Pics of my side cocking piston AR

This is to make amends for the blurry cell phone photos I've been posting (dropped my phone a few too many times). I've been looking for the battery charger for my DSLR (still looking) but I remembered I have a pretty good camera on my tablet.

American Spirit Arms side cocking upper. Adams Arms XLP short-stroke piston kit (mid length), Adams Arms low mass bolt carrier, Rainier Arms Select 16" MEDCON barrel.



This one a little out of focus.




The 5-position piston adjustment works just fine 1/2 open (1/4 open suppressed) even with weak Wall Mart Federal (not LC 193). Lightest recoiling AR I've owned.





Mike

gunnutery said:

Are the dimes for size comparison or is that just to show how gangsta you are?

Does the bolt release get in the way?

Click to expand...

Lol!

The dimes are covering the serial number and my trust name and address (the lower is a registered SBR as I own several short barreled uppers) I found it economical to trick out one lower and use it with all my uppers.

The side cocker is not compatible with the standard Magpul BAD lever so I am using the Phase 5 instead. The lever does not hug the top of the trigger area as closely as the Magpul and I had some concern about it blocking a quick shot upon first shouldering the gun. It has never happened. I'm giving it more time to see if it will ever be an issue. There is room to bend it upward a bit.

I was not going for match accuracy with this build. I have a 20" SDM-R upper that shoots as well as (probably better than) I do (2/3 MOA @200) for precision work. I have not yet grouped this rifle (110F temps take the fun out of range days) but I am not worried. Rainier Arms guarantees 1 MOA.

Have I answered all the questions? Oh wait, the rail. That is the KeyMod edition of the Sampson Evolution, one of the thinnest and lightest rails out there. I'm a huge fan. ASA has their own signature line of Evolution rials but they are not the new KeyMod type. I had to file the anti-rotation tabs a bit to fit the ASA upper, Interestingly in a different place than I had to for my oversized Sun Devil billet upper on my SDM-R build.

Edit: I missed the question about the backup sights. They are the (currently $17) GDT clones of the Dueck Defense sights. I plan to use them as fixed sights (my right radius is higher than military so the ranges would be off). These are great sights, the only problem seems to be that they get a little wobbly when turned up past 400 yards and I wonder about POA shift and repeatability. No idea if the Duecks do that. I will be using them fixed however, and they are tight when set to shorter ranges. What ever you do, do not buy Duecks for $50-$100. You will get GDTs with Dueck markings silk screened on and counterfeit Dueck packaging,. However, the sights are so good I doubt most people will know they've been scammed. Don't get greedy and just buy the GDTs sold as GDTs for ~$20 and you will not be disappointing.

Mike

PS. The downside to the side cocker are an entry path for dirt (although the ASA has a very thin slit, less than other designs and a lot less open area than an open ejection port) and THE CO$T. The big advantage is to be able to operate every control with the gun shouldered without having to more your head away from the optic.

PPS. I noticed that Window's built-in photo editor introduces a lot of pixilation when reducing resolution from 3264x2448 to 800x600.