A Question regarding the Stoner Direct Impingement system

[LordOsborne]

Greetings all, and happy holidays.

I was doing some casual reading on Wikipedia and came across the following picture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:M16_rifle_Firing_FM_23-9_Fig_2-7.png

What I was wondering is: why is it necessary to port the gas directly into the bolt? From my point of view (that is, of a total amature in this area), why not simply stop the gas at the gas key on the top of the bolt carrier? Seems to me that the gas won't stay ported in the bolt for very long once the connection with the gas tube is severed after it has been forced back. Does the gas need to be vented into the bolt for pressure reasons?

Thanks for your time.

 

[KevinB]

The bolt acts a piston to keep pressure up on the system to get enough momentum to cycle.
When the carrier is moving rearward the piston effective opens - bleeding the pressure.
  The wiki diagram does a pretty poor example of how it works.

With the current design the gas needs to go somewhere, and you cant really vent it anywhere else.
I'll take a few pics of the system and the Hk416 gas piston and how they differ in the next two to three days.

 

[LordOsborne]

Thanks, Kev.

 

[KevinB]

Sorry dude -- I forogt while on leave - and am back in Iraq -- hopefully if I get rejoined with my luggage and I can get some pics here for you.

 

[LordOsborne]

No worries - i'm eager to understand how it all comes together.