PL> Do you have any alternate to those "old" designs that you dislike
 PL> because of their age?  The Chartered Arms SAR-80 is closer to the AR-18
 PL> than to the M16.
Yeah, the SAR-80 is derived from the AR-18.  I thought I said that.
Sure, I have some alternatives to the "old" designs.  There's the H&K G41 or 
G36, the CETME Modelo L, the Swiss Sturmgewehr 90, the Steyr AUG.  If you 
want to look further toward the future, there have been experimental guns: 
the H&K G11, the Interdynamic MKR, and the AAI flechette-firing rifles.
Most of the rifles with actually new technology have faltered for political 
and economic reasons since the end of the Cold War.  The G11 was the ultimate 
example of that.  It was developed almost to the point where it was ready for 
production, then the Berlin Wall came down.  So, the newly unified Germans 
found themselves with tons of AKM rifles on hand.  And of course, they also 
found themselves with *other* pressing concerns to spend their money on, 
rather than preparations for a Soviet attack.
It was the same story with Voere's caseless, electrically-fired ammo.  It was 
designed for an assault rifle, but suddenly they found nobody was in the 
market for a new, unproven, incompatible rifle.  That led to their ill-fated 
attempt to sell bolt-action rifles to hunters.  (Those guns will be 
collector's items someday, I'm sure.)
 Tony Belding 
 http://hamilton.htcomp.net/tbelding/
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