Over Xmas I went to a LGS on a whim and spontaneously bought an AR. It was a "used" trade in with zero prior history. Not being allowed to fully break the weapon down neither I or my buddy noticed it had a piston setup on it. But it was SUPER clean....like brand new, so I bought it. I've been searching but with limited luck aside from one Reddit user and Molons review in 2010 on this kit. Far as I know, its bushmasters kit with the added clamp but I can't find much more. Figure its time to reach out here and see what the general consensus is. I added the POF roller cam and trimmed the barrel/piston spigot clamp to clear my HG but otherwise its brand new. Far as i can deduce this things basically a brand new Ban Era that sat stuffed in a safe its entire life with basically zero rounds through it prior to me.

Can anyone bear further insight, I know the kits discontinued so im curious about longevity expectations. Reddit guy said he had a high round count without issue, but I never pressed much beyond that. I do have a gas tube/bcg in the event something fails I can always convert it back. I've burned a hole in Google and searching here doesn't lead to much.

Thanks for any help guys.

*Edit- imgur link*

https://imgur.com/a/ypJoG3D

Yep, that is an ARES GXR-35 setup.  I have two set up since 2006.   Can't even guess the round count on one... not extreme, but in the 2-3  thousands for sure.  Zero issues with either.  I also bought a NIB GXR35 kit at a gun show several years ago....   If you want it send me an email, maybe can work something out.  I had it for spares, but my second kitted rifle never goes out, so it is my spare of sorts.

thanks for the reply! Its hard to really find anything about this kit or anyone that's ever kept it long term. I appreciate the offer as well but I actually just ordered a gas tube/bcg to keep on the shelf as a backup just in case. I was pleasantly surprised to find this kit hiding under the handguard, but am not married to the idea of piston setup strictly on premise of parts availability in a pinch. I was really just concerned if there was something that may have surfaced on long term useage not mentioned or commonly known to watch for.

I have three set up using this system one is the bushmaster and the other two are from ARES.  I bought the bushmaster kit when they first came out and have had it installed ever since like posted above several k rounds no issues runs like a swiss watch.

Awesome! You guys have put me at ease wondering how the kit holds up. Wonder why it wasn't popular? It looks to be a well done kit.

Not sure Osprey Defense was popular at the time, proprietary systems vs plug and play of DI, talks of carrier tilt in new piston systems coming out, short stroke piston vs long stroke piston, ARES Shrike system which was a belt fed upper that fit on a ar15 lower that became a joke with every promise date that got missed and people put down $1k deposits and literally waited years to get said upper.  The lists goes on but i dont think alot of people trusted them anymore.  Then you had the DI is great and piston sucks and is a solution looking for a problem argument that was raging on here on almost every piston thread.  That is what i remember but i liked it and it has been solid.

Yea that essentially sums up the results of just about all my searches with any word configuration possible I could think of to try and get hits. I'm stoked on it either way. I'm not particular to either DI or piston so long as it runs. I've got an m1a and this kit is very much similar in the fundamentals of the way it operates. Glad to hear it's a solid kit as I plan on running the piss out of it. As with anything you can spend enough time in the weeds of the nuances with anything so I try to not really obsess about it. I had seen a few threads early in my searches suggesting there were some pins that were prone to breaking or something but I never could find it again. I gotta say, for a spontaneous buy pulled out of the cobwebs of a LGS it wasn't a bad choice!

They are a good kit. The only problem I've seen is the gas tube pin that retains the spigot will shear off. The reason is the gas tube hole in the FS base is of varying depth so the counter recoil ball and spring sometimes doesn't work effectively.

There is a solution..... a high strength stainless coil pin can replace the original and will solve any issues with shearing. I've never had it happen to mine but I repaired a friends and to my knowledge, it's still going strong.

FYI, coil pins are like roll pins except they are manufactured "coiled" instead of rolled into a pin. This makes them multi layer with a shear strength in excess of 500 lbs for the size you need. Next time I'm into my parts bin, I'll try to find the part number and size. I do remember buying them at Grainger's back in the day

Thanks for the feedback! I had read a little about this specific issue as being one of the primary complaints but this is the first correction/fix I've seen in regards to it. If you come across the PN that'd be awesome, but not pertinent. Ill have a spare parts kit soon enough and see if I can track down a coil pin to store with it.

Here's a link to the pins:

https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-Spring-Pin-Coiled-41LX22


This is for the 550 lb. shear strength, there is a 325  and 800 lb. if you want to go light or heav(ier) duty. I use the 550 which has worked perfect for years.

Thank you! I'll grab myself a few of these!

Bringing this one "back from the dead", I have several of these kits, for a couple of set ups. Being fortunate enough to own a DIAS, a couple of MGI modular set ups, and a Valkyrie Armaments belt fed conversion set ups, that Valkyrie made custom clips to install on three Bushmaster 14.5" HBAR fluted barrels. These barrels can be installed in MGI upper. So run a 200 round belt, pull the hot barrel, with a welding glove, install another barrel and run another belt. I also have another 14.5" HBAR upper with a pinned flash hider, that is a stand alone upper. None of these barrels have more than 1,500 rounds of use.

In setting up these barrels with the short stroke piston conversions, I did not like how the spicket in the gas tube hole was unsupported. I cut sections of 7018 welding rod in 1/8" diameter to custom lengths so that roll pin is not taking the force of the piston, the front sight base is. So far all of the spickets are right where they need to be.

Scott

I think I'm tracking what you're saying, but having a hard time visualizing exactly where/how you're utilizing the 7018. Are you "wedging" it under the gas spigot for lack of a better term? I finally had time to get down to the range with my set up and so far I'm impressed. I had realistic expectations using 55g ball and it easily surpassed them. Recoil impulse is "odd" as it initially has this light "snap" to it that's sharp, but with a rifle length reciever extension it's just smooth and soft shooting. It's quite the amalgamation of things that in the end just comes together better then i expected. The fact that it stays so clean it's just icing on the cake!

I bought mine off GunBroker over 6 months ago. NIB. I only bought it so I can own all retrofit systems. I now own all AA variants, Superlative Arms, CMMG, TNW, Osprey, and now Ares.

I haven't tested the Ares, but it's hard to come by and seems well built. Haven't really heard of anyone saying they broke.

does it help to add I've used current adam arms bolt carriers with my bushmaster conversion?

I'm not on GB ever. Was in the works on securing a second kit but it never went through. Looking at this kit I really don't know what there is to break aside from assorted pins mentioned above. So far I really like it but its too early to say much else.



that's interesting. I'm pretty sure the one in mine is unmarked and every link I can find with this kit has dead pics so I have zero idea on it aside from what's in this thread. So far there doesn't seem to be any signs of carrier tilt, fingers crossed

After measuring the depth of the gas tube hole and subtracting the spigot length, I cut a custom length rod to support the spigot so that the roll pin doesn't shear. Since I am only running a 200 round belts, I could have used direct impingement. But that would leave the gas tube unsupported. I thought using the piston system with a clip to hold the op rod would be stronger and less likely to be damaged than a gas tube.

Scott

ETA I'll see about getting another carrier or two. The three kits I bought with the barrels are all semi auto profiled.

I have one of the TNW piston kits. Got it around 10 years or so ago. Never installed it.

I experienced this problem too and did similar fix.  I have no idea how long I ran my rifle without the gas tube pin.  I started getting carbon build up on the FSB.  That was how I found my pin was missing.