September 30th, 2009
I received my piston upper back from PWS after the last round of problems and was looking forward to seeing if they were able to resolve the short stroking issues. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get out to the range prior to taking another carbine class with it. I was slightly disappointed that PWS chose to send the upper through UPS Ground rather than 3 Day Select which added to the delay.
Change of rail from DD Lite 9.5 FSP to older Larue 7.0
Upon initial inspection I noticed a few changes beyond the specified rail replacement. I chose a Larue 7.0 rail to replace the Daniel Defense Lite 9.5 FSP after reading on the internet that Wes Grant of MSTN, an authorized PWS installer, refused to use those types of rails for the PWS conversion because he felt the rail obstructed access to the set screws.
Gas block pin- note front site is mounted backwards and gas block has been refinished
The most obvious discrepancy was that the folks at PWS installed the Centurion HK style Diopter back up iron sights on backwards. Next I noticed that the gas block was now pinned which was the proposed solution for the most recent problems I had. The gas block itself no longer had the etched PWS logo on there and by the looks of it they refinished the gas block entirely in a black finish.
I took the sights off and reinstalled them with loc-tite but did not have a chance to test fire it prior to the Bennie Cooley carbine class.
I was able to zero the rifle with no issues using an Eotech 516 and Wolf 62 grain hollow point.
It was downhill from there as I managed to make it through about half a day of training and probably less than 400 rounds before it began having failures to extract again which was the same problems I have had with the two previous returns to PWS.
Closer view of pin through barrel
I swapped out the carbine in it’s entirety and used another DI (Direct Impingement) carbine for the duration of the course. I will most likely take it to the range to confirm the short stroking issues before returning it to PWS for a refund.
Tags: Bennie Cooley, gas piston AR, HK416, Piston conversion, PWS
Posted in Equipment, Weapon Selection | 5 Comments »
August 6th, 2009
I recently had the opportunity to run my PWS piston conversion AR upper through the Viking Tactics Street Fighter class taught by Kyle Lamb.
Right side of gas block with Daniel Defense Lite 9.5 FSP rail
Round count for carbine in the class was slightly less than 800 rounds. The PWS upper performed impressively for the first two days of the class without a single malfunction shooting crappy Brown Bear Classic .223. Despite being shot from a variety of positions including in variations of prone where plenty of dirt and debris were being kicked up. I had fired an estimated 400 rounds on two different range days prior to this class.
On Day 3 the problems began when I was attempting to complete a shooting drill around vehicles. I shot it strong hand only with no problems but when I went to shoot support hand only, it appeared that the weapon was short stroking, I would fire a round and then manually cycle the bolt before firing again, still doing this with just my support hand. The drill also required a single magazine change which I completed but the multiple repeated malfunction clearances took a toll on me. At one point I had to “mortar” the weapon in order to get the charging handle to go back.
It was frustrating and much of the drill’s value was lost as I had to fight the weapon to complete the drill. I cleared the weapon and took it off the line to investigate and found that the gas block was loose, enough that it would wiggle with just finger pressure.
Note scratched to barrel due to shooting around vehicles and barricades
I emailed PWS that evening and they immediately offered to have it sent in for repair. The plan is to install a taper pin to keep the gas block fixed. So far all 3 problems I’ve had with this weapon have been related to the gas system. The first time PWS opened up the gas port, the second time they stated that their was a subtle taper to the barrel and finally, the gas block was shot loose. I suspect the Daniel Defense Lite 9.5 FSP rail may be making it difficult for them to properly secure the gas block using the set screws. I may have them change it out to a Larue 7.0 rail when I send it in to see if that makes it easier.
I remain extremely impressed by the customer service at PWS but am starting to lose confidence in their system, both in design and execution. I look forward to getting my upper back and running the gun through its paces. I hope that PWS can finally resolve these teething issues to deliver the enhanced reliability it was advertised for.
Tags: Daniel Defense Lite 9.5 FSP, gas piston AR, HK416, LWRC, pi, piston, Piston conversion, PWS, PWS piston conversion, Viking Tactics, VTAC, VTAC Street Fighter
Posted in Equipment, Weapon Selection | 5 Comments »