most bolt action rifles ... ? but not a lot for semi, hey? i mean, the czechs know how to to make a firearm so it must work ok. i think that the lack of striker-fired semis might be due to the military origin of most of the firearms we are used to - cost of production, ease of maintenance in field conditions, etc.
i think the thought is that most of the sporting rifles we are used to are military in origin. the civilian market for these manufacturers is an afterthought. as such, the firearms originally designed for the military (with compromises for mass production, full-auto capability, field maintainability, ability to operate without cleaning, etc.) are then modified for our use, but bring with them all of the compromises made for their primary market. even our current 180 guns are copies of a military prototype (fake rivets and all).
an astute manufacturer could find a lot of opportunity in the current market - opportunity to design a firearm for civilians with no military origin. this could bring the following benefits ...
- no military origin makes it harder to ban.
- broader international market for any region or country that bans guns by shape, name, or specific operating mechanism.
- a lot of the recent advances in pistol design could transfer over.
- designed semi-auto from the start.
- manufacturing; the current 180 craze is cnc machining a firearm designed to be stamped - if you are going to cnc something then take advantage of the benefits this process has to offer - better tolerances, more intricate machining, lighter materials, etc.
i think the 180 is a good starting point; simple piston, simple bolt, simple return springs. start by making the upper 'stand-alone'; machine it such that the return spring plate is held in place in the upper similar to the rear slide cover on a pistol and no need for the lower to provide any structural support. put a 1913 rail on the back of the return spring plate and done.
this way the lower could be plastic and not structural; 3D printed or whatever. two pieces; interchangeable magwell similar to an sl8 or pc9, and grip/trigger group similar to any current plastic striker pistol. interchangeable magwell allows changing magazine type when you change caliber, and the trigger group could take say glock trigger parts (without the trigger bar, as no longer any need to find your way past magazine) so that there is lots of aftermarket support. safety on the trigger like a pistol. design the grip to take modular grip panels (like a 320, etc.) so the small hand guys can't complain. magwell would hinge at the front and pin at the back (similar to sl8) and rear magwell pin would also serve as front trigger group pin. rear trigger group pin could also serve to fasten return spring plate for two pin takedown.
striker trigger group would require striker bolt of course; not sure what level of difficulty that brings. other thoughts would be to locate the piston at the front of the receiver and use ar-style gas block and tube to bring the gas to the piston (instead of having a super long piston that adds weight and recoil impulse, and more prone to misalignment and breakage). if you want to get smart, put the piston and gas system below the barrel such that the recoil impulse from the piston pushes down instead of up and serves as a compensator of sorts (if you can find your way past the magazine). all this might require a proprietary handguard when all is said and done, but a carbon tube of appropriate diameter should not drive the cost up too much. speaking of tubes, anyone wonder why the 180 clones are big square things? no need for square; round might work a lot better. ie, start with a tube instead of a block in the cnc machine.
