While I personally think that most of the midlength hype is just that, the fact remains that it's what the market thinks it wants, however stupid, uneducated, safe-stuffing, dirt-shooting, wannabe-operator that market may be. Colt, if they want to get serious about the hobbyist market, needs a midlength with a decent extended handguard from the factory. That's not physics, engineering, or TDP, that's marketing.
I, for one, can't wait to see this new offering. I've long been unable to tell someone "go down to Bass Pro and get an X" answer to the "what AR should I get?" question, since everyone wants (or thinks they want) a midlength and a gorilla-arm handguard. Frankly, the gas-tube length for me is maybe 10% of my enthusiasm for this new gun with the handguard being 90%. I sincerely hope they ship it with an MLOK QD swivel for the buyer to place as-desired, and a decent set of metal flip-up sites.
[split from the Colt Midlength thread --TJ]