It's hard to say at this point for certain what the ACR will come out as production wise of course and I share the same concerns as you do I think. The specs have all been laid out by Magpul, and Magpul has sought assurances I'm sure that those specs can and will be met along with a high level of quality control. I doubt seriously that Magpul would want to take more chances than necessary or operate out of purely good faith that Bushmaster wouldn't make serious production errors on what is Magpuls first rifle design to go into production.
Only time will tell though. Bushmaster certainly has a lot to prove to me as I feel their ability to make milspec ARs in the past has been lacking to say the least. I've looked over the Magpul design and thought about until my head hurts and it looks like a solid and simple design. So should production go alright and QC is good it should be worth the money and effort to purchase one.
As for date...who knows? Has anyone here seen a rifle brought to market on schedule? I mean I understand the issue of the evil Obama and Dem Congress unchecked lurking has people on edge, but other than that it wont kill us to have to wait. As long as they get the rifle out before the end of Spring 09' I think we'll be in the clear.
The questions I have as to date, that nobody will answer over at Bushmaster, is whether they plan to go to LEO and MIL first now. At SHOT Show everyone was saying very clearly that it would be civilian first, and now I'm hearing things coming from various folks that LEO and MIL are going to go first. I know Bushmaster is already looking for LEO contracts. I'm going to assume that civilians take first, but like I said I'm not sure.
If they don't go to retailers first with the rifles and go to LEOs then that could push back things a bit. So let's hope that's not the case.
Ok, and now I'll sit back and wait for the Bushmaster cult to flame me...this should be good.