I own and shoot and have a fair amount of rounds downrange from the SCAR 16, SIG 516, LWRCI M6, and I had a Norinco 84s - all in 5.56/.223

They are all good, all reliable, and I still own all except the Norinco which I sold for stupid money.

That said - My FAVORITE and the design that I think combines the best of the AR ergonomics, with piston reliability and "suppressor friendly" adjustability is the PWS. I own three PWS MK111 pistols and they are ALL 100% reliable and surprisingly accurate.

PWS customer service is top-notch as well.

If I could only keep one 5.56/.223 rifle it would be my PWS - they are an exceptionally good design and when I paired my 11.5" MK111 with an OSS .30 titanium suppressor, I found true groundhog busting Nirvana! With the OSS you can leave the gas adjustment on "Normal" and the gun functions just fine with no blowback.

I highly recommend the combination!

Cheers,

~i8mtm

quote:

Originally posted by samnev:
I have the FN SCAR 16s, LWRC M6, LMT, HK 416 POF 415 and SIG M16. Hard choice which I like best. if I could only have 1 it would be the POF 415 even though it's a little front heavy. I've had it for over 10 years never a single problem and the most accurate of the bunch.The HK416 would be a close 2nd choice.

I also have a POF P415, and it has never missed a beat and is extremely accurate. Easily under 1 moa. I liked it so much I bought a POF upper for a bare lower I assembled.

I’ve been seeking out Wolf 12.5” A1 piston uppers lately. They’ve been as low as $470 shipped for lightly used complete uppers. Lowers are back to being very cheap too. Also have a 16” wolf A1 upper at Wilson Mfg getting chopped to 10.75” right now.

If this has been covered, apologies.

Piston driven guns are generally not worth it. Ive been issued or tested many over the years, and with the advent of better tolerances and coatings and oils, they just arent needed. Ive never had a DI gun go down on me that wasnt related to a bad magazine, bad round, or in one case a broken extractor. All that would have happened piston or not.

The scar 16 is, imo atrocious. They failed every test we had, and they showed themselves to be hugely unreliable in hard use in the field. Other SOF guys i know that got them ended up hating them.

The scar 17 seemed to be much better and we liked those fine.

I had a hk416 shorty for a while that was stellar. Accurate, durable, great kit to use and i got no hate for it. But, as gas systems got better and things kept improving, it just isnt worth the price.

The best carbine i was ever given was a WarSport LVOA. I heard back in the day lots of hate for it. It was over priced. You could do better or same for less money. Etc. if suppression was not a mission requirement, it was the best. It shot the fastest and flattest, the most accurate of any carbine i ever had. I ended up buying my own civilian legal LVOA upper afterwords that I still have.

The reliability issues of DI guns comes back to vietnam amd all the stoppages. My grand dad and my uncle were weapons engineers for the government then, and were on the gov aide of stoners efforts on the civilian side. The stoppages were, my hncle found, due to an out of spec shamber that he then had altered by ~1mm or whatever is was- and the things ran great. There was also some issue with different kinds of powder used in production than was spec’d during deisgn, but it ended up not mattering.

Just run a quality DI gun is my vote. If youre going 556 piston, just buy once cry once and get the HK.

What I like about the Wolf uppers is there is almost no cost penalty to have a piston gun as the uppers are as low as $470 shipped then it’s just your basic pistol lower. So the cost is barely more than a basic DI AR is these days.

A Wolf upper is on my "to buy" list. I actually bought a Nodak 1815 lower to go with it. thought it would make a cool combo. Now I just need to get around to picking up the rest of the pieces.

quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:
A Wolf upper is on my "to buy" list. I actually bought a Nodak 1815 lower to go with it. thought it would make a cool combo. Now I just need to get around to picking up the rest of the pieces.

Dang, that is a cool receiver. The gen two version they have planned looks like a killer option for a BRN-180S build.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
How many realize that ShneaSIG started this thread on 3/6/20, and hasn't posted on it since 3/8/20?

It's alive! IT'S ALIIIIIVE!!!

Piston gun contemplations are probably still relevant for a lot of members so reviving this thread to say I picked up the 5.56 Galil Ace in 13” and it’s insanely heavy. Going to compare it to a Bren 2 and BRN180S but I think the weight is over the top.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Accomplice,