car that got 75 miles to the gallon, but needed an oil change every 500 miles, I think we get annoyed at how much time we are spending changing the oil filter or dropping it off to get done every month. The beauty of market we are in is that piston conversion kits are being made for many of the DI guns and for a few hundred bucks we can convert everything over.
Even though the short stroke and other piston designs have come on the market, and these guns all operate much cleaner, the AR15s DI guns that are being fielded these days are far more reliable than the M16A1 that was issued in Vietnam. Designs and improvements of metalogy has been tremendous and this can be noticed just by feeling the difference between one bolt carrier and another. Another major point about why the AR 15 guns have caught on is that they are so ergonimically superior to most of the military style guns out there that they are easy teaching tools. I normally start people out with learning the fundamentals with a 22lr bolt action with iron sights, but when I’m dealing with an adult that is not afraid of recoil, a .223 A2 style Carbine is an excellent staring point.
The caliber wars are never ending, but once spin to the argument that in my opinion is not much of an argument anymore, is that bullet designs are becoming more and more effective. When you read about the 9mm vs 45acp debates people argue about the size of the bullet, over penetration and stopping power. The reality is that hunting bullets and defensive ammo has taken a step, maybe not a giant step, but a considerable step forward in increasing a calibers effectiveness.
I was never the one that was into the tactical doodad thing when I got into shooting AR15 rifles. My idea of a rifle is a 30/30 or a M1 or FAL rifle. I understood the ballistics of the .223 round and knew what is was good for and always thought that I should stick with the 20 inch heavy barrel for the best terminal ballistics. Well, then I actually started learning about close combat and understood that toting the longest barrel gun and the heaviest barrel is going to mean slower speed and too much weight.