Your take on Affordable Gas-Piston AR's?

[calypsocoral]

Okay, so my dream AR appears to be an M6 by LWRC in 6.8SPC. I shot an ArmaLite, a Bushmaster, and an LWRC. The latter was by far and away my favorite.

It will be a LONG time, however, before I can afford such a thing.

So, I started browsing the internet for more gas-piston AR's, and found a few that I haven't heard of before. I wanted to see what you guys think.

Ruger SR-556E

Stag Arms Model 8

Bushmaster MOE Gas Piston Carbine

And a Newbie to the AR scene, using Adams Arms gas piston systems:
Huldra Arms

I'm especially interested in that last one, since they have a low price point and the company they source their action from, Adams Arms, offers gas piston conversions for DI AR's.

Thanks in advance!

[offshorebear]

Why do you want a gas piston AR? Why do you want an affordable gas piston ar? For the price of that budget Huldra you can get a top quality normal AR. For the price difference, you can shoot thousands of rounds and see if it really matters (it doesn't)

[calypsocoral]

Why do you want a gas piston AR? Why do you want an affordable gas piston ar? For the price of that budget Huldra you can get a top quality normal AR. For the price difference, you can shoot thousands of rounds and see if it really matters (it doesn't)

If you're not going to answer the question posed, don't reply. For all others who post a similar response, I give a good, heart-felt "STFU."

If I want a "why do you want a gas piston?" response, I already have dozens of dead threads to sift through. I've already seen both sides of the argument ad nauseum, and, quite frankly, don't care. This is an argument to which there will never be a winner. You either like them, or you don't.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of DI AR builders out there. The only major difference between most of them is manufacturing tolerances. That's part of what makes an AR an AR.

I'm asking about these gas pistons because they are different systems, each using a similar concept, but slightly-different implementations from each other. They're a more recent variation (at least in AR's-- FAL's and AK's have been using them for more than a half century) in the AR platform, and I want to see who implements it well for a decent price.

[str8shooter]

I have a Bushmaster and couldn't be more pleased, but I have to add that I've never shot any other GP AR model. After thousands of rounds I still haven't had to replace a single component, and cleanup is a breeze, which is the reason I went for GP. For all the GP naysayers, go shoot 1000 rounds through a DI and 1000 through a GP, then go home and clean them. You'll see why some of us swear by GPs.

[myripley]

Check out Sig 516

[Nate7667]

I have beat the ever living snot out of my Adam's Arms 5.45x39 upper on a postie M16.
Not sure how competitive they are priced with the others you mentioned, this just my experience.
I have no issues with DI vs piston upper. I went this route due to the corrosive crap from the surplus 5.45(no point in shooting clean stuff). Didnt feel like giving the lower a bath every time i went to the range as i personally would with a DI upper shooting corrosive surplus.
At the end of the day, pull the piston guts out, spray them with WD40 along with the barrel, maybe run a patch or two done the tube, wipe off the piston parts, and put it back together. Every couple range trips, take the bolt apart and clean all the sealant crap out of the extractor.

[spblademaker]

[QUOTE=calypsocoral;1847255]If you're not going to answer the question posed, don't reply. For all others who post a similar response, I give a good, heart-felt "STFU."

If I want a "why do you want a gas piston?" response, I already have dozens of dead threads to sift through. I've already seen both sides of the argument ad nauseum, and, quite frankly, don't care. This is an argument to which there will never be a winner. You either like them, or you don't.

Best response I've seen in a while!

[animalmother85]

My take on affordable gas-piston ARs...

Run away. Save your money for an LWRC or a PWS. The lesser Piston ARs do not hold up. Huldra Arms is built off of the Adams arms idea. Again, run away from that. I had (still have the parts) or an adams arms, I converted it to a DI gun.

I have an LWRC and am getting a PWS. Both are good to go. A good friend of mine is in charge of training SRTs for counter drug in florida. He shoots a PWS Mk214 and a PWS Mk114 that PWS has sent him for testing and evaluation. He has had good luck with them. No, he doesn't have 31,000+ rounds through it (yet), but he does have over 17,000 logged.


With all that said, I also like and own DI guns, they hold their place(so now I will STFU).

When I read this post, I kind of had a feeling that someone would say, "Ha, mere mortal, why would you want a Piston AR? Just get good DI gun!" or something along that line. Let the haters hate and check out what the LAPD just bought.

[ViperHummel]

I don't own a GP AR but I have shot a few and I have done a fair share of research. Most of the lower budget (but still excellent ARs) use a system very similar to the AA piston kit. The ones that are bought as Piston ARs and not retro fit seem to have taken the neccessary steps to avoid carry tilt issues. One being the use of a PWS style buffer tube that has a fluted look that is actually internal ribs to guide the bolt carrier group back in to the tube. The other I see more often is a modified bolt carrier that is rounded off and has some other design features to avoid the tilt issue. The system the Bushmaster uses appears to be like the Osprey Defense.

Now, with all that said, you can't go wrong with most of them. Ruger had a recall issue but that has been resolved, Stag has a life time warranty on the Barrel so that right there is a huge plus. I owned a DI Stag and I miss it dearly. Bushmaster has had speed bumps in it's recent history so I can not say "yay" or "nay". The Sig516 get's rave reviews but I still don't see even a handful in my Western Pa.
Either way, they are all SHORT-STROKE systems. People in here swear to their longevity and durability. I cannot b/c I do not know. I wanted to build an AR to my specs using a GP system but I get a little uneasy about a thin rod being forced into a flat metal surface repeatedly. There are no reliable long-stroke retrofit GP kits, so I cannot take that option.

The Sig556 uses a LONG-STROKE (joined by other companies such a PWS *drool*), but it's biggest down fall is replacement parts. I love my Sig. I would take it into battle, but I am no armorer and all gun's with moving parts will need fixed or have parts replaced when used heavily.

When it comes down to it, I think the question "why do you want a piston AR" is wrong to ask. What should be asked is, "What do you want OUT of the piston AR?" They run clean, run solid, and run cool where it should run cool. I am uneasy about short-stroke but you can get backup parts.

Might I direct your attention to PWS even though they do not offer 6.8?

http://primaryweapons.com/store/pc/v...?idCategory=15


Edit: Animal I was typing this while you posted... you must let me know about the PWS!

[str8shooter]

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The system the Bushmaster uses appears to be like the Osprey Defense.
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The Bushmaster gas piston upper uses the Patriot Ordnance Firearms design, but is manufactured by BM. I've read the POF design is one of the best in the civvy market, which was the final deal maker for me. It's a GP design from the ground up, not a conversion kit slapped on a PI system like some of the budget GP uppers.