AR advice

bullzeye

CGN Regular
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was thinking of buying piston rather than gas operated AR15. could you please fill me in on the pros and cons of each. any info would be appreciated.
 
I think that's pretty much it. To be honest I like how light a DI AR is enough not to care for a piston AR, not enough to get one anyway...
 
DI tends to have a smoother recoil. Occasionally even some of the purpose built piston AR's have carrier tilt problems but that seems to be rare on the dedicated ones. Dirtier bolts on the DI's but that doesn't seem to stop them from running well if it's a good quality AR.
 
I own both, DI is slightly more accurate and slightly lighter, piston is slighly cleaner. Unless you are shooting 300+ yards and 1000 rounds a day you probably won't need to worry about it though.
DI has the advantage of parts availability, most piston rifles have a piston design specific to the brand and you can only get parts from that company but a DI rifle can use parts from any manufacturer.
Just don't buy Chinese and everything will fit no matter what name is on the package.
 
DI tends to have a smoother recoil. Occasionally even some of the purpose built piston AR's have carrier tilt problems but that seems to be rare on the dedicated ones. Dirtier bolts on the DI's but that doesn't seem to stop them from running well if it's a good quality AR.

My 12 inch PWS is one of the smoothest shooting AR's I've ever shot. My 18 inch heavy barrel DI rifle was probably the only rifle smoother.
If you really want smooth try my 9.75 inch PWS in 300BLACKOUT
No carrier tilt on either of them.
 
Piston is often heavier up front, less accurate with equivalent barrel to DI but is faster to clean as the gunk stays up front and not in the action.

DI, often lighter, more accuracy potential if the barrel is up to it, parts are universal and often less expensive.

ADCOR: hybrid. Piston that is mounted to the free float handguard not the barrel. Gas goes from the barrel like a DI up to the piston. Works well, no carrier tilt.

Really depends on the type of shooting, and expectations.
 
Love 300 blackout! Too bad there wasn't more ammo deals out there for it.

300 Blackout is the best deal of all, reload for it and it's cheap and very accurate. My 9.75 inch barrel is shooting just slightly over moa with my 110gr v-max handloads and I'm almost done my non restricted ACR 300BLK conversion which I expect great things from since it started as a Shilen blank. I'll be deer hunting with my ACR this fall :)
Brass is free, it doesn't use much powder per charge, bullets are cheap, easy to find and any weight you want to shoot.
Plus I was told by a local retailer to expect to see it starting to show up in bulk this summer.
 
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