ar-15I have read a few articles about the disadvantages of a piston-cycled design in an AR-15 style rifle. It seems like one of the main complaints about piston systems is that the added mechanics interfere with the barrel setup of the traditional AR design in a way that makes these piston guns less accurate.
Is there strong evidence or data on this, and is the difference in accuracy significant? It seems questionable to me to say one design is always going to be more accurate.
The only real complaint I have seen on the piston driven AR15’s (and it was for a specific, early model of one, I think it was the Adams Arms conversion) not a generalized comment, was that the particular setup seemed to be prone to tilting the carrier and gouging the buffer tube if you didn’t use their carrier or some kind of shim or buffer. I suppose if you were gouging the buffer tube, the carrier is possibly not returning to battery exactly the same each time which, with match grade ammo, MIGHT show up in shot to shot consistency.
I have heard concerns about the reliability of the different approaches, but can’t see how the gas return system would have anything to do with the accuracy of a bullet going through a barrel.
All things being equal, the same bullet going down the same barrel should have the same accuracy - maybe some slight differences in delivered energy and range based on how much gas is withdrawn when, but that’s it.
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