No, just based on my experience with IWI, going back into the IMI days quite a ways. Makasi is nobody and while they may do well enough they aren't going to compete in a lot of ways. Dig your heels in all you like. I will actually be comparing the two directly while you are pretending looks are why you aren't buying a Carmel.
I would suggest that my hands-on knowledge of IWI rifles and SMGs dating back to the FAL, the STEN, the Uzi and Galil ARM and SAR at least equals your own, and may very well exceed it, seeing as I have owned and previously used all of the above for more than a few decades now. So no advantage to you there.
The Carmel may very well be the next best thing in military service rifles. As it currently stands however, we simply don't know because it has not been adopted for large scale (or even limited use) by ANY credible military force. Which leaves it firmly in the US commercial market of competition shooters, recreational users, home defenders and the like. Kind of like..... the Makasi. So for all of the Carmel's supposed design and manufacturing excellence, it is competing with the likes of a purely civilian concoction. The Makasi is at least made of well-machined and durable metal. The Carmel? Not so much. Sure, the G36 runs fine, so too ought the IWI product with its recycled Tavor BCG and Short-Stroke Piston system. However, I'll take the self-regulating AR-18 Gas System over the Tavor system if given the choice,. Perhaps that is just be my misplaced bias in favour of the Makasi talking. The Carmel apparently has a bit of chunkiness problem to contend with also, which is odd for a largely polymer Receiver.
At the end of the day I really don't care if the Makasi is the best or second-best 5.56 mm service rifle remaining on the Canadian market. For me it is a mere blaster, good for whittling away at my 5.56mm ammo stocks It (like the Carmel) has zero military heritage other than the Makasi's deliberate design homages to the FN FAL and AR15 platforms. It therefore has no place within my military reference collection and exists only for shooting enjoyment. So long as the Makasi is reasonably reliable and accurate I will be a happy consumer.
All other considerations being equal however, I will not willingly spend my good money on a firearm that does not aesthetically appeal to me. That rifle is the Carmel. Affording both is not at all an issue for this retiree, so that is not what holds me back from the IWI product. Call me old school, but at the end of the day I would much rather that my $2.5K bought me a metal rifle instead of a plastic one. Both have proven internal design features. At the end of the day we will know the relative strengths and weaknesses of both soon enough. Oh BTW, there is no need for all of your personal slights and snide remarks to continue. If you want to act like a ####-head, find someone else to engage with as I have far more productive ways to spend my time....
