Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

[DV]

I`ve been toying with the idea of either buying or building a piston driven AR style rifle in either .223 or .308.

Not looking for anything uber tactical or for duty use, just target and general recreation.

Would having the barrel free floating cause enough of an increase in accuracy to be worth effort or extra expense involved?


I`ve read that, all else being equal, piston driven AR rifles tend to be a bit less accurate than direct impengment rifles.

If this is true I would assume one factor would be that the piston system would have more moving parts than the direct impengment system.

I`m very interested in the opinions here on free floated vs. non free floated barrel accuracy and the accuracy of piston vs. direct impengment

 

[cubewarrior]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

Free float if you are going to shoot over 300 yards or you like using a sling to shoot.

Use a piston over DI if you hate cleaning, are going to be shooting in really bad conditions, or are going to run a suppressor.

For recreational, a normal DI AR is all you'll need.

 

[stiletto raggio]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

Ditto, ditto, ditto. DI is one of the things that allows the AR to be truly free-floated. Pistons are useful for some applications but are expensive and can diminish accuracy. Something like a POF will still shoot very well, but a DI gun will likely be more accurate if all other factors are equal.

 

[RSR]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

Simple solution (and a good one) is the Daniel Defense Omega Rail 7.0. They are cheap but I have found them on sale from time to time for a little over $200.

http://www.danieldefense.com/?page=shop/detail&product_id=109

 

[desertfox01]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

I always love to here how a DI gun will always shoot soooo much better then a piston......so how much is sooo much better. one tenth of an inch...1/2 moa, 1 moa? I've shot 20" POF piston 308 uppers that have shoot 1/2" moa. supposedly all the extra mass moving around makes a huge difference. there is not that much more mass then in a DI gun. the piston systems tend to need less gas to operate, so then leads to a less violent cycle of the action.

but accuracy comes down to the quality of the parts you use to build the system, whether DI or Piston. you get a cheap crappy barrel that is shooting 4 to 6 moa, adding a free float system will not make it start shooting 1 moa.

To the OP, there is a difference in accuracy. what kind of shooting are you doing? sling, bipod, standing, siting, prone. how to you hole your rifle? are you one of those that grabs the front of the mag well?

If your going with a piston system, your choice will partly be based on which Free float tube or rail will fit over the piston. If using a DI, you could just get a basic free float tube without having to spend that much money.

 

[Austincqc]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

Why free float a bolt gun?

I bought a Troy MRF rail for a little over $150 when Troy had a sale. They change their sale every two weeks or so. It normally goes for $200.

A guy I know that shoots ARs a lot put an Adams Arms piston kit on his Mid-Length and said it helped his accuracy a little. He thought it'd hurt it, but it didn't. I thought I'd try one out to see.

 

[eli polite]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

i will be putting one on my current build i am using a YHM diamond series rail. there may be small issue with fit but i already have that worked out as well.

it will take a little work and when i get to it i will post lots of pic's it will be a few months before i get to that stage.

 

[inthe605]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

I'd say buy a built upper. I've looked at prices and all that not fun shit too much. It's just a better overall value to buy a complete upper, plus alot of companies will warranty their work.

Now if your going the route i was dead set on going (monolithic upper, free float, side charging, gas piston) your going to spend major coin.

I went with a ACR for a couple hundred less than I could have built my upper for.

Lowers are lowers unless you need the space for a rdias. Which means you have too much money anyway, or your just a deal savvy sumbitch.

 

[Big_Daddy]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

From what I understand some of the piston AR uppers can take a bit of work to use with a rail system. Truth be told I don't follow the piston uppers too much as they are not in my current interests at the moment. That being said all of my ARs have free floated barrels. For me it isn't that much expense to have it free floating and I want all of the accuracy I can get.

 

[DV]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

Really appreciate all the input-
Some excellent information from everyone who replied.

 

[B y r o n]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

As previously mentioned, barrels are free floated to enhance accuracy.

I'm currently putting together 2 AR's that will be piston based, 1 in .223 and 1 in 264 LBC-AR/6.5 Grendel. Upper parts arrive tomorrow and are Mega Arms MTS rifle length and Adams Arms gas piston kits. I wanted piston because I didn't want all the gas in the receiver. AA kits are short throw with only 1/2" of movement. I'm not worried about it affecting my accuracy as I'm hoping the barrels I have built will have better accuracy than I can manage, if you know what I mean. Yes the parts are costing me more but I'm getting exactly what I want and not being restricted to what someone is currently building.

So far my problem is finding barrels longer than 20" with .750" gas block area.

 

[jwb47]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

on a carbine for fighting purposes I would say a free float barrel is optional since I doubt precision shooting is going to be an asset at 25 yds . for a longer barreld rifle used for hunting or target shooting where there isnt a danger of the target or coyote shooting back and you have the luxury of taking more time to aim your weapon or longer shots are took then the free float rail or tube makes a difference

 

[LongCut]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

What do you define "target and general recreation" as??

Free floating a piece of shit barrel will do nothing but cost you money. It can help, but you must start with decent components.

DI-v-Piston can be argued (and it has been) all day. Personally, I love my 16" piston setup for my LMT MRP. It is VERY accurate. I have heard, from guys that own lots of MRP barrels, that they are very accurate in general. That being said, it may be an unfair comparison, as I have not fired any other piston setups.

I own 5 AR setups, more if you consider different barrels for the MRP. 1 is a piston, and the rest are DI.

I think the piston is about as smooth a shooting AR as I have ever fired, easy cleanup, and has NEVER malfunctioned.

I am biased, but depending on your budget, I would highly reccomend the MRP from LMT. You can buy it as a piston driven AR, and buy other barrels (DI or Piston) as funds allow. It is much cheaper to just by another barrel than to get an entire new upper. Because once you start, you will wan't several different setups.

 

[marduk185]

Re: Worth the effort/expense to free float an AR?

to start let me say i know diddly squat about piston uppers.
i can say that my experience has been counterintuitive regarding floated barrel versus non floated. ive had 2 builds floated and neither achieved the same accuracy as the non floated one. all barrels considered were from bushmaster. one was a 18" fluted hbar free float, one was a 20" hbar free float, and the non free float was a 16" with pinned on ak break that outshot the other two hands down. why this barrel shot consistently better i havent a clue really. all of these were 1 in 9 barrels and shot 55 grain ballistic tips best from the stuff i tried.