Frequently Asked Questions

Depends on the era. As long as the barrel outer diameter (profile) is no greater than .875" then yes. Colt has made quite a few changes over the years so our best suggestion is to simply give us a call TOLL FREE at 1-877-AR15-M16 and our support staff will be happy to answer this question based on exactly which barrel you have on your particular gun.

Gas is metered prior to entering the system. There are no valves necessary on this system and it works in all 4 modes of fire with no changing of parts or switching around valves. You can fire semi-auto, full auto, suppressed semi-auto and suppressed full auto all without changing a single part or switching anything. You can see this on our site under the "4 modes of fire" video http://gaspiston.com/video/ops-416-4-modes-of-fire/

The handguard "will fit" list will be published prior to product release. Nothing is modified in the bolt carrier group and no extractor is removed. The only suggestion is to remove the 3 little gas seal rings on the bolt as they are not necessary for using this system. Should you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to call us TOLL FREE at 1-877-AR15-M16 between 9am and 5pm Eastern Standard Time and our support staff will be more than happy to answer your questions.

Give us a call and we can get you whatever info you might need. 1-877-AR15-M16 Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm Eastern Standard Time (Florida)

It reduces the cyclic rate

Even after firing 10,000 rounds without cleaning our system on one test there was no appreciable wear on the buffer tube and no wear at all on the buffer tube threads. Remember though, a buffer tube according to US Military spec is a wear item which is supposed to be replaced after 3,000 rounds of firing. Our buffer tube above is still going strong now after 26,000+ rounds through it and working just fine.

It doesn't have to! There are virtually no forces acting on the pin in the front gas block (cross pin). First, the pin there is NOT a standard pin like you're used to, it is amazingly strong and completely robust. IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT A STOCK PIN. Second, there are VIRTUALLY NO SHEAR FORCES ACTING ON THE GAS BLOCK CROSS PIN USING THE OPS-416 SYSTEM. This is something that you may not have heard yet, but is one more reason why we say the OPS-416 is deceptively simple. There is more engineering that has gone into this to intentionally make it easier to install, easier to use and easier to deploy with than you can imagine. Here's the deal. The piston chamber is machined from solid stock and so is the spigot (the smaller rod protruding forward of the piston chamber which goes into your gas block/sight tower). That is NOT a hollow tube there, it is actually machined and tolerance is about 1/2 of 1000th of an inch +/- EXCEPT for two key points.....the OD of the spigot and the ID of the hole in the front of the piston chamber itself.....those are actually much more critical tolerances. Why? As you fire your freshly installed OPS-416 system, there is an intentional slip-fit there which STRENGTHENS the system by allowing the piston chamber to move forward, shoulder on the back side of the gas block/handguard ring area, automatically accounting for variations in rifle tolerances (believe me, there are TON of tolerance differences between rifle manufacturers) surround the smaller spigot and shoulders which relieves all of the forces off of the pin in the gas block. I'll try to get some before/after photos posted tomorrow to show the difference. Even without this slip fit, the system still exceeds the useful service life of the rifle. With it, it's bulletproof. Further, the front spigot is SOLID forward of the gas inlet hole and cross-hole, not hollow, and in many cases it EXCEEDS the structural strength of many other parts of your host rifle! In one case we found it to be stronger than the op-rod included in one competitor's gas-piston conversion solution. Hopefully that answers the question, but if you still have more, please give us a call TOLL FREE at 1-877-AR15-M16.

Please check out our installation video under the "videos" link above. You'll see it can be leisurely installed in about 4 minutes, however admittedly the person doing the install has done it a few times. If you have basic AR15 knowledge and can clean your rifle, you should be able to install the unit in about 5 minutes or so.

We have designed and tested the OPS-416 to exceed the useful service life of a mil-spec AR style rifle.

None! Actually it REDUCES the total parts count in the gun by 2!

Absolutely! Please either call us direct at 1-877-AR15-M16 between 9am and 5pm Eastern Time, or fill out the online dealer form which is located here: http://gaspiston.com/contact/become-a-dealer/ and we will get you all set up.

The system is anticipated to go on sale on/around December 7th and will be available through our site as well as our dealers.

We have made a company decision that we will only be distributing this product through licensed firearms dealers and distributors who have demonstrated knowledge of the AR15/M16/M4 rifle platform. This ensures continuity and a level of knowledge for our end user customers. While we understand this might eliminate some potentially valuable points of sale, we feel that the increased sales are not worth it.

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! One of our prime design requirements was a true drop-in, no adjustment, no modification to the host gun product. There are other systems out there that require you to remove the entire gas-block on your rifle and drive out factory set pins never designed to be removed. Those are then replaced with screws and Loctite and adjustments are required to get the host gun running. Our engineers do not believe Loctite (while it is a wonderful product) should be classified as a "gun part". Further, removal of a factory set gas-block/sight tower, which is not required for ordinary cleaning of the host system, constitutes a permanent modification to the gun. Last but not least, having a gun unavailable for use for 36+ hours while Loctite cures doesn't lend itself to staying operational-ready at all times with bank-your-life-on-it guns. Our response to this is a system which uses your existing sight tower/gas block and literally no user adjustments are required. You drop it on your host gun, it fits and runs correctly. No screws, no valves, no springs, no Loctite. The beauty is in the simplicity and you'll be up and running in the same amount of time as it takes to clean your gun.

Our current systems must be .875" or less barrel outer diameter. Once we get caught up on all the current releases, a .920 version is on our "to-do" list.

The will-fit list is here for you. Your Troy Industries handguard has not yet been tested with the system, so we aren't sure as of today what the dimensions internally of their unit is. http://gaspiston.com/about/handguard-rail-system-will-fit-list/

Unfortunately that is a portion of our business which we will not discuss publicly. Thank you for your question though and your understanding. Let's suffice it to say we are actively working on quite a bit and after more than 3 years of dedicated research and development, hundreds of OPS-416 units distributed to law enforcement and military test and evaluation programs, adoption of feedback received from those T&E programs to enhance reliability and system longevity, we have a simple robust system which solves the 40+ year old #1 known problem with the AR15/M16 rifle platform.

As long as it is mil-spec then yes, it will work just fine, not brand-specific.

We have a volume based dealer/distributor pricing system and we consider distributor level at 100+ units initial order.

Simply contact our corporate offices and we will work with you to facilitate as best as we are able.