What's a good piston-AR for around 1k?

[2shotjoe]

welcome to CalGuns Zippiot, you'll never get a straight answer until your head explodes.

[MrPlink]

they were built ground up around the piston system. Maybe someday when Im rich, hopefully we can still bye them down the road.

Thats the best approach if you want a piston rifle IMO. Down the road, SCAR probably isnt going anywhere, at least the 17. XCR is unpredictable as it comes from a smaller company. ACR might be completely bye bye soon though

[SureShot241]

I would go with an Addax Tactical piston. They are an AR-15 piston manufacture and they make a great product.

http://www.addaxtactical.com/store/pc/ADDAX-TACTICAL-ZK-PATROL-MID-LENGTH-GAS-PISTON-UPPER-16-5-56-NATO-137p1708.htm

[Zippiot]

welcome to CalGuns Zippiot, you'll never get a straight answer until your head explodes.

Its what I get for asking the general publics opinion of a controversial topic

Its like being in a Ford vs Chevy forum (and Im a Dodge man)

Can anone confirm that on the S&W the grips are interchangable with Magpull products? My 15-22 doesnt look like you can but I could be wrong

[MrPlink]

I
Can anone confirm that on the S&W the grips are interchangable with Magpull products? My 15-22 doesnt look like you can but I could be wrong

definitely are. The lower they use is of std spec so no issues should come up.

The 15-22 is a little different, but can also accept magpul PGs. I have a MOE on my 15-22

[Zippiot]

lol.. long after that!










oh yah, and buy a GLOCK

I actually got very good responces when I was looking for a remington 700 5-R.

The only concerning factor of the M&P 15 is the twist rate, I would like to shoot green tip 5.56 and my math shows those are likely to keyhole with less than a 1:8
Good thing about AR's is barrels are plentiful!

But now here is the tricky question to answer, could a dissipator/full length piston be built (or does one exist?) I have an old 20" barrel laying around with a 1:7 twist... /hacksaw [cringe]

[GM4spd]

Piston = more moving parts to fail.

Where is this info coming from? I've been shooting DI rifles and piston rifles
for over 40 years---guess which one I've seen have more parts failures? They
weren't PISTON jobs for sure.If you want to discuss ANY other type failures
it's NOT pistons,either. Pete

[Paul_R]

Gotta love the piston vs. DI catfights

I have both and both work great. Love the ease of cleaning the piston unit and the fact that I'm not getting gas dumped in my face.

I picked up a sweet used Addax piston upper here on calguns for $650 so deals can be had on quality stuff if you're patient.

[sonnyt650]

I'll continue to push for kits (nothing bad to say about the Bushmaster clone of the ARES kit and the Adams Arms rifle/mid-length kit) even though they aren't "field tested". The way I figure if you're an armorer you're not going to go out of your way to put together a rifle from untried products. Until there was a significant call for red dots they just didn't issue them, and I'm sure they still field standard bolt carriers rather than those with slick coatings. They don't even have armoury-adjustable gas blocks though the gas flow is the biggest variable out there for ARs. When you aren't talking about complete rifles for our armed forces it's more of a stick-to-what-works process than trying to find the very best parts for the job.

[shadow65]

My CMMG piston 5.56 has run great and accuracy is also good.
Dave N

[TwoAsoapbox]

I tried to put an ambi safety in my 15-22 but it was difficult to actuate meaning it was really stiff. I have installed them in my two ARs with no problems and would love to have one in my 22. Any thoughts Zippiot or MrPlink since it sounds like you guys both have one?

[TwoAsoapbox]

GM4spd. Im not talking about two different rifles. My statement was simply that a DI AR has fewer moving parts than a Piston AR, pretty simple statement. Im assuming you are comparing an AK to an AR in your comment and thats like comparing apples to oranges. Time will tell if the piston AR is more reliable than the DI system. For military applications I can see the need for a cooler operating and inherently cleaner weapon that requires less cleaning. But for civilian applications a piston AR is unnecessary IMO.

[Zippiot]

I tried to put an ambi safety in my 15-22 but it was difficult to actuate meaning it was really stiff. I have installed them in my two ARs with no problems and would love to have one in my 22. Any thoughts Zippiot or MrPlink since it sounds like you guys both have one?

I know the bolt catch is designed for a .22 upper my best guess is the mag controls are the same. What makes it different is unknown to me, once again best guess is different dimensions.

Not a huge aftermarket for the 15-22 so I dont think they will have an ambi-controls parts kit

[Bellehood]

I actually got very good responces when I was looking for a remington 700 5-R.

The only concerning factor of the M&P 15 is the twist rate, I would like to shoot green tip 5.56 and my math shows those are likely to keyhole with less than a 1:8
Good thing about AR's is barrels are plentiful!

But now here is the tricky question to answer, could a dissipator/full length piston be built (or does one exist?) I have an old 20" barrel laying around with a 1:7 twist... /hacksaw [cringe]

by green-tip, I'm assuming 62 grain?

They will not keyhole in 1-in-7, 1-in-8, or 1-in-9. You are good to go.

[Zippiot]

by green-tip, I'm assuming 62 grain?

They will not keyhole in 1-in-7, 1-in-8, or 1-in-9. You are good to go.

You sure about the 1:9? Ive only ever shot 1:7
Math food for thought:


C = 150 (use 180 for muzzle velocities higher than 2,800 f/s)
D = bullet's diameter in inches
L = bullet's length in inches
SG = bullet's specific gravity (10.9 for lead-core bullets, which cancels out the second half of the equation)

Specific gravity of a FMJ 62 grain penetrator is roughly 9-9.5

I guess it works