>>Problem is, the WWSD project has
>>achieved some sort of commercial critical mass, and the supply is not
>>there yet.
>
>Tr. "InRange fans have bought all the carbon fiber float tubes"? :) Tubes, barrels (particularly barrels), bolt carriers, lowers, triggers - I mean, the world is not going to run low on Aero Precision upper receivers any time soon, but practically everything else in the build sells out almost immediately when it goes in stock.
Rumor has it that Cav Arms (who make the GWACS poly lower), Faxon (who make the barrel and the handguard) and KE Arms are working together to coordinate production and perhaps bring a WWSD-style rifle to market as a thing. Cav, KE and Faxon all make OEM ARs of their own already (each of which contains parts from one of the others - you can buy a complete rifle from KE Arms with a GWACS lower and the SLT-1 trigger InRange endorses), so it's not an unimaginable stretch.
Karl mentioned on the InRange discord that Cav Arms is working on the adjustable stock problem, and that he and Ian have been part of the design discussions around that. The whole polymer lower thing might take off with the sporting crowd finally at that point. I am hoping they manage to make an impact on the future of AR development; from a historical/nerd perspective it's just cool to have an up-close view of how the project impacts the design of ARs over time.
I am a (software) product manager by profession, and these sorts of design/development discussions over major architecture changes that have long-term impacts across an industry are obviously pretty relevant to that. One of the things I like about Ian and Karl is that they talk and think exactly like competent product managers trying to figure out how to improve a product, and it's an approach that seems to lead to pretty major returns in terms of usability improvements when it's applied. Obviously manufacturing is less of an issue in software, but maintainability and scalability fills a similar position by way of compensation. It's been hugely educational just to listen to the way that Ian talks about the design process. I know it's certainly impacting the way I talk and think about the product I manage.