Gas piston conversion

[Kimber45 3]

Howdy all.Iam looking into playing around with a gas piston conversion for one of my AR's. Iam looking at the Adams Arms low profile and the Syrac low profile. Iam leanng towards the Syrac kit due to it weight and low parts count. Not to mention that the Syrac kit will fit under most rails.. anyone here tinker with one of these? Pros / Cons ect....ect... thanks all.

[MidwestPX 172]

One question: Why?

[DirtyDigz 1,812]

Pros

 

- your bcg, upper and lower interiors stay cleaner, longer. 

 

Cons

 

- Your rifle weighs more

 

- You have to worry about precise positioning of your gas block

 

- You are wedded to a non-standard bolt carrier

 

- Using an optic?  Get used to cleaning the front lens more often than a DI rifle.

 

- You have to worry about rail interference

[Lalo 13]

If you do decide to go through with this (I wouldnt recommend it), I would buy two of each component. That way if something breaks when you need it, you have it ready on hand and not have to abandon the rifle.

 

Yes, I know, pison AR's are the bees knees and never break and rarely require cleaning...

[SuperSixOne 4]

Wow,

 

People really don't like Piston AR's.

 

I love mine!

[Shawnmoore81 623]

I have a piston gun and a few gas guns. The piston gun is heavier but not unmanageable. I did have to send it back due to an issue but sig fixed it with ease. Other then that the gun is great.

[MidwestPX 172]

Wow,

 

People really don't like Piston AR's.

 

I love mine!

The only piston AR-type rifles I personally like are the suppressed machine guns.

[bhunted 887]

Always with the negative waves Moriarity!

Always with the negative waves.

 

 

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[Eric. 9]

One more pro: cooler running bcg

 

One more con: extra weight attached to barrel affects accuracy

 

 

Eric

[bhunted 887]

I don't buy any of the negativity. It's all about people that are hard dead set against something they don't believe in. I have both DI and GP and they are fine weapons. We are not running and gunning in the desert or jungle. If you want light, go DI cause gawd forbid and extra few ounces will kill you. All this crap about parts breaking and stuff. I'm sure some of you keep spare parts for your ARs no matter which. Don't yaz?

The dirt piling under your barrel, pistons breaking, blah blah blah....

I literally shot the shit out of my GPs and the only thing I got was a burnt hand from grabbing the effing barrel thinking it was cooled down.

So unless you really fall prey to everyone's gripes, don't get one. If you want to convert one, Adams is the way to go. If you just want a prebuilt rifle, there are plenty GP ARs appearing on the market. Don't let anyone dissuade you. They are fine rifles. Fine enough obviously because the military is starting to trust them.

 

 

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[M1152 713]

I don’t know about the kit you mentioned, nor am I not an expert on any firearm or anything else for that matter. That said last year Midway had a sale on Osprey and Adams arms kits and I picked up the osprey defense.  I have a pair of DI’s and the one piston rifle and to me there is no difference shooting one or the other at the range plus I try and stay away from that XXX is better than YYY.  Anyway the targets don’t care and neither does the ammo. Here’s a few vids on the osprey if you are interested

 

https://youtu.be/STpLZwQ7Qyg

 

https://youtu.be/YWDxNimtWWY

[SJG 253]

I have an Adams Arms piston upper. I also have a Spike's DI upper. I like them both. I enjoy shooting both. If I only had to pick one, it would not matter, either works fine and the pros and cons of each are not big deals.

[Kimber45 3]

Wow what a rough crowd.....lol... thats why I love this place... thats guys for all the input bad and good... as far as why. I just wanted to tinker with something diffrent and to see the diffrences myself. As far as weight goes the Syrac system is only a few ozs. More....For those who dont know Syrac Ord was started by a guy who headed the development of their piston kit and decided to go his own way...Ive used a few of their adjustable gas blocks and was very impressed... As far as piston for machine guns LOVE IT.. but not in this state.......at least not this lifetime...lol.as far as longevity and duribility goes I plan on putting this on my test mule rifle and run the living snot out of it.. If it dosent break down I will intergrate it into another build.... UGH always another build.....you guys know what Iam talking about.....lol anyhow thanks for all the input and keep the comments coming.

[Vlad G 345]

I don't have a problem with uppers designed to be piston run. I do have a problem with conversion kits for DI to piston. Don't do it.

 

It isn't about weather DI is better then piston or the other way around, it is about how the bolt carrier moves under the two different scenarios, piston carriers want to "tip" as pushed at the top, DI carrier really move straight back (because they get pushed from inside out).  You really want an upper that was designed for that and has proper support and pads and whatever on the carrier to account for it so it doesn't rock. If you want a Ruger or a Sig or 416 or whatever designed for it, it is probably fine, the conversion kits I'd stay away from.

[M1152 713]

Its called “carrier tilt” for those guys keeping track of Pros and Cons. It’s addressed in the MAC video I posted. MAC points out that his carbine has fired thousands of rounds and with no indication of carrier tilt.  the Osprey bolt carrier is chamfered to prevent the issue, like anything else some kits are worse than others.

[vladtepes 1,060]

I read all the posts here.. and I am still not sure I understand the point?

 

people are saying "they work fine".. but then also say their DI guns work fine as well.. so why invest the time and money to do this? I really don't get it.. 

[Vlad G 345]

Its called “carrier tilt” for those guys keeping track of Pros and Cons. It’s addressed in the MAC video I posted. MAC points out that his carbine has fired thousands of rounds and with no indication of carrier tilt.  the Osprey bolt carrier is chamfered to prevent the issue, like anything else some kits are worse than others.

 

Right, the problem is what works with one combination of parts may not work with another. I'm ok with people spending their money anyway they want, but if my opinion if you want a piston gun, get one that had all the parts designed to work for it.

 

I'll add this, I hang out with competition shooters who don't think for second about spending $5k on a rifle where performance and reliability is everything. For what is worth, I don't know a single person in the that group shooting a piston gun unless their are sponsored by piston gun makers.

 

But hey, the way guns get better is by people tinkering with them, so I'm all for it, just not with my money

[MidwestPX 172]

Wow what a rough crowd.....lol... thats why I love this place... thats guys for all the input bad and good... as far as why. I just wanted to tinker with something diffrent and to see the diffrences myself. As far as weight goes the Syrac system is only a few ozs. More....For those who dont know Syrac Ord was started by a guy who headed the development of their piston kit and decided to go his own way...Ive used a few of their adjustable gas blocks and was very impressed... As far as piston for machine guns LOVE IT.. but not in this state.......at least not this lifetime...lol.as far as longevity and duribility goes I plan on putting this on my test mule rifle and run the living snot out of it.. If it dosent break down I will intergrate it into another build.... UGH always another build.....you guys know what Iam talking about.....lol anyhow thanks for all the input and keep the comments coming.

I have an Adams kit that was made for the original Mega MTS monolithic upper. I used it to build something different for myself, the same reason you are interested in them. It's a good gun but I hardly ever shoot it because the initial novelty of it being something different wore off. I also have an Osprey kit that's going on an open bolt full-auto only AR I've been working on. I chose the Osprey kit over the AA because I think it's a better kit in general. I don't hate on people who want to try something different. It's your money and your time and you may have a different outcome than I did and may really like your piston kit and if you do, more power to you.

[M1152 713]

I read all the posts here.. and I am still not sure I understand the point?

 

people are saying "they work fine".. but then also say their DI guns work fine as well.. so why invest the time and money to do this? I really don't get it.. 

How about a blast from the past.. That's easy,  for me the same reason why you (or I) would take a perfectly good Saiga 223 and convert it to accept AR mags.

 

 

Right, the problem is what works with one combination of parts may not work with another. I'm ok with people spending their money anyway they want, but if my opinion if you want a piston gun, get one that had all the parts designed to work for it.

 

I'll add this, I hang out with competition shooters who don't think for second about spending $5k on a rifle where performance and reliability is everything. For what is worth, I don't know a single person in the that group shooting a piston gun unless their are sponsored by piston gun makers.

 

But hey, the way guns get better is by people tinkering with them, so I'm all for it, just not with my money

If I drop 5K on something other than my home it better come with dancing girls, LOL.  I’m a recreational shooter and no intention dropping those kind of funds on this pastime unless I hit some Lotto money. Nice chatting with you, take care for now...

 

one a side note, if anyone is looking for a “complete piston rifle” I believe Bud’s is running an Adams Arms Blem special, I received a Buds email blast earlier and deleted it but just did a quick search and found this one. In the meantime I’m happy with my Franken guns

[vladtepes 1,060]

How about a blast from the past.. That's easy,  for me the same reason why you (or I) would take a perfectly good Saiga 223 and convert it to accept AR mags.

 

that had a pretty specific purpose... lol

 

it allows me to use one mag (ar15 mags) for two different guns... 

[M1152 713]

that had a pretty specific purpose... lol

 

it allows me to use one mag (ar15 mags) for two different guns... 

Understood, I did the same project a few days in back of yours, IIRC it was the Heatwave of July 2011. I remember it was HOT as hell and it took me 4 hours to Dremel out the trunnion.  So for me the piston kit was sort of the same idea, I was in the middle of a build anyway and would have needed to purchase a BCG so for I figured I’d throw another 100 at it and get a piston AR out of the deal. I got the cheaper Osprey, not the Zero Fail which is more ca$h