That much is true, design theory, static ranges, and limited troop trials will only take the testing so far. It isn't until you give a fully loaded soldier a rifle that you can find out if the magazine housing is strong enough to work as a step ladder in urban operations, or if two rifles can serve as a stretcher, in the case of the C7A1, it is and can.


Take the original C7 magazines, they were some of the early polymer design and they did not get a positive reputation, we switched to a metal bodied magazine, but after the improvement of plastics the P-MAG is the "high-speed" kit the world over. Although they are well improved, I don't trust them and would never rely on them. However technology does evolve with fielding, testing, and breakage.