S&W Discontinuing the Gas Piston M&P15's?

Dave707

Dave707

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Anyone heard that S&W is discontinuing the Gas Piston M&P15's? Looking on their website, unless I'm blind/dumb, I see no models with the gas piston system listed. If you search for M&P15 PS or M&P15 PSX, you get archived results saying "No longer in current production". A search of the old S&W stock #'s on Slick Guns turns up stock on both rifles for sale at different online sellers.

I have the chance to buy an unfired CA Compliant M&P15 PS for $799 - about $200 less than the least expensive online price I can see. If S&W is giving up and no longer is making the Gas Piston rifles, I'm not so sure I want to buy one of the discontinued ones.

Anyone know anything about this?
 
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I have not looked, but would not be surprised. While the gas piston system has its proponents due to less fouling/heat, etc., in the action, the Adams system, used by S&W, and other such piston systems designed to retrofit into an AR, apparently create other issues over the long haul, one of the bigger of which is carrier tilt, which causes premature wear and can ruin the inside of the receiver. Colt is at the forefront (for once) and has pretty well solved all of these problems with its Colt Articulating Link (ALP) piston system, which is state of the art, and which virtually eliminates the receiver wear and premature destruction caused by carrier tilt. Unless you are going to get the Colt ALP rifle (LE6940P), stick with direct impingement, as designed by Stoner.
 
Stoner got it right. I'd be cautious about buying a discontinued gun with proprietary parts that may become very hard to find very quickly after manufacture ceases.
 
Well, called S&W this morning & spoke to Pat in CS. She confirmed that they are no longer producing Gas Piston M&P15's. When asked why they chose to cease production, the answer I got was Poor Sales.

I then asked about future Warranty/Parts support for owners of the product. Pat stated warranty service was lifetime but that replacement parts would be subject to availability of remaining stock. She made the statement that down the road, if the rifle was unable to be repaired due to parts being unavailable, S&W would "probably" replace the rifle with something comparable.

In light of this information, I have decided not to purchase the M&P15 PS I was considering and instead get an AR with the original Direct Impingement gas system.
 
Just ask any 3rd Gen Pistol owner about "replacement parts would be subject to availability of remaining stock". Unless you have tender ears :).
 
I'll point out that if the piston system fails, one can always replace the barrel & carrier and convert to a DGI system.

I first did business with CPFM Co. in 1969. I'd wait quite some time to see if they've designed anything that works as intended/claimed.

If you've just gotta have a piston gun, look at HK or LMT.
 
For vanity's sake, I would've liked it to go with the new M&P Pro 9mm I'm buying - hope the Pro will like sharing the safe with the Stag Arms Mdl 3 I've decided on instead.
 
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