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Thread: DI or Piston for SBR 10.5" barrel?

  1. #1
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    DI or Piston for SBR 10.5" barrel?

    I am brand new to SBR and plan on buying one this summer. I have all Noveske rifles in my safe now and intended to buy another one from them for my SBR 5.56 10.5" barrel. I plan on running it pretty much all the time with an AAC M4-2000 suppressor. I would order it with the switch block but was wondering how reliable that set up is? Would it be better to purchase an LMT or LWRC piston upper with that short of a barrel?

    I used to own an LMT piston 16" and it was a great upper but found that in a quality rifle with 16" barrel the piston really wasn't of much advantage.

    So piston or DI for an SBR? Which is the most reliable?

    Thanks
    DT

  2. #2
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    I spent so much time making the decision as to whether or not to go piston for a 10.5" SBR.

    In the end I ended up with 2 Noveske SBRs (5.56 & 300BLK). The 5.56 has a switchblock and both have functioned flawlessly. So I guess I chose right?


  3. #3
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    I believe the conventional wisdom is SBR suppressed and full auto. If you are doing all three a piston should be considered.
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  4. #4
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    I've been running a 9.25" piston suppressed for a couple years now. I'm also using a DI 7". Both run, both get dirty, both give me a gas high.
    "Bones Heal, Chics Dig Scars, Pain Goes Away"

  5. #5
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    I personally run a PWS MK 110. The limited time I got with it before heading back out here to AFG had it running great suppressed and unsuppressed.

    Ultimately, if you go with a quality FACTORY built SBR upper, it shouldn't ever give you any major issues, as long as you're using a standard spring and the correct buffer.

  6. #6
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    There is no reason that you "have" to go piston, in fact, many consider it NOT to be superior to a DI AR anyway. A piston rifle keeping a receiver clean is a matter of convenience, not a matter of functional or design superiority in the weapon system.

  7. #7
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    Piston is good for NOTHING in the AR realm.
    "You people have too much time on your hands." - scottryan

  8. #8
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    I have the Adams Arms piston on my gun, and they have a nice feature for adjusting gas output or levels or whatever for suppressed fire.

  9. #9
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    Since we're on the subject -

    Let's say you're buying a Colt rifle which is built to a very specific spec, with testing done to assure any buyer that the rifle meets that spec. You know what you're getting and you know that the parts and assembly was all done right.

    With a lesser quality AR such as Oly/DPMS/Bushy/RRA, you don't know what you're getting as far as parts or assembly, and time has shown that those brands are sub-standard. Even though there is a "standard" in the AR industry for DI guns, some companies just can't meet it.

    With a piston AR, there's not even a standard (yet). There are nice piston rifles like the SCAR and HK416 which have had alot of R&D performed, and there is the Colt piston rifle which will probably have alot of the same parts/assembly attention to detail that their other rifles will have... but as for everything else... your guess is as good as mine. You don't know what you're buying. Having a piston doesn't necessarily make it a good thing. Just look at the Sig rifle, it's a piston AR and the only people who praise them are generally people who don't understand them or don't shoot them much.

    Some of the questions that should be asked:
    What is the piston made out of?
    What are the dimensions on the piston?
    The piston body?
    What are the manufacturing tolerances for it?
    What is the weight of the piston assembly?
    How much should it weigh?
    How fast does it travel?
    How fast should it be traveling?
    What is the bolt made out of? (since piston bolts are going to be different)
    Etc, etc. Those questions are just the tip of the iceberg, not to mention what the rest of the rifle is like in parts/assembly quality.

    There is no perfect way to measure and compare one piston rifle to another piston rifle since piston's aren't standardized, let alone making an easy comparison between a piston gun and a DI AR. You can however guess that based on the parts used and assembly of the rest of the rifle, that the piston assembly will either be close to or at that level of quality. Like how I inferred that a Colt piston rifle will probably be a good one because they know how to make rifles and (I hope) they will take their time and do their homework on how to make a good/great piston gun. SCARs and HK416s seem to have rather good reputation for being piston guns because FN and HK have been around for a long time, and they know how to make rifles. They also use very high quality parts... But there are many companies that now make AR's and make piston AR's that don't have that kind of background.

    All that being said, having a piston doesn't necessarily make a rifle and better or worse by itself, it's a package deal. There is the possibility that time will show that a piston can be an upgrade but it will have to be one hell of a good piston assembly built onto a hell of a good AR in order to make an impact. A well made DI AR will work great and if you want a 10.5" short barreled rifle, even suppressed, or even full auto - a piston gun is still not necessary. In fact there are several drawbacks to a piston rifle over that of a DI AR. Reduced accuracy potential, increased weight, all of the unknowns and increased cost.

    --------------

    In direct response to your question -

    LMT makes good stuff but LWRC is something I'd stay away from because of what I've read here on M4C (I have no personal experience with LWRC). However, if you like Noveske and you have Noveske rifles in your safe already then add another one to the family! The switchblock is great for suppressed use and the 10.5" N4 is a wholly reliable upper with and without the M4-2000 mounted. In fact, the 10.5" N4 with M4-2000 is exactly what I bought a year ago and I've yet to have a single problem with it. As far as I'm concerned for a 10.5" SBR, it's the cat's meow.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Moltke View Post
    There is no reason that you "have" to go piston, in fact, many consider it NOT to be superior to a DI AR anyway. A piston rifle keeping a receiver clean is a matter of convenience, not a matter of functional or design superiority in the weapon system.
    Quote Originally Posted by markm View Post
    Piston is good for NOTHING in the AR realm.
    Not true. Without it's piston, an AR will not function


    What the AR doesn't need is a piston rod
    INSIDE PLAN OF BOX
    1. ROAD-RUNNER LIFTS GLASS OF WATER- PULLING UP MATCH
    2. MATCH SCRATCHES ON MATCH-BOX
    3. MATCH LIGHTS FUSE TO TNT
    4. BOOM!
    5. HA-HA!!

    -WILE E. COYOTE, AUTHOR OF "EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW IN LIFE, I LEARNED FROM GOLDBERG & MURPHY"

    http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n289/SgtSongDog/AR%20Carbine/DSC_0114.jpg
    I am American

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