Gas piston systems offer AR-15 owners a few different advantages over the traditional direct impingement systems that the AR-15 was designed with. Chief among those advantages is less heat stress on the bolt carrier group and reduced cleaning intervals. If you’re looking for a different flavor of AR-15, then you’ll be interested to hear that Bear Creek Arsenal has just released their new GPx gas piston complete upper for AR-15 rifles. This new gas piston upper features a standard 16″ parkerized M4 barrel and comes with an adjustable gas block to allow you to tune your rifle to any environmental or ammunition situation.

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NEW Bear Creek Arsenal GPx Gas Piston AR-15 Upper

Experience the enhanced reliability and cleanness of our short stroke gas piston system in the AR-15 platform with Bear Creek Arsenal’s all-new GPX complete upper! The GPX runs cleaner with much less gas residue on the operating system such as the bolt, carrier, and inside the chamber. Hot propellant gases towards the action is reduced, making the interior of the upper receiver and the BCG cool down faster as well.

The BCA GPx complete upper will be sold for $499.99 on Bear Creek’s website (no FFL required) and will come with a 16-inch M4 contour profile barrel featuring a 1:7 twist rate. The barrels are made from 4150 Chrome Moly Vanadium steel, are threaded 1/2×28 at the muzzle end and chambered for the 5.56 NATO cartridge.

The gas piston system is carbine length and comes complete with a right-side charging bolt carrier group with a reciprocating side-charging handle. The bolt carrier group for the GPx is cut for full auto operation so you can use it with any of the available aftermarket triggers that currently require this feature. All Bear Creek Arsenal uppers, barrels, BCGs, and components are manufactured in-house in the United States in Sanford, North Carolina, and are backed by Bear Creek Arsenals Bear Den Guarantee.

What are your thoughts on this new offering from Bear Creek Arsenal? At its current price do you think the GPx is worth picking up? Furthermore, do you prefer a gas piston AR over a direct impingement one? If you prefer one over the other let us know why down in the comments!