DI or Piston?

[Spartan040]

Looking to build an AR for myself, can't decide if I want direct impingement or piston. Piston runs cleaner and cooler and (I've heard) can generally take more abuse and less lube before it begins to fail, and if there are minimal reductions in accuracy and a tiny bit more felt recoil, I don't really mind. But, I've heard there are certain mechanical issues associated with piston AR's. I wanted to know what they are, and if there's anything that can be done to fix them in a custom build. I've also heard availability and interchangeability of parts is another factor. Are the advantages of the GP system worth the trade-offs?

[Iraqgunz]

I'll bet if you use the Google search feature, you will find plenty to read and pick apart.

[Leaveammoforme]

[vicious_cb]

Retrofitting a piston on an AR is stupid. Anything more on the subject is a waste of time.

[Wake27]

Looking to build an AR for myself, can't decide if I want direct impingement or piston. Piston runs cleaner and cooler and (I've heard) can generally take more abuse and less lube before it begins to fail, and if there are minimal reductions in accuracy and a tiny bit more felt recoil, I don't really mind. But, I've heard there are certain mechanical issues associated with piston AR's. I wanted to know what they are, and if there's anything that can be done to fix them in a custom build. I've also heard availability and interchangeability of parts is another factor. Are the advantages of the GP system worth the trade-offs?

Nope. I almost fell into that shit with my first AR. So glad that I didn't. Get a good DI and then let this thread die.

[Leuthas]

If you want a piston AR, get a good one. LMT. The operating rod will break around 60k rounds. Mine did. When it does, or when you want a different setup, you'll still have a sturdy upper receiver to work with.

That's all I'll say in lieu of MistWolf's rebuttal.

[Butch]

A piston AR is ridiculous. Solution looking for a problem.

[mig1nc]

Anecdotal sample of one, but when I took a LAV course a couple years ago the only gun that went down was a piston gun.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[MegademiC]

In short : buy a standard ar... buy one that's at least milspec.

Find what you want a gun to do, and find the gun that suports that. People want a piston because of some false idea that it means the gun will never fail. Shoving a long stroke piston in an ar it a way to sell an idea to people that don't understand how things work. This is supported by a lot of people buy cheap overgassed rifles that.were not assembled properly or with proper parts. But these guns were "just as good as" so it was "obviously a design flaw". The whole thing is rediculous.

[polydeuces]

Use "SEARCH".
Not being a wise ass-this one has been beaten to death, rolled over and stomped in.
Theres little or nothing new to be added.