Modern AR-180: The Brownells BRN-180 System
Modern AR-180: The Brownells BRN-180 System
American Rifleman by B. Gil Horman – Thursday, June 11, 2020
Brownells, one of the country’s top shooting-components providers, has been a longtime supporter of this country’s enthusiasm for AR-pattern rifles. When I built a direct gas-impingement operated AR-15 at home for the first time a few years ago, this company proved to be an invaluable source of tools and information for the first-time builder and more experienced at-home hobbyists.
Although I have yet to find any reason to complain about the performance or reliability of the well-made direct-impingement platforms I’ve worked with, plenty of folks are devoted to ARs that use short-stroke gas-piston systems to cycle the action.
They run much more cleanly, since exhaust from the cartridge is not being blown back into the action. They also don’t heat up as quickly, for the same reason. However, piston guns do tend to cost more and generally don’t print quite as tight of groups as impingement-operated guns. Read more…