I'm looking at switching out my gas piston to a US made version to adjust my parts count.



K-Var has one for $20, Krebs has one for $40, others offer them as well. What's the difference other than price?

Some are polished better than others. That makes them easier to clean.

All I have used fit / functioned well. But the basic Tapco SS GP is hard to beat for the price. And is polished well and wipes clean easily.

Milspec pistons are hard chromed. I remember looking at the US made piston in my WASR which was completely black vs my the chromed piston on the MAK-90 which was never cleaned, but wasn't pure black from the powder.

I was gonna post about this myself. Thanks for saving me some time. haha



I saw Red Star is selling their own piston, and touts that it is thicker and such, so it reduces flexing. Only costs 20 bucks. But then I see you can buy a piston from Arsenal, no description about it, but it costs 40 bucks.



Is this a case where since arsenal piston costs more, you can assume it is better? Or is the Red Star piston better, even though it is cheaper?

Arsenal has made quite a lot of money from people who assume anything that costs more has to be better.

I see that the piston K-Var is selling is manufactured by Arsenal, Inc., USA



I also see that the Krebs piston is made from hard chromed 4130 steel.



Guess I may have found my answer.

cnc warrior is selling nice ones for about $15 and comes with a rivet. i just got one. low price on shipping. $4

I would try at first to avoid changing the original piston out as it is hard chromed steel and is the best however, since you have already decide to change it out there are several choices.

The best U.S. manufactured piston (IMHO) is Krebs since it is 4140 steel that is hard chromed and would as close to the original as possible.

For best value I would go with AK-Builder.com or Red Star Arms, these are both made of heat treated stainless steel.

For best price I'd go with TAPCO, it is U.S. manufactured however,  is not heat treated.

All of these will work (and there are also many others out there) and depending on the customers preferences and budget I use al of them with no failures.

"For best price I'd go with TAPCO, it is U.S. manufactured however, is not heat treated"

My Tapco is definitely heat treated.
It's hard enough, a Swiss file skids on it and won't cut.  That's HARD.

I've decided to go with the Krebs and get the closest to milspec - hard chromed 4130 steel.

True true.



I'll probably just get the Red Star Arms piston, it looks cool with the Red Star name on it, giving it a more Russian feel to it and it's heat treated.