Bushmaster gas piston or gas tube?

Which one?

  • Gas Piston

    Votes: 24 35.3%
  • Gas Tube

    Votes: 40 58.8%
  • Other (do tell)

    Votes: 4 5.9%

  • Total voters
    68
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SamG.

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Hey guys,

My Dad is buying an AR before Obama Bin Biden gets in office (and because everyone needs one). He has been looking at the standard bushmaster gas piston and the gas tube. Which 0ne would you prefer? Anything that you guys know about the gas piston Bushmaster would be much appreciated: Part interchangeability, accuracy, reliability, etc..


Gas Piston

Cheers,
SamG.
 
Is he wanting it for SHTF? If so, the bushy GP system is good. It is based off of the POF system, not quite as good, it has more springs, ect... I ahve a POF, and it is as good as you could wish for.

The accuracy of the bushy is about 1 MOA, they say not much of a difference in the satndard to the GP one.

I prefer the GP, just because i like my firearms reliable. Mine is like a M1 or AK in reliability, but with AR ergonomics.
 
My POF makes it clean. Cleaner than my bolties. You have to scrub the BCG after a few rounds with the DI, more scrubbing with more rounds, but the GP makes it get 'that' dirty, and no more. I have fired 2 rounds, and it is no more dirty when i put 100+ rounds through it.

While i am ashamed to admit it, i have never fired a AK....:uhoh:

Look up some of the reliability tests. I have known people to put 12,000+ rounds through it, no malfunctions. 4,000 without cleaning.
 
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Though I tend to agree with The Lone Gunman on this one there is at least some theoretical merit behind the gas piston idea. That being the cleanliness factor.

That said, the whole of my AR experience which consists of military involvment is that the standard gas tube is reliable enough as it is.
 
I've never shot a piston AR, but I have shot the heck out of "normal" AR's. I've never had a problem with reliability. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Your not alone. The standard gas impingment cycling is very reliable (though dirty).

If you were going to go all out I would skip the gas piston and go with a Noveske Switchblock upper. This system will prove to be the most reliable for the M4 as there are no springs or moving parts to rely on.


:)
 
I don't have one, but waht is the purpouse of this rifle? As i stated above, for a SHTF rifle, the GP. For a 'sporting' rifle, DI is fine.
 
Get a gas piston. It'll be a LOT more reliable.

How is that possible? AR's go thousands of rounds without stopages will the piston add another thousand to that? Why do I doubt that?

Bottom line is the pistons are a marketing tool. They don't improve the gun enough to bother with them. They sure do cost more though.
 
Thousands of rounds consecutively without cleaning? Please excuse my cough. Direct gas impingement makes for a little lighter weapon, but it's NOT good for long-term reliability.

Pistons are a means of keeping the fouling out of the working action of the gun, and limiting how far back the powder fouling can get. They do wonders for long-term reliability. I'm sorry, I'd rather NOT have a rifle that defecates where it eats.
 
Why would you go thousands of rounds without cleaning a gun? You're going to clean everytime you have a shooting session. Whether you're shooting cans, paper, or zombies.

Pistons do not belong in ARs.
 
Whether it "belongs" isn't the question; that's a matter of personal opinion. The question is whether it makes it a better weapon. And the answer is yes.
 
It doesn't make a better weapon. It contributes nothing while increasing weight and costing more. I'll run my DI gun against ANY piston set up on the market. And since I didn't waste my money on a piston I can afford more ammo and magazines.
 
The question is whether it makes it a better weapon. And the answer is yes.

the answer is no as far as I'm concerned.

I've seen no proof the POF/bushamster is reliable. how long has it been out? how many versions of it do they have now? hmm...

how hard is it to get spare parts when it breaks? how hard will it be after a ban?
 
I just got a Bushmaster upper with their Gas Piston retrofit kit installed on it. Took it to the range yesterday and had 2 FTF out of 45 rounds and the bolt only locked back on the empty mag once out of 4 partial mags. I tried 3 different types of ammo. Called the dealer I purchased it from and he said I should shoot it more to break it in:rolleyes:(went through that crap with Kimber:cuss:).

So back to the range I went today with 4 different types of ammo, 7 different mags and 2 different lowers. 80 rounds later I had 5 FTF, and the bolt only locked back on the empty mag 4 times out of 15 partial mags. Needless to say the DI is going on this one. I would rather have to clean more than nurse this thing along.

I can't speak for all GP sytems but the one I got SUCKS!!
 
I'd contact Bushmaster and have them check it out. FTF isn't a piston-related issue. It's a problem with with the way it's stripping ammo off the magazine, most likely a problem with the bolt.
 
New AR's often short stroke. There's parkerizing on the rails the bolt carrier rides on. After a couple hundred rounds it should start be fine. Till then you probly need to use hotter ammo.
 
like any company is going to say their product is crap...

are you saying the reason you've said it's reliable is because the company said so?
 
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