AR, AK, DGI AR, Piston AR...what to do?

[jeremy155rr]

Heres the thing, I'm going to use this thread to collect my thoughts and hopefully weigh some peoples input. On what you ask? Well, i've always wanted an ar, I also would not mind having an ak, but an ar is on the top of the list right now. I'm very excited and was practically sold on a piston driven AR platform, my favorite 2: lwrc m6a2, and the ruger sr 556. I'll be spending my saved up ar money on or immediately around 9/15, and the closer I get to that area of the calendar the more I think... dang, those piston driven ar's cost alot of money. Hopefully here is where I'm going to talk myself into and out of whatever it is I decide to do. Despite mr. ruger's betrayal the ruger has had the edge on the lwrc for 2 reasons: 1, its cheaper and comes with more goodies. 2, the way its advertised tells me that ruger wanted to design a piston driven rifle and make it look like and function like an ar-15, which to me sounds better than just dropping something in an already existing ar. Now is this true... I don't know. I've been battling lately with getting a plain old dgi ar.... why, i'll tell you (or myself):

1.) its much cheaper, and for the price of a gp ar I could purchase a wide variety of dgi ar's (stag, rra, dpms, etc..) and an ak47 if I really wanted to

2.) theres basically one design and umteen million manufacturers of replacement parts and you won't have to rely on say ruger for their specific gp design, or lwrc for their specific gp design etc... when something fails, and something will fail

3.) I've read the debates but these are things I don't and can't really know for myself: lighter, more accurate, more of a free floating barrel (from what i've read on the ruger the accuracy thing can be thrown out the window).

Now I don't have much experience with the ar platform, but the 'for gp' crowd claims (the obvious-cleaner) that their more reliable (when something doesn't break) and the recoil is not felt as much in the rear of the gun up close to your face. I don't know what I'll end up doing and this rant probably won't even help me make my decision but I see positives in both. Oh, and another thing, will I even shoot enough to notice.. I don't know that either. Maybe the ruger will keep selling like mad and other companys will copy the design and maybe that will be the norm for gp ar's and parts will be readily available. Maybe not... maybe I just need to , go to hero-gear on or around sept 15th and if Joe has everything in that i'm looking at i'll just have to get a hotel room and mull it over:D

[JeffL]

I'd just get a DGI. I'm sure Joe would tell you the same thing too. I'm sure you can get him to build you a very nice DGI Hero-15.

[jeremy155rr]

thats funny, I sent him a pm and told him to talk me out of it... maybe he'll see the thread and weigh in, or just tell me i'm crazy!

[JeffL]

I believe his words were "Buy a gas piston because it's cool, not because you need it."

[Smith]

From what I have seen, the piston AR's are not quite there yet. I like them, but that is why I like the AK. Since this is your first AR I would get a DGI and then you can shoot and accessorize to your hearts content with the money you saved over the GP. Then you can evaluate whether or not you really want a GP or not. Most of the GP makers you can buy aftermarket and fit to your AR anyway.

[Kelemvor]

I own a CMMG M4LEP piston rifle and after having shot it, I can tell you that DGI is nothing compared to piston and you might as well not even buy a gun if you are going direct impingement.

Now, on a serious note. I do own a CMMG M4LEP, which is about the most cost effective approach to gas piston rifles, aside from maybe putting a kit on a DPMS, and it is a dream to shoot. I am very impressed with the quality. All of the concerns that you voiced are valid (cost, parts availability, front heaviness) except the lack of free float and pretty much all of the advantages are also valid.

It really is up to you. The performance change isn't huge or anything. To me, it's just really neat and really really clean and cool.

[Kevo]

It takes me over an hour from start to finish to clean my traditional AR. It gets dirty from the flash hider to the inside of the the buffer tube. I have a friend with a MAK who hasn't cleaned it since he ran out of corrosive ammo years ago. If you don't like spending alot of time cleaning, I wouldn't get a traditional AR.

[mk19]

Here is what you do go get yourself a Galil(Golani) for about $600.00 get the best of both worlds, live happy You get Gas piston, AK reliability, and close to AR accuracy. With the rest of your savings, you can buy some ammo.

[mousegunner]

It always boils down to: what is the gun for? If you just love to shoot holes in targets 100 yards away, get an AR. Piston driven or not doesn't matter, if you clean it well after shooting. On the other hand, if you want legendary reliability to have on hand for possible "social situations," you can't beat a plain ol' never fail, easy maintainance AK.

[RWF]

also i would check out the Para/ZM it is a little pricey but nice

[Guest smittyb]

Buy DGI AR and a gas piston kit for less than the Ruger. Shoot it either way you like.