Okay! I want to take a quick poll of what AR-15 rifles all of you think are the best in both piston and gas tube configuration.
Here is the catch, you answer what AR you think is the best of both gas and piston type and then answer if you own them, have shot them, or if you just like that company. Don’t forget to give some reasoning no matter how vague.
DI - probably LWRC but I dont own one. The BCG is the seller for me. I dont like full ambi controls but it has them and thats generally considered “better”.
Piston - either PWS or LWRC or HK416 (shot all of them but never owned them). PWS uses the long stroke and just seems like a solid design. The HK and LWRC are battle proven designs that went through rigorous testing. Their piston operation is completely different , more harsh but built for reliability.
My favorite is Sons of Liberty Gun Works , ARs are easy to tailor to your needs so grouping them all together is kind of rough, imo.
JP Enterprises for gas guns. Can’t afford one. I have shot one. They are high quality rifles and they are aesthetically pleasing. I use their parts on my guns.
Two of my favorites are my lmt and bcm di. The lmt is one of the smoothest operating ar15s I’ve shoot. The bcm has been smooth, reliable and with the mid-length gas system it’s such a soft shooter.
The only piston system I own so far is the Tavor. I always stayed away from the the ar piston set up (in their early days/retrofits) because of the stories of unreliability and it not being designed for a piston thus being problematic. I know the bugs have long been worked out & they are good to go now. I’m interested in this thread for the purpose of a future build because I feel the piston system is a cleaner running & better set up.
In some cases it is “better” but in the end it’s relative. I own 4 piston AR-15 rifles and they run very well. The one difference that other forum members have already brought up is
1: they are heavier, that just goes with the design.
2: they do often have a sharper felt recoil.
They can certainly hold up to high rates of fire when built properly and now days be extremely reliable.