“This latest release marks another Arsenal Inc milestone in our ongoing efforts to push the AK’s time proven design to new levels of technological innovation.

As most firearms enthusiasts are aware, the gas piston in the AK type rifle is most crucial to reliability and a major contributing factor for accuracy. A number of parts manufactures have attempted to manufacture a US made replacement part for the AK gas piston to satisfy the provisions of 922®.

While there are exceptions, the most common practice in the manufacture of these replacement gas pistons is to first machine the unit to proper dimensions and then heat treat the product for strength, rigidity and durability.

The problem with this widely accepted manufacturing process is that this necessary heat treating results in linear distortion of the piston and most often causes the piston head to be out of true and non uniform in dimension. In fact, a number of US manufacturers don’t even heat treat because of this problem! This results in soft pistons. Not a good thing.

In addition many of these attempted replacements are the result of using an existing foreign made piston as a pattern, without the benefit of original factory engineering drawings, proper and correct tolerance notations and certified manufacturing technology.

Without exposing the confidential aspects of our process, I will say that the process we employ is considerably more expensive in terms of man hours and machine time to achieve the desired result.

I guess that the best way to outline this new product is to focus on the benefits of our process. So, here they are.

1. These MATCH GRADE pistons are specified from the original certified factory engineering drawings, but held to even tighter tolerances to achieve a match grade consistency.
2. Manufactured from solid STAINLESS STEEL cylindrical billets, PRE TEMPERED to the exact specified Rockwell hardness before machining.
3. Better than factory spec final precision grinding .0003 variance as compared to the allowable .0014 mil spec standard
4. Positive lockup insures superior gas seal and improved function
5. Uniform dimensions throughout the entire production run, utilizing the latest CNC techniques.
6. Available at a very competitive price which is actually lower than most non match grade piston products in the market.

Although these stats don’t adequately reflect the complexity of our process, I really can’t disclose any additional proprietary information at this time. “

I have a new SAM-7S with perhaps a new SAM-5 on the way.  How would this product benefit me?

TIA

If you were looking to add another US part to get your parts count up when building a  new AK from a kit, it would be an excellent US part to use.

I prefer the original Bulgarian carbon steel piston that is then hard chrome plated, which is the "traditional" way, and what the SA-M7 and M5 series come with.

And what do you mean "perhaps" a new M5S.............?

As far as U.S. made gas pistons go, these pistons are not made using reverse engineering, but instead are made using info given to them by their partners (Arsenal of Bulgaria). They are following the true manufactiring tecniques used by the company that licenses their name, and are adding a bit of extra precision to boot.
Other than them being made with a bit higher precision, the only other difference from the original, seems to be that these are made from solid stainless steel, rather than chrome plated carbon steel.

I'm not currently in the market for an American made gas piston, but if I were, this would immediately be the first one I would look into buying. The Arsenal Inc company products are, (IMO), the next best thing to having the original Bulgarian made components. These guys worked at Arsenal of Bulgaria, they know this design, and they receive all the technical info neccessary to avoid the need to reverse engineer. I would not let the whole "match grade" name thing throw me off. It just seems to be more of their way of expressing the fact that they are employing a bit higher precision while making them.

This whole subject of another component by them, tells me something else. What would that be?..........between K-VAR and Arsenal Inc, they have managed to get one step closer to producing a complete US made AK. Here is what these two componies already produce under license and assistance from the Bulgarians:

polymer pistol grips

polymer upper handguards

polymer lower handguards

polymer buttstocks

forged and milled receiver

forged and milled trigger

forged and milled hammer

forged and milled disconnector

a new stainless steel gas piston

And of course, with permission of the Bulgarians, the right and know-how to assemble AK's in the U.S. (using the licensed name and logo)

Arsenal Inc even has the machinery to make licensed stamped AK receivers.

Whats next?........who knows, but maybe barrels, gas chambers, dust covers, gas tubes, front sight housings, etc, etc :)

With the help of their friends, K-VAR, and their partners in Bulgaria, I could easily see Arsenal Inc of Nevada producing a complete U.S. made AK in quality form :)

That is what I mostly see from this latest news :)

You know - perhaps...

Ping me with a PM when you get back to work...