Wow, you completely missed the part where he says (from the same video which you linked):
"The issue is the direct impingement system has limitations" @ min 2:00
And here's another video where he says it more directly:
"A gun like the 416 will do better than a Direct Impingement Gun" @ 0:27
Vickers goes on to say, that the short-stroke of the 416 is "even better" than the AK's long-stroke piston. So in his ranking, HK's short stroke piston is #1, the AK long stroke is #2, and DI guns are third.
... I should stop arguing with you right here... but to be polite I'll respond to the rest of your points (this time.)
Firstly, why do you think he is saying this? Here's the answer: PHYSICS! That is the reason the "short barreled" DI AR's had serious issues, because all the faults of the DI system get magnified with a shorter barrel which increases the heating and fouling problems in the receiver (and add to this the cycling problem which you mentioned, which I totally forgot about lol, thanks.) It should be obvious to you why, from a mechanics standpoint. When you shorten the barrel, the gas feeding the bolt is going to be hotter, more pressurized and dirtier. This problem simply doesn't exist in the piston system, of any barrel length, because the gas never gets into the receiver.
Now, again, why do you think Vickers said the M4 is a "little too big"? You can get all the barrel lengths in the M4 platform that you can with the 416. In fact, the 416 is quite a bit heavier in the same lengths. Yet, Vickers said the M4 is "too big"... WHY?
Because once you start reducing barrel sizes (for CQB especially) and get down to the 10.4inch barrel, the M4 completely fails here because of its DI system. The minimum barrel length for an M4 is basically 14.5 inches for it to have any hope of reliability, to reduce that overpressure. Even if you ignore the obvious problem of fouling (fanboys usually ignore than by saying that is up to the operator to clean and maintain it) you still can't get over the cycling issues. But none of this is a problem for a piston system like the 416, which you can run in 10.4 without reliability problems, either with fouling, or cycling. That's why Vickers is saying the M4 is "too big" because it's DI system has these "limitations."
And this is coming from a man who used DI ARs for most of his life, and while he was in DELTA. And he is objectively admitting its "limitations" versus the piston 416, precisely because of the piston's reliability. And yet you are arguing with me on something so obvious and wasting both of our time here. The guy was literally involved in the development of this gun! If he loved the DI system so much, why would he switch to the piston?!
The units who don't use it, are the ones who can't afford to. JSOC SMU units fully adopted the 416 a long time ago. Vickers himself was involved in development and getting it accepted in DELTA. And Seal 6 obviously uses it, they used it to kill OBL.
You're citing old and outdated news. These issues were fixed already:
In fact, the only problem now for the 416/M27, which should concern you, is that they are thinking about replacing the 5.56 round entirely lol:
As far as I know, that "Piston tilt" issue only ever occurred in crappy US made guns for the civilian market. No HK/FN/SIG or AK piston system ever had this issue.
I was obviously referring to manufacturing, not usage. Of course a lot of nations ended up using ARs, because of the ton of accessories and ergonomic benefits which the AR platform always offered, far above anything else. But this is the same reason the world's SOF forces so quickly started adopting the 416, because it kept that advantage but dropped the crappy DI.
Great speech man. Now go tell that to the US Army that wants to ditch the 556 lolz.
Here's another link:
"Military leaders and the soldiers on the ground have long been critical of the 5.56mm round, saying it doesn't provide the range and firepower needed on the battlefield. Combat After Action Reports point out that in may cases, U.S. war fighters are outmatched by their foes, who often carry larger caliber rifles, putting U.S. troops at a disadvantaged in range, accuracy and firepower."
For my part, I hope the US ARMY listens to people like you and sticks with the 556... I wouldn't want them switching to anything better and more effective lolz.
Yea and it was great in theory, but then Vietnam happened and soldiers realized that the 556 would get deflected even when hitting a leaf, and completely miss the target because the frekkin bullet has no mass behind it.... and that's, when their crappy DI M16s actually worked in that jungle without frekkin jamming lolz.
Physics is not a "myth". We're talking about thermodynamics and Newtonian kinematics here. And for all the reasons I mentioned, the DI design sucks.
Yea, make sure to do that with your DI M4...
I'll trust the reliability of a good piston system like the 416, or an AK, which doesn't need babysitting.
Cuz we can't afford the 416, like JSOC lolz. I wish we could... And the SSG used AKs for the longest time until they finally got sick of not having the fancy accessories etc. So they started inducting the cheapest ARs they could find, hence DI ARs. I hope they eventually move away from them, but let's see.
yes, please, just stop. this is getting annoying.
