Looking at a new Upper for my AR and have been considering a Piston Upper. I was wondering from all of you who own Piston AR Rifles if you think it is worth the costs for what you get?
Thanks,
I own two LWRCI uppers (10.5" M6A1 and a 12.7" M6A3). Both are mounted on NFA lowers (SBR or F/A) and I do reommend them with a caveat.
The reason I purchased these, at three times the cost of DI uppers, because I own nine Glock pistols. The Glocks have spoiled me because I do not bother to clean any of them. When I started doing the same for my Carbine, I experienced a malfunction (DUH!).
The carbon built up so much in front of the firing pin’s “hat” that I had failures to fire. So basically, if you would rather not perform as much maintenance on your AR, then I do recommend the piston system. But if you’re disciplined enough to clean your rifle regularly, a good quality DI system is more than enough for whatever you might need it for. YMMV.
What benefit do you expect to get by going to a piston?
How has the DI system failed you?
In a word, no.
I have had a LWRC M6A2 for a couple years now and have only put a few hundred rounds through it. For the price of just the upper you can have a whole rifle. I find it is not balanced as well as a DI gun, I dont see how you can make something more reliable by adding more moving parts, and I am on point with my maintenance. I clean guns for a living and I overestimated/underestimated the piston “goodness” and DI reliability, respectively. FWIW Im selling my M6A2 and piecing together a BCM Recce in its place.
I personally do not own any piston guns but do own many Glocks. Even Glocks need cleaning. I am a Armorer for a living and have Glocks, M4’s etc and they all need cleaning. I own two M4’s (Lmt, Bcm) and they have not failed me yet. If you would like to own a piston gun than buy one. I would like to purchase one as well but as stated for the price of just an upper you could buy a very reliable DI gun and have a complete rifle for the price of just a piston upper. I believe whatever makes you happy, so if you would like to buy one than by all means do it.
WTH? 
That made my eyes hurt…
Suppressed = Yes
SBR’ed = Yes
Suppressed/SBR = Yes
Everything else…not really. Maybe for the party of it, but no.
If you’re not going to suppress it, short-barrel it, or put it on a pre-1986 lower, then, no.
ETA: Buy another DI upper, and with the money saved from not buying the piston, get some fancy-dancy, newfangled BCG and some lube. You’d still have enough left over for ammo.
IMHO, No. Any quality AR Platform with a 5.56 chamber, to the left of the “Chart” will do.
I am about as cleaning adverse than most people. I have had over 3000 rounds + on my Colts and LMT, without cleaning, just lube, shooting eastern european steel cased ammo (Wolf, Barnaul) the overwhelming majority of the time. With the exception of a few bad mags (CProduts), causing double feeds, I have experienced no malfunctions what so ever with the weapons, shooting 6-10 mags per weekly range outing. During a recent Pat Roger’s carbine course, he had a T&E DI weapon, with 26K rounds, on it and only cleaned once. One of the T&E weapons I fired, a BCM Middy, shooting 1200 rounds of Wolf, without failure, had over 12K on her, uncleaned, just lubed.
I’d be interested in hearing the answers to these questions before I respond. Also, how do you plan to use the weapon? SBR? Suppressor? Normal?
I have a Colt 6920 upstairs that I’ve put about 5000 rounds through since April. Not that this is a huge number I just don’t like to clean so I’m trying to figure out how long I can push it. Even still 5000 rounds is probably well beyond where the “popular wisdom” says you should clean any gun, never mind an AR.
Though a sample of one mine runs like a champ with a little bit of lube. YMMV.
Wherever the threshold lies for cleaning causing a malfunction I’ve not reached it yet. My guess is that it’s much more about intensity.
If I was inclined to do mag dump after mag dump on full-auto I’d probably prefer a piston. Until then, for the cost, the reliability of two colts beats one piston gun.
Let’s not turn this into a mouth-breathing regurgitation of OS bashing.
I have no burning need for a piston upper and am not going to pay the premium for one. It is an interesting design but both systems do the job if maintained properly. As far as cleaning and maintenance, any firearm like most complex machines with moving parts need to be cared for. I can’t imagine buying a firearm and not performing normal mantenance.
Guns are dirty, get over it. 
Even pistons need cleaning from time to time just like any DI gun.
Whether there is a perceived or actual benefit from owning a piston simply doesnt matter.
I look at it this way. Pistons command a premium price over most DI uppers. I would rather spend that extra money on ammo and shoot my gun than have a “cleaner” OS.
Personally, if i had to buy a piston i wouldnt buy anything but an LWRC. You’re paying for a fantastic barrel, excellent CS and a “complete” upper, ie rail, buis etc.
Most of these threads devolve into a debate over personal preference. To date, no one has been able to PROVE that pistons are better in SBR’s or suppressed applications.
I am interested in the piston designs and I currently have one piston carbine.
I would not have a piston driven AR if it was to be my only AR. If for no other reason than the fact that the parts for a regular di AR will be much easier to come by if shtf in a big way (I’m one of those that like to think of large shtf scenarios).
I don’t see much benefit at this time to have a piston AR, but one thing I like about some of the piston carbines is that they get rid of the buffer and have a folding stock that makes them a little easier pack and stow. In my opinion that’s not a good enough reason to get away from a regular di AR, but if a person already has a good AR and wants another carbine it might be worth trying out.
I remember Larry Vickers telling a class that I was attending that the HK416 was designed because Delta was running ultra- SBR’s full auto and suppressed–and sometimes with Beta mags!! He was skeptical of the overall benefit of a piston upper in 14+ inch length. He didn’t deny that they might be more reliable in the absolute sense–but doubted the benefit was much. And this from a guy involved in the development of the gun that started the current piston mania.
I personally own a 416 upper. But, I run it suppressed and full auto. If I didn’t have the full auto lower I wouldn’t have bought it.
Ok, I’m in the market for a AR too. I weighed the piston option and saw no advantage for me. I plan to go 16" so I dont need the pistons added reliability witha short barrel, I don’t have a supressor, and I don’t plan to go full auto(tho both supressors and FA are no able to be got with the proper paperwork here now). I also enjoy cleaning my guns. I will admit that not having hot gas in the reciever sounded good to me, but not enough to worrie about.
Personally, I’d rather clean all of my FALs and AKs than one DI AR. That said, none of my ARs has a piston. This is for several reasons - none is a SBR or select-fire, nor do I run suppressors, but primarily, it’s because the cost/benefit ratio hasn’t convinced me to buy a piston driven AR. I lean toward OCD when it comes to cleaning my guns, but I don’t consider convenience a legitimate reason to go all piston.
Personally, I would not invest in a 16" piston AR15.
I only run one piston AR15 upper. It’s a 10.5" LWRC M6A1. It’s most likely the only piston AR15 product I will ever own unless HK makes HK416 uppers more accessible.
I don’t think the surcharge for a piston upper is worth the money currently. However, Stag recently announced a piston gun that sells for only a couple hundred more than their DI guns. List price is like $1150.
That might bring the competitors prices down to something more reasonable. We’re only talking a few more parts, and that shouldn’t double the price.
That said, I am avoiding piston action AR’s until someone standardizes the design. Why get a bastardized AR with a bunch of proprietary parts that are likely to get discontinued if the thing doesn’t sell well? Sooner or later the military will select a piston action AR (or other carbine) and that will set the standard. Until then DI is fine for my needs.
For a while it looked like the HK 416 would become the standard. But the civilian version is all proprietary anyway…
I shoot off my left shoulder. With a the bolt run wet with SLIP and a can I end up looking like I work at Jiffy Lube. Would a 12" piston gun with my Surefire can reduce the residue I end up with peppering my face?