Bushy piston system

[buell37]

Has anyone tried the Bushmaster gas piston system . Its supposed to work on any standard AR

[The_Hammer_Man]

If you're expecting 'star wars'-esque appearance.. you won't get it with this product. If, on the other hand you're looking for reliability.. this'll do ya fine!

I've installed several (7) of these on customer weapons over the last year and have heard nothing but good things as far as feedback is concerned.

I'ts a typical gas tube retro fit kit in all respects. No surprises. It's well made from good materials and so far (about 10k customer fired rounds total as I recall) there have been no failures that couldn't be blamed on operator error. IE, failure to do regular maintence/cleaning.

Fair warning though... you'll need to retrain yourself to shoot. Piston drives feel different and have different recoil characteristics. The big problem I had was not "manufacturing" recoil characteristics that weren't there!

The one big thing I've noticed about aftermarket piston kits is that you don't have to "hold on like it's a million bucks trying to get away" (as one pundit stated). This is a very nice thing because it reduces operator fatigue especially during extended shooting sessions.

Your mileage WILL vary of course.

Regards,

TJ/Hammer

[tracker722]

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[The_Hammer_Man]

Don't know about the retrofit kit, but I have been T&E'ing a Bushy piston upper for my department for the past 14 months. So far its' GTG. Not one single problem. Been through 2 schools with it and have taught 5 more, keeps going and going and going.:D

Nice to know... I like hearing from LEO's about these type of products. (They're some of my best customers too!)

What kind of maintence are/have you done with the piston assembly on your upper?

The retro kit is butt simple to maintane... wondered if the "full on" piston drive was as easy.

[tracker722]

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[The_Hammer_Man]

Up until a month or two ago, no maintenance. After teaching one class, I accidentally cleaned it, (old habits die hard, along with being old and forgetful). At the time, I had approx. 3500 rounds thru it with zero, nada, nil problems. I was trying to go until a stoppage or malfunction. So far, so good. No signs of the dreaded carrier tilt problem either.

I know there are some haters here for anything Bushmaster, but so far, I have been impressed. Oh...on the one I, or should I say the department, have, there is no provision to regulate gas flow.


Grins... no method of regulation is one of the reasons ALOT of PD's aren't going with this system.

I figured out a "work-around".

Long story short: Had a client with a suppressed SBR bushy and he wanted me to figure out someway to regulate the gas cuz he was tired of getting "tattooed" from blow back through the receiver. Tried a GasBuster charging handle and that helped some but didn't do anything about the crud in the receiver.

Did some thinking and some research and ran across JP's adjustable gas block.

http://www.jprifles.com/1.4.6_gs.php

End of problem. It's a little trickier than a "real" adjustable piston gas block because you have to count turns with the allen wrench but it WAS a solution that didn't require completely rebuilding his upper.

[tracker722]

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[IPSC_GUY]

I have a Shrubmaster/Aries retrofit kit. Mine has been a RAGING success from the get go.

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=32664&highlight=bushmaster

Since I wrote the above post I have added the Seth Harness Anti Carrier tilt buffer as insurance. In addition I have also added the Adams Arms Spring behind the Bolt and the POF Roller cam pin. All of these were minor additions to stack the deck in favor of reliability.

About my only complaint is that making it fit under a TROY MRF-C took a bit of machining to fit over the piston and clamp.

The next SBRed upper I build will have another of these kits. All in all I REALLY like these. They may get looked down on because they aren't an LWRC or similar system but I have complete confidence in mine.

IPSC_GUY
SIERRA II ALPHA