Non-lever ? - Does anyone have one of these on their AR?

[Ysabel Kid]

Sounds interesting. I know some of us also enjoy the EBR in addition to our levers. Does anyone have one of these, or ever worked with an AR15 that had one installed?

http://www.military.com/news/article/a- ... =army-a.nl

I know - I know - I'm pushing my "OT" limit this week. Sorry!

[Hobie]

Anyone who has had to clean all of the accumulated carbon residue out of the receiver of an AR type rifle with direct gas impingement system would like the piston system for that reason alone. The piston is a proven system in other rifles. I think the piston was originally eliminated to reduce the number of parts in the weapon and thus the cost of production. HOWEVER, clean, properly lubed, ARs function. The piston will not eliminate the windblown dust/dirt/sand that will dirty and jam an AR. I've gone through some iterations with issue M-16s firing huge quantities of blanks (which foul much more than ball or tracer) and had no problems.

PS - I once had an early Colt AR-15 carbine sans forward assist. Never needed the forward assist. Shot it a lot with ammo (not at all with blanks) and never had a lick of worry about whether or not it would feed or go bang. I will not be spending extra for the piston.

[alnitak]

YK, check out AR15.com. The piston conversion kits are discussed there in length, and a couple of manufacturers are now providing piston ARs, rather than standard DI ARs. The pistons ARs come with a $400-500 premium, as do the drop-in kits. I hear they run a lot cleaner, though much sentiment seems to say that the DI system is just fine for most of us.

[slowhandscotty]

I don't have the Adams Arms one but the Primary Weapons Systems one. http://primaryweapons.com/store/pc/home.asp I got my upper built from Addax tactical who is a certified installer for PWS http://www.addaxgpu.com/. The system is great and it's a breeze to clean up after a day of shooting. The piston area is not required to be cleaned until after a few thousand rounds. It's defiantly not needed but I thought is was something different and I chose to spend the extra money to get it. I have 2 AR's, one that is standard DI then the one with the PWS system. Some people say these systems have problems with carrier tilt but I have not seen that yet in mine with 800+ rounds through it. (just got in Nov.)

[rost495]

I've probably gone through 200K rounds of 223 in ARs over the years in competition, DI all the way. If its clean you are worrying about, I can run a whole season of shooting 8-10K rounds with only wiping the upper out and cleaning the bolt carrier a few times.

[Rexster]

I was looking into piston ARs a while back, and one negative was that heat was not dissipated as well. Letting the gases blow into the receiver allows better heat dissipation. I don't remember the technical stuff; this is just what I recalled, and it was enough for me to determine that if I bought or assembled another AR, I would stay with the original gas system. I don't like all the dirt inside the receiver, either, but it doesn't kill me to clean it.

[salvo]

YK, just get a .223 that was designed that way from inception

[Ysabel Kid]

YK, just get a .223 that was designed that way from inception

Hmmm Scott - an excuse to get a new gun. I LIKE IT!

Well, it will need to wait though - the gun fund is gone!

[steveb]

I found this link interesting on the DI system and good cutaway pics to boot.

http://www.ar15.com/content/page.html?id=535

[Jay Bird]

The gas piston is not needed on an AR-15. The gas piston only helps out in full auto or over 1000s of rds. The gas piston has more weight throwing around which hurts accuracy. ( causing barrel flex). Save your money and buy ammo. Colt has been testing gas piston and they're not changing the M-16s FULL AUTOs.

[AJMD429]

I think it could be an issue in severe 'field' conditions - where you were shooting thousands of rounds a day and cleaning only when you got a quick chance. For most of us who shoot as a hobby this simply isn't an issue. As far as 'urban chaos' or 'survival' mode, I'd rather have the extra ammo or another handgun, for the same amount of money!

[Ysabel Kid]

Good advice on the extra ammo! Steve, that link is an excellent resource - I saved it! Thanks!