Third is NOT the charm at least not for me.

[Tigerclaw_x]

I already posted my review of two comblock weapons. Both were good, one was better than another but they BOTH WORKED. Which is more that I can say for the third rifle that I used. A Del Ton AR-15 with Adams Arms gas piston system.

1. Before purchasing I called Adam arms and asked if it works with Steel cased ammo. I was told that it does, in 5.56x45 NATO.
2. Purchased from Midway USA. Price was pretty high and it came WITHOUT gas block. (THis was back in September)
3. Called Adams arms. They asked for a serial number and shipped me a gas block. SUPERB customer service.
4. Assembly was easy. Rod was sliding in without ANY friction and bushing didn't give any problems. Assembled in end of December. Hand cycled it 100 times to make sure that action is smooth and nothing gets "caught up" on nothing.
5. Took it out Sunday. What a great Bolt Action rifle I now have. It is VERY accurate. At 25m, with unsupported position I was putting 10 shot groups in just over 2" circles. However:

a) At piston HALF open it doesn't work period. Turns into a straight pull bolt action. Very accurate though. Thanx to 20" HBAR and HK 417 iron sights.

b) At piston in FULLY open it also doesn't work. The bolt and trigger reset (most of the time, about 7 out of 10 shots). However there is a FTE. In only 6 shots out of 40 Tula Ammo fired the system worked as promised. My friend Chris also uses tula ammo. His DPMS direct impingement M4 worked without issues for 60 shots fired with Tula Ammo

6. What a HUGE disappointment. I will be sending it back to Adam Arms and returning to direct gas impingement. I want my money back. The whole idea of Gas Piston system was to use it with Steel Cased dirty ammo to reduce the amount of residue inside the receiver. The system does NOT do it's job. This on is a 360 dollars FAILURE. STAY AWAY FROM THIS PRODUCT. Bad experience, hopefully Adams Arms can make it work, I will keep it, if not - I WANT MY MONEY BACK. Sure, they are rumored to have great customer service, however if I pay $360 for an accessory, I expect it to work out of the box. I have pistols that are $300 and they work perfectly.

 

[dogmush]

Sounds like it's not getting enough gas. Who assembled it? Gas Block positioning could be off.

 

[navystang]

so let me get this straight you bought a rifle hand cycled it 100 times to break it in then tried to run it on the cheapest ammo you can buy and you are mad it wont run. buy some quality brass ammo to properly break it in about 200 to 300 rounds I know it is a pain and not what you bought it for but it will get better the more you shoot it also try brown bear ammo I ran in to the same thing when I built an ar in 7.62x39 but the more it was shot the better it would run.

 

[Fremmer]

I think I'd be inclined to call Adams and work with them to get it running right.

 

[paintballdude902]

i agree with navy stang.

blow through a few hundred rounds of brass .223 and see how it acts. make sure its lubed correctly and then try some steel crap in it

 

[wally]

My Adams Arms 5.56 7.5" piston pistol/SBR upper from Midway has been 100% out of the box with Wolf & Tula 55gr steel cased ammo, so yours should work too. With a rifle and pistol conversion kit there is a lot more than could go wrong. Another vote to work with them to get it running right.

I'd ask Adams about the gas port size they recommend and compare it to port in your Del-Ton barrel as a starting point.

 

[Fishbed77]

Wait a second. Piston ARs are sooo much more reliable than DI.

 

[wally]

Wait a second. Piston ARs are sooo much more reliable than DI.

Like no DI AR has ever been delivered grossly over or under gassed.

For diagnostics, did it function correctly before installing the piston conversion kit?

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

In addition to gas port size, consider a reduced power recoil spring and/or reduced weight buffer if you want to continue running Tulammo.

It should be noted that Tula is known to have a different pressure curve than most other .223 ammo, giving the impression of underpowered ammo. The one luckygunner article about the 4 carbine torture test had a pretty interesting set of graphs. With that in mind, a switch in ammo may be all that is needed.

Link to the luckygunner article: http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

 

[navystang]

I was unaware tula chambered there ammo to 5.56 specs.

 

[taliv]

i disagree with navystang, who i don't think has it straight.

while the rifle MAY work with higher pressure brass cased ammo, the OP specifically asked before purchasing if it worked with the ammo he already has and plans to use. it seemed like the point was finding a rifle that would work with his ammo, which is well known to be underpowered. (as penguin said)

i will however, join in the chorus of piston naysayers. just not a fan of trying to replace the gas block with a GP.

 

[navystang]

the only reason I said anything about 5.56 is because the op typed 5.56 NATO then shot Tula Ammo there is a differance in pressure between the two.

 

[taliv]

does NATO have a standard for 5.56 (or any cartridge) that uses a steel case? I would have taken that answer as a general reference to the cartridge