[MrEdd]

You just conceded my point.

It needs.constant.cleaning, even with the proper amunition. Cleaning you may not have time for or.which may be unadvantagouse in the typhoon or sandstorm you are in.

I prefer a weapon that is reliable when I am in a khamsin or slogging through a Phillipino swamp in monsoon season. Both of which are places I wound up.

Gas operated aint it.

[Durus]

No I didn't concede your point. An AR doesn't need "constant" cleaning. Does it need to be cleaned more than a piston? Yes. Even a piston platform needs to be cleaned. There is no such thing as a perfect rifle and all platforms have strengths and weakness. A rifle has to do more than go BANG every time you pull the trigger. It has to be capable of the accuracy required to hit what you are aiming at. The biggest weakness of a piston platform is accuracy. The biggest weakness to the m4 is the caliber. The second biggest weakness is also one of it greatest strengths. Because it's a gas impingement system, powder residue is deposited in the chamber, but because it is a GI system it is also more accurate than a piston. Chrome plating the bolt mitigates the weakness while preserving the strength. Putting something other than 5.56 in the stoner platform removes its biggest weakness.