Direct impingement vs gas piston.

[Old Stinky]

Direct impingement vs gas piston.

[small game sportsman]

I have just recently looked into this myself. What I found is that the piston is much more reliable and MUCH easier to keep clean, while the direct impingement system tends to be a little more accurate.

[Jerry A.]

Piston rifles run cooler and don't get as dirty, but usually cost more. Direct gas rifles in the AR format have been around longer and generally function fine. Comes down to your own preference and how much money you have to spend.

[Trynabahuntr]

Went to afghan twice as a grunt in the USMC...if you are worried about reliability, accuracy, cleaning...heres my take. The direct impingement rifles we used were very reliable, reliable enough to take on the taliban for hours of firefights without major malfunction. Accuracy, well i could surely hit the black consistantly at 500yds with my "lowest bidder" built m16 and m4. Also accurate enough to use in combat with high confidence. Lastly,cleaning...really? I mean come on people debate this subject as if all other guns are shoot n put-away without cleaning type deals. But really u should clean any firearm after you put it to good use. Once again, through my experience in the Marines and the training we used our weapons during was often muddy, rainy, dusty, hot, cold, you name it. On deployment and back home training we got our rifles just disgustingly dirty you would be amazed. But, you learn how to clean that rifle to "inspection ready" pretty dang quick on that friday evening after a two week field op because you were diiiieing for a beer n pizza. Hey, im just one guy with an opinion and fortunatly some experience to weigh in on the subject. People complain about ARs' being so prone to failure...well yea of course if u jame rocks n mud purposely into the chamber and bolt you are 1) trying to destroy a perfectly good firearm and 2) trying to recreate a "real world" scenario which my experience as a combat veteran has never become close to happening. So direct impingement is nothing to be afraid of. Sure go ahead and pay the extra money for a piston but it really isnt the failsafe upgrade to an AR. At the end of the day an improperly maintained firearm will probably be less reliable and less accurate than a properly maintained one regardless of impingement or a piston. Sorry for ranting ive just seen this thread so many times and the argument is not so complicated.

[Old Stinky]

Thanks for the answers.

[Edward J. Palumbo]

Gas piston is preferable for reasons already cited, but it adds approximately $200 to the price because of increased production cost. As ever, you get what you pay for.

[WA Mtnhunter]

I think a well made gas piston AR would be better for cleaning purposes, etc. I never had a direct impingement M-16 or CAR-15 malfunction with the exception of extremely dirty ammo, worn out magazines, and one bolt carrier on a Colt shatter to pieces.