Hey folks!
As promised here is the 3rd part of the ARS Gas Piston Kit review. This review will be on the 7.62x39 round with the same Piston Kit. Stay tuned for the 4th part. It will surely be worth the wait. If you missed the first and second part of the review, here are links. ARS Review #1 and ARS Review #2
Temp was about 30 degrees, windy and rainy. Weapon and myself were soaked within 10 minutes of being in the field. I only had 132 rounds on me to test the upper with. It consisted of Wolf HP and Wolf FMJ. It needs to be noted that shooting this caliber will require you to replace your hammer spring with an extra power hammer spring. The hard primers of the this type of ammo will not work with standard two stage or match hammer/trigger combos. I was using a stock DPMS LPK and it would not set the primers off. Spring is a simple change out and can be purchased for around 2-3 dollars.
The 7.62x39 is nothing new as we all know. It is however available in just about every gun shop in America and can be purchased cheaper, in most cases, than 223 or 5.56. With that being said, all the more reason to try out this caliber in an AR set up. Basically all that is needed to change up to this caliber over a standard 223 or 5.56 AR-15 is a barrel, bolt and magazine swap. There is quality 7.62x39 ammo out there that can be used for self defense or hunting. A lot of people do not know, but the 7.62x39’s ballistics closely resemble the 30-30’s ballistics. The 30-30 is probably the most common caliber used in North America for small to medium sized game. All the more reason to try the 7.62x39 in your “Black Rifle”
Changing out the system from the 6.8 SPC to the 7.62x39 again was very easy. I did this in the field with only the following tools. Muzzle break wrench and an allen wrench. Disassembly and reassembly took about 5 minutes to complete with most of the time spent ensuring that the gas block was properly aligned. Break wrench was used of course to remove the muzzle break to allow the gas block to be taken off and put back on and allen wrench was used to remove the three screws that secure the gas block. The entire system, still being attached to the gas block, was taken out and put back together with ease making this a complete universal kit. I had a stripped barrel attached to an A4 upper to speed things along this time as well. The only thing that was changed from the 5.56 and 6.8 SPC was the gas regulator insert. The kit comes with 3 of them for various rounds and calibers. I used the larger diameter insert for the 7.62x39 being it’s a larger caliber. A small allen wrench was used for this too.
As with the previous two reviews I started out loading one round at a time into the magazine, loading from an open bolt and firing to see if the bolt would lock. 10 rounds, loaded from an open bolt and fired locking the bolt back each time. Next I did 3 30 round bump fire magazine dumps to simulate full auto fire. All 60 fired, ejected and fed with no malfunctions at all. Bolt locked back on the empty magazine all three times. I finished off the remaining ammo without a hitch. Slow fire and rapid fire. As with the 6.8 SPC test, I never let the system cool. I had the barrel and Handguards smoking again!!!! I immediately pulled the carrier to check and it was still as cold has when installed.
Total round count is now 990 rounds of 5.56, 160 rounds of 6.8 SPC and now 132 rounds of 7.62x39. Total of 1282 rounds on the same carrier and piston kit. The opt rod is showing some carbon build up as well as the gas regulator, but it was wiped off easily with my fingers. Nothing like the cleaning and time it takes to clean a DI system with the same amount of rounds. The bolt and carrier are still as clean as when I did the initial test on the 5.56 system. Blows my mind folks.
To rap up this review, I am more and more impressed with this kit. Over 1200 rounds and the system is still running flawlessly. I do believe its considered “broken in” now and not one failure so far. One would have no problem trusting this kit on their rifle, to defend themselves or others. We now have 3 different, very popular calibers tested with the same system. Only change we have made so far is the changing out of the regulator insert for a larger caliber. This was done in the field as well.
My last part of the review on this kit will be a comparison of a DI and Gas Piston System with the same caliber. I am looking forward to that.
ARS's website is under construction at the moment but if you have any questions about the kit or would like to purchase one, you can call or visit the following sites:
James Bigalow with ARS at 1-253-273-9634 www.ar15solutions.com
Carl with Black Hole Weaponry at 1-509-793-5374. www.blackholeweaponry.com
www.jsgunparts.com
www.surplusammoandarms.com
Thanks!!!
As promised here is the 3rd part of the ARS Gas Piston Kit review. This review will be on the 7.62x39 round with the same Piston Kit. Stay tuned for the 4th part. It will surely be worth the wait. If you missed the first and second part of the review, here are links. ARS Review #1 and ARS Review #2
Temp was about 30 degrees, windy and rainy. Weapon and myself were soaked within 10 minutes of being in the field. I only had 132 rounds on me to test the upper with. It consisted of Wolf HP and Wolf FMJ. It needs to be noted that shooting this caliber will require you to replace your hammer spring with an extra power hammer spring. The hard primers of the this type of ammo will not work with standard two stage or match hammer/trigger combos. I was using a stock DPMS LPK and it would not set the primers off. Spring is a simple change out and can be purchased for around 2-3 dollars.
The 7.62x39 is nothing new as we all know. It is however available in just about every gun shop in America and can be purchased cheaper, in most cases, than 223 or 5.56. With that being said, all the more reason to try out this caliber in an AR set up. Basically all that is needed to change up to this caliber over a standard 223 or 5.56 AR-15 is a barrel, bolt and magazine swap. There is quality 7.62x39 ammo out there that can be used for self defense or hunting. A lot of people do not know, but the 7.62x39’s ballistics closely resemble the 30-30’s ballistics. The 30-30 is probably the most common caliber used in North America for small to medium sized game. All the more reason to try the 7.62x39 in your “Black Rifle”
Changing out the system from the 6.8 SPC to the 7.62x39 again was very easy. I did this in the field with only the following tools. Muzzle break wrench and an allen wrench. Disassembly and reassembly took about 5 minutes to complete with most of the time spent ensuring that the gas block was properly aligned. Break wrench was used of course to remove the muzzle break to allow the gas block to be taken off and put back on and allen wrench was used to remove the three screws that secure the gas block. The entire system, still being attached to the gas block, was taken out and put back together with ease making this a complete universal kit. I had a stripped barrel attached to an A4 upper to speed things along this time as well. The only thing that was changed from the 5.56 and 6.8 SPC was the gas regulator insert. The kit comes with 3 of them for various rounds and calibers. I used the larger diameter insert for the 7.62x39 being it’s a larger caliber. A small allen wrench was used for this too.
As with the previous two reviews I started out loading one round at a time into the magazine, loading from an open bolt and firing to see if the bolt would lock. 10 rounds, loaded from an open bolt and fired locking the bolt back each time. Next I did 3 30 round bump fire magazine dumps to simulate full auto fire. All 60 fired, ejected and fed with no malfunctions at all. Bolt locked back on the empty magazine all three times. I finished off the remaining ammo without a hitch. Slow fire and rapid fire. As with the 6.8 SPC test, I never let the system cool. I had the barrel and Handguards smoking again!!!! I immediately pulled the carrier to check and it was still as cold has when installed.
Total round count is now 990 rounds of 5.56, 160 rounds of 6.8 SPC and now 132 rounds of 7.62x39. Total of 1282 rounds on the same carrier and piston kit. The opt rod is showing some carbon build up as well as the gas regulator, but it was wiped off easily with my fingers. Nothing like the cleaning and time it takes to clean a DI system with the same amount of rounds. The bolt and carrier are still as clean as when I did the initial test on the 5.56 system. Blows my mind folks.
To rap up this review, I am more and more impressed with this kit. Over 1200 rounds and the system is still running flawlessly. I do believe its considered “broken in” now and not one failure so far. One would have no problem trusting this kit on their rifle, to defend themselves or others. We now have 3 different, very popular calibers tested with the same system. Only change we have made so far is the changing out of the regulator insert for a larger caliber. This was done in the field as well.
My last part of the review on this kit will be a comparison of a DI and Gas Piston System with the same caliber. I am looking forward to that.
ARS's website is under construction at the moment but if you have any questions about the kit or would like to purchase one, you can call or visit the following sites:
James Bigalow with ARS at 1-253-273-9634 www.ar15solutions.com
Carl with Black Hole Weaponry at 1-509-793-5374. www.blackholeweaponry.com
www.jsgunparts.com
www.surplusammoandarms.com
Thanks!!!
