AR15 Upper Piston Question

[Caudizle]

Alright folks, looking at group buys for AR uppers and lowers has me wondering... If I were to buy say a stripped spikes upper, would I be able to put a piston gas system in?

Thanks for answering all of my questions; past, present, and future!

Mods sorry if this belongs in another section.

~Scott

 

[sailskidrive]

Depends on the system... an Adams Arms or Mega kit... yes

Why do you want add a piston system? I would say if you want a piston upper to buy a POF or LWRC.

 

[davsco]

I'd wait for a definitive answer, but i think the answer is yes. Adams makes di to piston conversion kits so i don't see a reason why you couldn't do one from scratch.

given that the piston is pretty new technology, at least in the AR platform, you may want to just buy a complete piston upper vs trying to piece it together yourself.

at my nearest range, they rent out a full auto m4 that has a lwrc upper on a spikes lower and it absolutely runs!

 

[Caudizle]

I want to assemble my own for a couple reasons, one being that I can build it with everything I want. But mostly I want to be sure that the upper and lower fit nice and snug and the finishes will match as close as possible. I figure the best way to do that is buy the upper and lower together.

Say for instance you buy an upper and lower separately, how can you ensure that they marry together nicely?

 

[BradMacc82]

Since Clandestine isn't around to do it. As a piston AR owner, I might as well do it for him.

Should I do a piston AR build -




Save your money IMO, I've been running a piston upper for a while now, before I even joined here, aside from shooting underwater and keeping your BCG slightly cleaner - there is no real advantage, there's actually issues you can run into that D.I. doesn't have.

If your dead-set on getting one - cool, just choose wisely.

 

[sailskidrive]

I want to assemble my own for a couple reasons, one being that I can build it with everything I want. But mostly I want to be sure that the upper and lower fit nice and snug and the finishes will match as close as possible. I figure the best way to do that is buy the upper and lower together.

Say for instance you buy an upper and lower separately, how can you ensure that they marry together nicely?

Sometimes there may be a few 1000/ths of slop; but in general the dimensional fidelity of all the common manufacturers is pretty good. You'll have more of an issue ensuring that the finish matches exactly. Some of the billet lowers, such as POF and Black Rain Ordnance, have built in tension screws that help tighten up the fit between the upper and lower receivers.