Also he is letting the tail wag the dog. He decided the answer was his rifle then frames the requirements to it.
I took it as him saying this rifle fits his needs nicely, hence why he likes it, it's his favorite, etc. No chance that anyone can stumble across something that works well for them and appreciate that after the fact? Or is everything you do planned ahead of time with the result you expect? Realizing a tool is indispensable, then quantizing
why it is indispensable is the first step in improving upon it.
Willie, I think it's fair to say you don't like semi-autos, or at least see no civilian use for them. But their phenomenal popularity should suggest that, just possibly, they work wonderfully for many (most?) others and suit their perceived needs just nicely. Whether or not you deign to rule their needs "legitimate." You raise a good point about manual actions handling under-powered or specially loadings better, but semi's can be top loaded, too; just not from a magazine. They can also be manually cycled without issue if a gas-cutoff is present.
"been wanting to design something really good that i could release as open-source and make available to everyone who wanted to make their own"
That's a big mission WG is trying to work on, since we all know parts kits won't last forever, but AR and AK bits will be ubiquitous for the duration of gunownership in this nation. Combining the reliability/compactness of the AK bolt carrier and forward piston/spring arrangement with the modularity and barrel/extension design of the AR was the goal. I think we were scuttled by no one's being willing to destroy both an AR and an AK to determine the project's viability
Also, 223 does kill pigs just fine, but 308 is a lot heavier, and therefore has a wider range of effective shots before it runs out of penetration. When blasting at a scattering sounder, I understand the need for sufficient effectiveness even in non-ideal shots (like from a helicopter
). I personally would only take "ethical" shots at pigs, but I understand that landowners seeking to annihilate a pest may have no such luxury.
TCB