Gas Piston Conversion

C

critter243

New member
So...... I'm building a new upper and thinking of trying a gas piston setup enstead of the gas inpingment system. Has anyone used the piston setup ? If so how reliable is it. Any malfunctions and how is it as far as cleaning since the BCG gets nasty from just one shot ?
 
Piston systmes are neat but add extra weight and cost to a build. IMO, unless you are going with a short-barreled upper I would suggest just sticking with Direct Impingement.
 
I've built and ran purpose built AR's for hunting, 3 Gun, benchrest 3G (Glassed Gas Gun), and CMP/NRA Highpower competitions. I've ran piston drives in all of those applications. I REALLY haven't seen any significant improvement or advantage for piston drives over DI in AR-15's.

"Self Cleaning" is very subjective. All you're really doing is moving the destination of the heat and fouling from your BCG to your piston system.

Running a cleaner load with an adjustable gas block seems to give me more advantage than a piston drive ever did.

If they didn't add $150-250 in cost, I'd be more likely to buy more piston drives, but it's just not pertinent.
 
But why? Piston systems came out as a marketing gimmick really. I mean how much cleaner are they? I've run about 1000 rounds through an old beater AR I have without cleaning it just to see how dirty it got. Still haven't cleaned it and the bolt group still isn't sticky or any buildup in it, I've looked. And the manufacturers are backing away from them as well, they really don't bring anything new to the table. And new rifle sales numbers weren't what they had hoped for.
 
Originally Posted By: VarminterrorIf they didn't add $150-250 in cost, I'd be more likely to buy more piston drives, but it's just not pertinent.

Adams Arms has dropped their prices quite a bit as they've streamlined production and started making the majority of their parts in-house. The prices nowadays are really competitive for a piston upper, honestly. We have piston uppers starting at $499.95. That's really inexpensive after you factor in all of the extra parts and the factor the barrels are melonited 4150, etc.

Adams Arms Complete Piston Uppers

I wouldn't convert any of my rifles over to a piston system 'just because', but the costs are considerably less nowadays to get into a piston upper than they used to be.
 
Originally Posted By: Varminterror..Running a cleaner load with an adjustable gas block ...
What's a typical cleaner load ?? TIA
 
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