AR Piston driven thoughts

[Knight]

Is it worth converting a legal SBR into a piston driven 5.56 other then keeping the bolt carrier group and lower components free of carbon etc. I'm so tired of cleaning all this nasty stuff after a day at the range..I welcome your thoughts..

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Is it worth converting a legal SBR into a piston driven 5.56 other then keeping the bolt carrier group and lower components free of carbon etc. I'm so tired of cleaning all this nasty stuff after a day at the range..I welcome your thoughts..

Don't understand the question about converting a SBR to I interpret a 16" plus rifle???
We have several SBRs and if we wanted to just change to a regular 16" + is there paper work need from the ATF?
PM us and we can talk.
Len &Jill

 

[xsn10s]

Is it worth converting a legal SBR into a piston driven 5.56 other then keeping the bolt carrier group and lower components free of carbon etc. I'm so tired of cleaning all this nasty stuff after a day at the range..I welcome your thoughts..

I haven't cleaned my AR in years lol. But I don't shoot all that much. Probably 300 rounds for hunting each year in the AR. I'll probably clean it this year.

 

[jpd676]

I have a POF P308 that is a piston gun. It is awesome! I clean the BCG with the wipe of a rag. I'm not sure if it is worth it to you but I love mine.

 

[Knight]

I have a registered ( Tax Stamp) 11.5 barrel on my build and just wanted to hear from others who have a piston driven AR and how satisfied they are over the gas operation. Thanks

 

[dfanonymous]

I don't clean it at all. Never had a failure. The conventional military has put that in peoples head…the exception is if you are running a shorty suppressed, then yeah. That will gunk up pretty quick.

That said, yes, there is another advantage. Your gas system will run cooler with the DI. That's at the expense of a little extra weight.

 

[asd9055]

Personally, I have never liked DI. I only bought DI to leave to my children. I have always preferred piston. But thats a personal preference
Piston is less sensitive to dirt and dirty powders, but the still need cleaning. Most are easier to pull out and clean. At least mine are

 

[Knight]

I forgot to mention I also use a suppressor which we all know creates more carbon...so I think I'm going to pull the trigger..many thanks for your feedback..

 

[ARlife4me]

From what I understand (but might not be 100%) is if you have a lower (upper not required) registered as a pistol or sbr you can put on a rifle length barrel without extra paperwork. Going from rifle to a lower/shorter class weapon will require that extra work. If it starts out as a pistol there's no stamp involved. SBR is a different story. I have 4 pistols (yes, they do have the pistol tube and pistol buffer, no brace). 2 300bo, 1 308win (10.5#s and still kicks like none other w/12.5" barrel from APF) and 1 5.56 11.5" (very loud). I don't own any suppressors. Info was given to me by 2 FFL peeps.

 

[ARlife4me]

As far as piston driven there have been a few companies you can still get those for, but could be out of stock? Besides Adams Arms I don't remember the other brands that offer.

 

[bultinkle]

Don't understand the question about converting a SBR to I interpret a 16" plus rifle???
We have several SBRs and if we wanted to just change to a regular 16" + is there paper work need from the ATF?
PM us and we can talk.
Len &Jill

No, if it is a permanent change to a non NFA profile you can notify ATF to remove your SBR. If you are simply using a 16" upper it is simply considered a non NFA item while in that configuration for legal purposes (crossing state lines/hunting/etc)

OP, I don't believe you're talking about making the firearm 16" just asking if it's worth a piston conversion on an SBR ar pattern. I would say I doubt it. A lot of fouling comes from backflow out of the chamber with suppressed sbrs. I'm assuming this is a suppressed rig or else the dirty frustration is unexpected to me. It likely will help some, but I would hesitate to say a lot .

 

[SupressYourself]

I forgot to mention I also use a suppressor which we all know creates more carbon...so I think I'm going to pull the trigger..many thanks for your feedback..

Most of the extra carbon is coming back down the barrel on ejection, due to suppressor back-pressure. Switching to piston won't help much with that. I have an Adams Arms piston 556, and it still runs pretty dirty suppressed.

 

[Sending156s]

Ruger's 1st venture into the AR world was with a piston driven gas rifle. They were priced on the high end with quality components when everyone else was making them for 500 - 1000. I bought one before they discontinued & really like it. It's more accurate than I thought possible. I had heard that was a drawback to piston activated instead of DI. My doesn't dirty much more than my bolt rifles.

 

[slowrunning]

I have an older POF P415 that I have several thousand rounds through, probably half suppressed. I have cleaned it a few times and thought "that was a waste of time." It runs unbelievably clean, very accurate too. That heavy carbon buildup that accumulates on BCG's just doesn't happen, 0 crud blowing back into the trigger area. Piston is the way to go in 95% of AR's in my opinion.