Dedicated Piston v Piston Conversion

[mala in se]

I know we've had discussions about gas v piston, and how there isn't much difference in performance. The consensus is that it isn't worth it because of the high prices, but prices of dropped of in the last few months and I think I am ready to build a piston AR.

For those of you who have made that jump, is it really cleaner? In terms of performance, do you see a significant difference between gas driven ARs.

I am not sure if I want to buy a dedicated piston vs trying to install one the piston converstion kits out there.

[FeuerFrei]

Piston is much cleaner and cooler in the action area.
Piston AR feels even softer in recoil then DI and adds some extra weight up front which helps to stay on target. Accuracy is comparable and subjective to each user. I can hit my centers with either type.
Piston AR is a great choice but costly. I have both types.
If you want a piston system then get something you can pin the front gas port assembly onto the barrel. The bolt on and Loctite installed gas port can be a problem.
The Osprey system looks like a great system and you can always change it back to DI later if you like. Good luck!

[technique]

Drop-in systems don't pass the sniff test.

Get a dedicated system.

[Nessal]

My 2 cents. The Addax GPU is pretty much the way to go. Is it cleaner? Definately. Does it take less time to clean? Now that is subjective. It takes me just as long to clean a gas piston as it does a DI, but that is because I CHOOSE to. I say it's subjective because I'm very thorough with cleaning. If I want to go fast on my piston, I can just throw a bore snake through the barrel and I'm set in less than 3 minutes. I don't even have to touch the upper receiver or BCG. With a DI, I will use a bore snake(rod and brush if need be), upper receiver, and the bcg everytime.

However, I'm never put into a situation where I can't spare more time cleaning my guns so I do a full clean everytime thus it takes the same time. As far as it being as accurate as a DI? In theory it's not suppose to be, but I just don't see a difference and I have now put over 3k rounds out of my piston. What I do notice is that the piston has less felt recoil than a DI. Why? I have no idea. I figured it would be the other way around. So it was surprising.

[Josh3239]

For those of you who have made that jump, is it really cleaner?

Considering the gasses travelling down the barrel are impinging the piston as opposed to flowing down the gas tube and being spit back into the upper, yes. Those gasses will be carrying dirt with them, including unburnt powder. Keep in mind though that dirt and unburnt powder don't get into an AR only from the gas tube though.