WK-180C/WS-MCR: Why the Mid Length Piston?

The topic of replacing the factory 180C/MCR piston with a mid-length piston has been coming up over and over again.  Rather than re-typing the information, I have decided to place it here.

For ease I am going to say that for the duration of this article, I am going to collectively call the WK180C and WS-MCR, the Canadian 180 pattern rifle. Both are loosely based of the AR180B.

The 180 pattern rifle uses a carbine length gas system to push a piston that in turn moves the carrier backwards enough that a cam causes the bolt to rotate and unlock.  The residual pressure then pushes the bolt and carrier back ejecting the round and picking another round up.  The bolt and carrier move back at about 4 to 5 meters per second.

Now the original AR180B platform used a rifle length piston system.  The rifle length port provides only 14% of the gas pressure as the carbine port.  Yet it works.  It cycles, it has a very long life span.

So when I heard about 180 rifles breaking (pistons and bolt lugs being the main culprits) I had to question why.  The answer was obvious: there is too much pressure.

It is akin to using a sledgehammer to put finishing nails into your wall to hang pictures... it can be done, but the chance of too much force being applied and creating damage, is very real.

Now the AR180B was designed in America.  It is not speculation to say that they have milder weather then us.  Perhaps the carbine length was picked to ensure cycling if frost formed on the gun?  Maybe it was because it is easier to snap a long piston?  Maybe it was as simple and sinister as cost cutting... I didn't know.

I didn't want to risk potential reliability in cold weather so I examined the possibility of making the Canadian 180 a mid-length piston.  The mid length has 5000PSI less pressure at the port.

So I built it: the Mid length piston.  And that's all that I needed to build; the original gas block still worked and there were lots of mid-length ported barrels out there.  

With a mid length piston, the rifle shot softer and put less wear on parts.

If you are using your Canadian 180 pattern rifle to casually target shoot, this upgrade isn't for you.  The warranty on broken carbine pistons is great.  A broken gun can be brought back up to operation in 2 weeks or less with the friendly and helpful staff at Kodiak.

But if you want this to be a rifle that you use hard, competition or survival, you are best off upgrading.

Visit Specterarms.ca to pick up a piston today.

 

Victims of Tactical Fashion

Much like the fashion industry, we too suffer from what is cool and what is not.  Fads and trends.  Often these tends fall away from what is practical or useful.  

The current tactical fashion is unnecessarily long handguards.  You see it with new production rifles, specifically the WS-MCR.  Even with the WK-180C people are in a mad scramble to change the functional handguard to something silly long.

It escapes me how this serves any practical purpose except for the LCF (look cool factor).  Extra weight?  Check.  Lower maneuverability and usability? Check?  Bragging rights like every other mouth-breathing wannabe cool guy? Check.

Perhaps the extra weight helps to reduce the hellish recoil of the 223 rounds?

Maybe they are worried that they might lick the barrel and thus want it covered?

I don’t know.

I had a guy try to justify this trend outside of LCF: he said that people wanted to put flashlights as far forward as possible.  Does his flashlight shine 5” farther than mine?

Another one I hear is: I want to shoot like Magpul tells me!  Navy SEALs do it!  I roll my eyes at this.  You know that Navy SEALs are generally not running around with full length rifles right?  You know that the Magpul method is not used in the real world like you think it is?

I can’t stand lies.  If you are one of these people, just be honest.  Tell me: I do it because that’s the cool thing nowadays.  I’ll respect you for it.