sounds good, i think it is definitely the responsible way to go, and ABSOLUTELY better than putting out something and only then realizing it isn't ready for prime time. In reading about all the R&D it took to get rifle length DI ar-15 to run reliable in all weather, and then the same for M4, i am surprised anything runs well with the range of ammo, pressure curves, and gas port location variants.
I am a rifle-length PDR/PDS owner, and have only ever run mine on the low gas setting with M855, M193, and a few different commercial loadings with overpriced home defense type rounds that were the only thing available at certain times during the 556 ammo drought. In all the shooting I have done, mine cycles with authori-tae with all rounds.
I was reading a recent review of the ARAK which is perhaps more similar to the PDS than a lot of other piston AR designs, and it sounds like they have a hell of a time getting reliable cycling even with 4 or 5 different gas port settings.
Is there anything that can be learned from the port size, port location, piston surface area, piston mass, gas cylinder diplacement, and carrier mass of the Ruger 556 or the SCAR?
Is the main challenge related to the fact that the piston mass/carrier mass ratio is small with the PDS, or is the ratio pretty well in line with other 556 tappet guns?