There are reasons this makes sense as a real deal.
1) Norinco CQ, an M16A1 that evolved to match the M16 series and then M4 has been in production for about 3 decades now. They have been doing it so long the Iranians cloned them.
2) China is happy to sell such on the export market to nations the US and European states are not well trying to match the latest vouge
3) at the heart of the HK416 rifle is the Short stroke gas piston system from the G36 it’s self derived from the AR18. That same system is commonly found in a number of rifles around the world including the heart of the Chinese Qbz03. Piston AR15 based rifles are not really new the Taiwanese have been building them since the Type 65 in 1976. Prototypes of such were built by colt as far back as the 60s.
“Nothing new under the sun as they say.”
4) it’s been done, piston AR have flooded the market with commercial and military grade. But some th ave takes it farther to reproduce 416 like rifles yet still plenty of demand is out there. At the user level the piston system lends its self to suppressed shorter barrels due to isolating the gas to the piston as opposed to the whole gas system. Some also believe the claims of critics of the direct impingement system. The popular narrative of the M16 still spouted to this day. Old wives tales and half truths.
5)of course the biggest feature of the 416 pattern isn’t the piston, it’s the rail and receiver redesign. The hand guard system on the 416 is quick detach and because of the way it was designed can mount a grenade launcher directly. Something very few other rifles including AR can do. This is because the receiver and hand guard were designed to do that. M16A1 gained M203 after a separate program and the mounting as a result was an afterthought. The same holds true for the modern M4A1 and M320.
this is something the Cs/LR17 seeks to emulate with its Grenade launcher.
