1. Before purchasing I called Adam arms and asked if it works with Steel cased ammo. I was told that it does, in 5.56x45 NATO.
2. Purchased from Midway USA. Price was pretty high and it came WITHOUT gas block. (THis was back in September)
3. Called Adams arms. They asked for a serial number and shipped me a gas block. SUPERB customer service.
4. Assembly was easy. Rod was sliding in without ANY friction and bushing didn't give any problems. Assembled in end of December.
5. Took it out today. What a great Bolt Action rifle I now have. It is VERY accurate. However:
a) At piston HALF open it doesn't work period. Turns into a straight pull bolt action. Very accurate though. Thanx to 20" HBAR and HK 417 iron sights.
b) At piston in FULLY open it also doesn't work. The bolt and trigger reset (most of the time, about 7 out of 10 shots). However there is a FTE. In only 6 shots out of 40 Tula Ammo fired the system worked as promised. My friend Chris also uses tula ammo. His DPMS direct impingement M4 worked without issues for 60 shots fired with Tula Ammo
6. What a HUGE disappointment. I will be sending it back to Adam Arms and returning to direct gas impingement. I want my money back. The whole idea of Gas Piston system was to use it with Steel Cased dirty ammo to reduce the amount of residue inside the receiver. The system does NOT do it's job. This on is a 360 dollars FAILURE. STAY AWAY FROM THIS PRODUCT. Bad experience, hopefully Adams Arms can make it work, I will keep it, if not - I WANT MY MONEY BACK.

My two AA uppers run just fine. Brass or steel cased ammo.

Sorry to hear about your issues. Good luck.

Contact Adams. One of their reps is on this section of the board often.
Anyone who has expressed problems, they have yet to come back and say it wasn't sorted or Adams made a strong attempt to do so, after having received it.

However, I suspect your issue is related to a misaligned gas port.

I have their factory built 7.5" and 11.5" uppers and both run 100% with the crap Tulammo. The system is a good design and works as set up from factory, I wonder if something was just slightly off in your kit that was causing binding or something.

same here, i have a factory built 11.5 and it runs like no tomorrow, suppressed or not and on any setting, with the gas off obviously it will be a bolt action gun, i was dreaming about an hk 416 but once i got this in my hands i never looked back, for me this a true piece.

I have a Tactical Elite that won't cycle steel cased ammo. I was told it's just tight. Hopefully it will loosen up and work.

My upper is a DEL-TON. They ASSURED me that I will have NO problems with steel cased ammo. They have good reputation. If rifle extracts manually, this means that: extractor isn't broken and case isn't stuck:-)

I just bought one and installed it on my Mega Arms Monolithic upper it works flawless! I love it so much my bolt was clean! I shot 200 rounds through it

I have a mid length evo and I've had the same problems. Changed buffers It probably has less than 100 rounds through it because it pisses me off.

This just kind of seals the deal for me...don't buy Adams Arms...way too many QA issues...someone posted a pic of their set screw and it was rusted...

I have an Adam Arms upper bought from MidwayUSA and a Huldra (Adam Arms) upper bought from Mills Fleet Farm.
Both have worked great, so far, with surplus 5.45x39.
Both uppers came with heavy springs and ASC magazines.
Contact Adam Arms.

I have two adams arms kits.

1 5.45x39 16" and 1 5.56 PDW

5.56 PDW ran perfect from the start, needed a colt B buffer to run full auto w/o bolt bounce.
5.45 needed a new bolt, runs perfect now. PERFECT for corrosive ammo.

I have had shitty shitty luck with tula ammo in my guns. Some sticking cases, a LOT of short stroking bullshit.

It is NOT ammo. Do not blame ammo when a gun is a POS. Why? Here is why
1. Century arms galil. over 500 shots with TULA - NO failures.
2. Century arms C93. Over 500 shots with TULA - no Failures.
3. Kel Tec SU-16 - Over 500 shots with tula - no Failures.
4. Bushmaster M17S. Over 1K shots with Tula - no Failures.
5. Armalite AR180. Over 1k shots with tula - NO failures.
6. Taurus 24/7 Pistol 300 shots with Tula - No failures.
7. DPMS M4 (Belongs to my buddy Chris Umbr...). Over 1500 shots with Tula - No Failures.

It ain't ammo. If it works in other rifles but doesn't work with ADAMS ARMS - than the problem is NOT in ammo but in Adams arms. And yes. When this Del Ton Upper was direct impingement - it worked just fine.

Line up the ports , gas block and barrel.

Can't be anything else. It being mis aligned would be your fault, not Adams arms.

It is NOT misaligned. There is no cant on front gas block (I have a front sight attached to it, it is NOT canted). There is no problem with operating rod - it slides freely when gas plug is taken off. The system just doesn't work. Oh, and I wrote them a letter. I called them - NO response. This thing is going back.

you do have the gas setting correct?????  AA has excellent customer service and they will get you straightened out. there are alot of variables with the rifle not cycling. all the rifles you mentioned are commercial grade rifles and should cycle Tula. NOT ONE of my rifles runs reliablely on Tula, that stuff is bottom of the barrel. just give them a chance to see what is going on, they didn't install the gas block so anything could have happened. let us know how this turns out

Did you take a level to it so as to confirm that it is indeed not misaligned?

I'll give you $25 for it, sight unseen.
You pay shipping.

I tried on EVERY gas setting. Yeah, when gas port CLOSED it is a Bolt Action Rifle... It is also a bolt action rifle on ALL other settings. I have called Adams Arms TWICE. Emailed them TWICE, as they requested. NO REPLY. When I called NOBODY picked up the phone. Nice, eh? You see, when I spend 300+ dollars on an accessory. I expect it to WORK. When it doesn't, I expect it to be fixed or my money returned.
One of these things is  NOT like others... Guess which one

Tizas Zigana $300 - WORKS.
Arcus 98 $300 - WORKS.
cz82 $200 - WORKS
Polish TT-33 $200 - WORKS
cz52 - $300 - WORKS
SMLE $300 - WORKS
Norinco Hunter $350 - WORKS
Mosin $100 - WORKS.
Adams Arms piston $350 - DOESN'T WORK.

You misunderstood what I said when I asked you if you took a level to it.

I'm in Germany right now. I don't know what their business hours are. I know that sometimes manufactures will take some time to get back to you as the amount of customers they handle is large. Adams Arms is one of the most established and well known piston makers on the market. Give them some time.

looks like this guy was willing to help, damn it man, give them some time to get a response to you

I emailed him yesterday. I called today - twice got an answering machine. Twice. Left a message. No response.

Did you ever consider they might have been closed? Did you consider they might have been out of the office when you called?

I've called companies before and left messages to only get nothing back.

Email is the best way to go if you can't get them on the phone when you first call.

AA responded to this on a sunday, its only been one day. You sent him a email I hope.
Like most businesses Mondays could be slammed

i was also looking at midway for an aa upper.  you said you got it with missing parts.  maybe it was someones return.  my question is doesn't aa test fire the uppers? What upper did you buy the base or core.  i would hope aa would at least fix it or give you a new upper.

I believe the OP bought a retro fit kit and not a complete upper.  Mine had been flawless with steel and brass.

In business sense, at this point it's better to cut losses and get rid of this guy than try to please them.

They just got back to me. Told me to cycle the action "as much as I can stand" and if that doesn't work "open up a gas port a bit". I actually did it BEFORE I went to the range. 100 times hand cycled. And I got the RETROFIT kit, not the upper. It seems to be that if the piston system is designed right and made right, than it should work with standard barrel. If they take care of me either way - I am happy. If they make the rifle work - great. If they want me to send the upper so they can take a look at it - great. They give me my money back - great. I will be a happy man and will everyone know it. I just do not want to get screwed. Heck, crap happens. Even AKs and HKs occasionally have issues.

My thoughts as well.  They didn't get back to him within 24 hours... and we get a tirade.

OP, for what it's worth, I had almost the same identical problem as you're having (although with a complete upper). I was very frustrated at the response of "keep working it" after having firing a hundred rounds and it still not fully cycling steel (it would reset, sometimes eject, and never feed). It DID work with nato though (although even that had about 20 bobbles before working).
What I leaned:
It took about 300 rounds (fired) to get it broken in (that's with carbine 3 oz buffer). It's now flawless with ALL ammo I feed it (with one exception... Silver Bear. That's stuff is beyond weak).
It's also not broken in until it beats the heck out of your inner upper (but will cease wear when it's gets there).
You will notice a fairly DEEP gouge from the cam pin (this is normal for AA "break in" and will not continue once it reaches it's "broken in" spot).
The friction from that cam pin is slowing the bolt down enough to fully cycle. Trust me... it frustrated the heck out of me. It also frustrated me that I had to waste 300 rounds of my own ammo + range fees to get it to that point.
But it now works and I LOVE that thing (I'll never trade it).

Just some things to keep in mind: Full power position ONLY (the "half" position is ONLY for suppressed).
Be patient and forget the "hand cycling" (it doesn't work)... it will cost you ammo, but keep shooting it.
Before you give up, try a POF roller cam pin (it may speed up, or eliminate, the "break in" of that area).

Good luck with your system and I hope it all works out for you! If you get it running... you'll LOVE it!

I will try the POF rolling cam pin. But I do not feel comfortable with this thing beating my upper. I probably will just ask for my money back and ask for advice on how to get that damned bushing out of my upper receiver and covert it back to the way it was - direct impingement. But I will wait to what AA will say. So far their advice "Hand cycle it until you are sick of it" and "open up your gas port on your barrel" are totally unprofessional. I paid for their product good money. I expect it to work out of the box and NOT mangle my upper in process. Is it too much to expect? I am sorry, but when the new battery or new alternator on my car fail, I expect them to be replaced and installed for free. Once again. I have weapons that cost less than what I paid for this system that WORK PERFECTLY. I will see what Mr. Cody will tell me. "Keep wasting ammo until it works" is NOT an acceptable answer. At this point, I want my money back, they can have their system back. I already posted this review on The High Road and at Midway USA. I am NOT a happy customer.

DOUBLE POST. PLEASE DELETE

No problem. DONE!!! However Mr. Cody said same thing. Nothing happened. So I am rather skeptical. From what a lady in Sales told me everyone is "out to promote the product on gun shows". You know, maybe if the product worked customers would be promoting it, rather than giving it 1 Star and telling people to stay away from it on Midway USA, as I did. If Adams arms can make it work (which I doubt), than adams arms customer service will deserve a 5+ stars rating. The product itself is still seems to be junk, at least mine. Than again everyone has "one that slipped through cracks". Even Honda and Toyota. Heck. My buddy had issues with his HK pistol.

Adams Arms has come into your bitch thread twice and said they would take care of you, you still say you will not be happy. either give them a chance to make this right or please move on, Adams Arms has stellar customer service and they stay here in this piston forum to take care of their customers. lets just give them a chance, why don't we

Hey, I understand that your "Soul Crushing Sarcasm" needs improvement so you practice it:-). However. Bitch thread? Really? Losing 300+ dollars is "Bitch thread"? Wow, you must be so rich that 300+ bucks is NOTHING to you, but some of us WORK for a living. So, take it with that perspective.
1. Coming to the thread and promising to "take care of it" means nothing. "Promises are nothing but a toy, but they keep the fools happy and occupied for a while" as we say back in homeland. Actions what matters. I seen none so far except for 1 email that suggested I "work the action until I am sick of it" and "pay gunsmith to open up gas port".
2. If I pay PREMIUM money ($300 dollars for a system that promises to improve what $30 dollar system does IS premium). I expect PREMIUM results. Without me spending MORE money onto this mess. (Opening gun port, shooting the rifle "until it starts working"). Would you "break in" an alternator or fuel injection system on your car "until it starts working"? Would you "open up gasoline injection ports" on cylinders of your car? Would you "manually jump start your car until you are sick of it and maybe it will start working than"? I know I am exaggerating but that's how it seems to me.
3. As I wrote to them, they can either repair the system for me, or I want my money back. However, BOTH people promised to take care of me. I have yet to see ANY significant results.Nobody is available to take my calls. One person responded to one email, and it's been 24 hours since I sent him a reply. And I heard nothing from him (that would be Mr. Cody), second person, I just sent him an email 30 minutes ago. I presume he will get back to me by end of day tommorow.
I would MUCH rather just get my money back and forget the whole thing. I should have gone with OSPREY gas piston, and I want my money back so I can purchase it. Just someone, PLEASE, tell me how to get that damned bushing out of my upper (I did NOT locktighted it in). No offense, but I have MUCH better way to spend $300 than for a system that DOES NOT WORK and requires me to spend more money so "Maybe" it will work.

+1  OP, I understand your frustration, but you should give them the opportunity to fix your issue.  Jacob told you to email him directly and not even an hour after that you are still complaining.  There needs to be a response time involved, not "instant" response as we as society expect.  I'm sure they will take care of your issue.  Give it some time.  I get having a product and not able to use it.  If after weeks or months of going back & forth, shipping back & forth several times to no avail.....then bitch away, but until then how about we all get along and let AA work on it for you?  

1. They gave you a possible solution and asked you to try it. From the looks of things you are refusing. That is on you. This is a troubleshooting process. Not a A = B. We need to find out more than just "oh my gun won't cycle". For instance I asked you if you took a level to your gas block to assure it was aligned correctly. You didn't even know what I was talking about.

2. I'll tell you this. When it comes to firearms $300 is not premium. I spend thousands of dollars on my AR's and I only make 24k a year. I have shot guns that required a break in period. Whether or not you choose to agree with that is your problem not mine. You can't compare a gun to a car. Apples to oranges sort of thing. They are not the same. Vehicles have a break in period. Isn't that funny?

3. You need to take a breath and calm down. You obviously are letting your emotions get the better of you here. Being frustrated like an immature child will not help you. Give them time to respond. Sometimes it has taken a week for a manufacture to get back to me.

i'm not rich by any means, but as a technician i see things break on a brand new level every day. so i give companies a chance to make it right, that's what customer service is, making things right after the sale. Adams Arms has replied twice in this cluster of a thread and you still go on about not being happy. i hope you get your money back, i'm sure they have other things to do than sit at their computers and wait one one guy on a ARFCOM thread. every time i have delt with AA, they have been above board and helpful. Adams Arms is going into this blind, you bought a kit from Midway, that was missing parts, correct? other than them seeing the physical upper assembly and trouble shooting it, they have tried to assist on a kit they didn't install. just give them a chance

Jacob has definitely gone above and beyond with customer service for me. I'd give him a chance, he's a good guy.

What bugs me is that people come to places like this forum for information about choices they are making.  They look for actual reviews by people that will help them form their opinions and help them buy the right parts and pieces.  Then threads like this come up.  "Oh, a review of Adams Arms.  I should read this..."  And it turns out to be a "wah, wah, I'm not happy cause I can't make my toy go bang."  Sorry, but this is a pretty useless thread.  Nothing is really informative about the total set-up of the rifle.  Does it have a heavy buffer and is that causing a short stroke?  Is the OP a ham fist who installed the gas block wrong and is blaming the company?  All we know is the upper is a Del-Ton, but what's the lower?  What other tacticool gadgets and gizmos are added to the rifle?  And yet, the "conclusion" in the OP is "never buy Adams Arms it sucks."  That's just asinine.

It's bothersome to the point that after I ordered my AA upper then read crap similar to this thread, I started second guessing myself.  Even to the point that I was expecting issues on day one and wondered if I should return the upper without even test firing the rifle.  I'm glad I didn't listen to stuff like this.  My middy upper is smooth as silk and fired everything I ran through it.  Granted it's only been 200+ rounds or so, which is about 5% of a real test, but it's been a real joy to shoot.  I can't believe I let people like this make me doubt.

Full disclosure, I don't mean that this thread caused doubt.  I've had my upper/completed rifle for a month now and am exceedingly happy with Adams Arms.

Dude, what bugs me is the fact that some people, who have guns, still do not know how to read. IT WAS a REVIEW:
a) I bought it
b) Installed it looking for every pitfall that they warned me about.
c) It sucked in every position of gas regulator, the system is piece of crap. Most likely due to slipping through the QC.
d) and was an epic fail and was a waste of $320.

So quit yer belly achin', yours works - mine doesn't.

TO the previous poster. Yes $300 for firearm is cheap. However I paid $320 for ACCESSORY. And I expect it to work. Same way my Tisas Zigana ($300) works, my Arkus 98 ($300) works, my Cz82 ($200) works, my cz52 ($250) works, my SKS ($300) works, my Norinco Hunter ($350) works, my TT33 ($250) works, my SMLE ($300) works, etc etc, you get the idea. I expect stuff to work. It costs 10 times more than original gas system, so damn it, I expect it to work. If it doesn't there is LOTS of things to be pissed off about. 320 of them at least  (not to mention time and cost of ammo I wasted at the range). Especially since I can't just pull out the damned system - the bushing is in my upper I have NO idea how to get it out, even though I did NOT use locktight on it. I feel like a god damned hostage. Since with that trice cursed bushing I can't put old gas system in.

Good news, however, is I believe the story will have a happy ending. I sent adams arms pictures of everything: bolt carrier, operating rod, installed gas block. They said that they want me to send entire rifle to them. If they fix it - they fix it - if not -  they get their system back - I get full refund. Either way I am happy. Lets see if this works. If it does, Adams Arms Customer Service gets A+, no matter what they do, and I will write positive review on each board where I wrote a negative review. "Yeah, it didn't work, but they took care of it".

Now, I have heard quite a few negative reviews of Adams Arms, just as many as positive, some of them on this very board, including one where operating road bent after a few shots and gas plug became wobbly very quickly. Another review was on "the high road", I believe and they described the AA bolt carrier snapping after only 100 shots. I was leaning more towards Osprey Defense, however Adams arms was cheaper by $30, (5 boxes of Tula Ammo or 3 mags - you choose) so I went with them. What Adams Arms offered to me is very fair - I give them a chance if it doesn't work - I get full refund. I will keep ya all posted.

delete-dupe

I have to say that I love my AA piston! I purchased it new from a local dealer installed it in about 15 minutes it runs flawlessly!  I had some concerns after reading some of the reviews on this web site about issues some people are having but I am so glad I went ahead and made the decision to buy it! cleaning my entire rifle in 10 minutes is so nice. Just to see how AA customer service was I emailed them to say my bolt spring was bad (it really isn't bad) but I promptly got a response back from Cody who was very apologetic about the situation stated that he would be more than happy to send me out a new bolt spring as well I asked him for some stickers (just cause I like them on my tool box) a few days later i got a package in the mail with both items!

I cannot stress enough, customer service is dying every single day but not at Adams Arms! I would buy from them again without any hesitation!

Thank you for making a great product and standing behind it!

Sincerely,
Jeff

And as I said in your other post:
So... you lied about a faulty product (when it wasn't), accepted the free replacements parts, and have the nerve to talk about it on here?  Not cool.
In case you hadn't noticed, Adams Arms is an industry member here and frequents this forum regularly. I'd suggest YOU do a solid and send those parts BACK and apologize to Adams for lying about and accepting parts which you unethically accepted (and are now keeping as spares).

Let's hope Adams doesn't think this is common and start to require EVERY part returned before sending out replacement parts now.

I'm glad you like your Adams (I LOVE mine), but that's a hell of thing you did.  

You could have jut read about how great it was here instead of lying to them. You should make this right. I hope AA comes along to deal with you.

"It is NOT misaligned. There is no cant on front gas block (I have a front sight attached to it, it is NOT canted). There is no problem with operating rod - it slides freely when gas plug is taken off. The system just doesn't work. Oh, and I wrote them a letter. I called them - NO response. This thing is going back"

You do not check the op rod alignment with the gas plug out. You must check for the op rod sliding freely over the gas plug AFTER you have removed the spring and cap from the op rod. I say this because I made that mistake the first time I installed a kit. If the rod slides freely over the installed gas plug by the force of gravity then and only then is it aligned properly.

Ive been reading your post's and I've never seen a person so freaked out and with no patience. You've had many people responding to your panicked pleas for help and you shit on them.





You shot 40 rounds of ammo out of a rifle kit that you installed and it didn't work, then you come here bitching and whining. You immediately give a negative review on Midway USA before the manufacturer can respond.


n


HEY !!!  have you ever thought that you fucked up something when you put it together ??  have you ever thought to use some manners and patience when people are taking time out of their day to help you ?





Edited...VA-gunnut