Just got back from a range trip where I tried out an Osprey Gas Piston conversion of this rifle, a light barrel mid-length gas system carbine I started building last November 2012. It has been shot as impingement and now as piston driven. I'd say the accuracy is just as good now as it was as impingement.
The handguards came with the Osprey conversion. It took about 15 minutes to install but I have the right gas tube roll pin punch to put in the piston retainer pin. If you don't have that kind of punch, putting in the pin that comes with the kit could be a real bitch. This AR is built on a Rock River lower, Del-Ton lt. barrel upper that I put the Osprey system on. The sight is an Eotech 512. The rifle weights 7 lbs. more or less with the 512 on top, add in 1 lb. for a loaded mag with M855 ball 62 grainers in it.
Future plans for it will be to put a YHM flip up gas block front sight. Seeing the front sight tower through the 512 view window is annoying.
The second rifle pictured here is my first mid-length gas piston rifle.
I built it up between 2006 and 2007, it has a Kurt's Kustom gas piston conversion. Sadly Kurt was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident and his shop is closed. His piston drive system has proven highly reliable, I trust it to work with a wide variety of ammo; 55 gr. to 69 gr. Sierra's have been run through this weapon, all worked well. The rifle is built up on a Stag Arms lower and has an ACE Socom stock, the long version. In retrospect I wish I'd of gotten the short model. I think I may eventually replace it with a Magpul stock, possibly the CTR or the STR by Magpul.
The optic on this rifle is the Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic or PRO. I have to say I like it a lot so far. I thought I would miss the ring dot of the 512's but not so. The PRO is about $400 bucks and has 4 night vision level settings. It also has a 3 year constant on battery life. Eotech 512's cost about $400 bucks, are not night vision rated and only have about a 600 hour battery life. Advantage Aimpoint Pro. One other significant difference I find about the Eotech vs. the Aimpoint is turning them on. I have to say it is a lot nicer simply rotating a knob vs. having to press two buttons at the same time. Once again advantage Aimpoint Pro over Eotech 512.
Both rifles with their piston systems deliver reliable operation like an AK rifle and their bolt and upper receivers stay cool and clean, cleaner than even the AK.
Lastly this day was about trying Troy Battle mags, both rifles shown here have a Troy mag in them. I purchased 12 of these back in December after Sandyhook went down. It took until January to get them shipped from Brownells. They did not raise their price or cancel my order unlike many suppliers out there. I loaded a pair of these in January and today 7 months later I took them out and fired both mags empty, one in each of these two rifles. Both feed all 30 rounds flawlessly. I reloaded them at least 3 times each and they continued to feed all rounds with zero failures of any kind. I now believe these are my Go-To mags over all others even my Magpuls. Why over Magpuls, well they are a bit slimmer and don't have the big fat lipped floor plate that makes putting them in mag pouches a pain in the ass sometimes like the Magpuls have. Granted now Magpul has the Gen 3 mag and it is more Troy Battle Mag in nature. They still make the lipped floor plate mag and now they call it the MOE mag. A rose by any other name and all that.
So the recap is this; Osprey 418 mid-length gas system conversions seem to work very well. Not seeing any carrier tilt signs yet. Aimpoint PRO sights are a great value for the money and lastly Troy Battle Mags are really good. They feel light but are tough, feed ammo flawlessly, lock the rifle open on the last round and can stand to be loaded for 7 months with 30 rounds and show no signs of being damaged from being loaded.
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