and yet Stoner ditched it on the AR180 and the Stoner63 weapon system in favor of a piston...Anything - as long as they keep the field proven direct impingement system and don’t put any of those new-fangled gas pistons in there.
I haven’t heard as much about the gas pistons lately. Fad? Or slow to catch on? I know those Korean Daewoos have them and they work good with a gas piston system.
and yet Stoner ditched it on the AR180 and the Stoner63 weapon system in favor of a piston..."Field proven?" When has direct impingement been "field proven" where the forces using it did not have mastery of the battlespace?
Furthermore, gas piston is the older of the two systems and IS field proven, from the Sturmgewehr to the new bullpup "spaceguns." It just hasn't been used on the AR platform until recently.