Is it normal for the gas block to get super hot? I recently converted my carbine upper to a piston and noticed after 3 or 4 mags the gas block was super hot. I about burned myself on it. The hand guard and barrel felt normal for the number of rounds. I just never noticed it getting that hot with DI.

This was my first trip to the range since converting it so was just wondering.

Pic of rifle.

All gas blocks get super hot.  You have powder burning well over 1000 degrees and the gas port is the first place it can go other than down the barrel.  If you shot your DI gun a lot at once the block, the tube, and the carrier all get too hot to touch.  This is one of the advantages of the piston system as the heat is essentially limited by the path of the gas, and in this case the gas kind of passes through the block twice for each round fired; the first is what activates the piston, the second is when the piston returns to its normal position much of the gas returns through the gas block and exits the barrel.  The piston block likely gets hotter faster with the same number of rounds fired compared to a DI gun, but nothing else will be getting hot at the same time due to the limits placed on where the gas can go.

Pistons gas blocks getting hotter faster makes sense now that I think about it. Thanks for the insight.

Add to that the dissipation of heat by all the metal involved in a traditional AR vs how much of that heat is locked into the gas block of the piston.  More metal dissipating the volume of heat means the average temp of a specific spot will be lower.  And the fact that much of the remaining gas you didn't cover is exhausted back onto the outside of the block.  Sort of a combination of all of the above leads to a gas block that gets really hot.  Just don't put plastic front sights on your AR.