Are they worth the money to spend? If so which ones are out there and which are better than the others? For what some charge for there rifles I could get 2 AR’s for the price of one gas piston rifle.
Search is your friend. Search for ‘piston’ and you’ll be enlightened.
Okay I will. Did find this one.
http://www.aresdefense.com/GSR-35v1Brochure.pdf
I have a POF 18" upper on a DPMS lower. It’s just superb! Is the upper worth the cost of 2 cheap, complete ARs? Depending on your uses, probably not. You pay a LOT for an incremental increase in reliability. On the other hand, maybe the fact that it’s somewhat better than a standard AR is worth the cost to you. If absolute reliability is essential, then it probably is worth it. I got it to be my primary rifle for 3-gun competition, and because I HATE cleaning ARs. It works, every time. Of the 3 malfuntions I had with it last year, 2 were on the next to last round in the same magazine (which I then sent to the trash). The 3rd was with Wolf ammo and a stuck case. This is fairly common with Wolf, and was no fault of the gun.
It’s also reasonably accurate. Sub 1" at 100 yds. off the bench with good ammo.
I guess to answer the question “Is it worth the cost?” is entirely personal. It’s like the difference between a Chevy and Cadillac. The Chevy will get you around quite well. The Caddy will do the same thing, but just a little bit better, and for a lot more money. For some folks, it’s worth it.
The only thing that concerns me is what if something breaks on that system. The system that is standard on the current AR’s has hardly any breakages that I know of. Just that it’s a dirty gas system which I agree with. So I guess like you said is it worth the extra cash for peace of mind or leave my AR as is. I have a pre ban Bushmaster that I honestly have never had any problems with as is. Granted I haven’t abused it. Not like M16 I had in the army.
Recon, GotM4 meant to search our forums for the discussions on piston uppers. There are some good discussions.
Is is worth it for someone who shoots occasionally, wants it for personal protection, etc? Probably not. I used to own a HK416 and loved it. I sold it due to a lack of replacement parts from HK.
I use a M4 daily in my line of work, and have no burning need to get a piston upper if I was authorized to do so, which I am not.
Personally, I like many people am waiting to replace the whole system with the FN SCAR or the masada.
Masada! Now your talking! 