Adams Arms XLP

David Victor reviews the the Adams Arms XLP, a Piston System that fits under your handguard.

I’ve been running Adams Arms systems for a long time now and have tens of thousands of rounds through them in various barrel lengths, systems lengths and also calibers. I put food on my table with an Adams Upper and there is a short barreled, suppressed Adams rifle sitting by my bed. In my experience, the Adams short stroke piston system does an excellent job of keeping the bolt both cleaner and cooler by not dumping the excess gas used to operate the rifle onto the bolt carrier group. Instead it uses an oprod with a cup on the end to capture the gas, and also contact the bolt carrier while the gas and debris from the cartridge dumps out directly behind the block.

While I am clearly a fan of them I have always been quick to point out what I hoped to see from them in the future and I wasn’t the only person saying it. The Adams kits and rifles have always been large enough that they only work with handguards that are the length of the gas system because of the size of the gas block. Certain companies such as Fortis Manufacturing and the Centurion Arms C4 that are cut out or extended to fit around a front sight post. The disadvantage is clearly that you have to run a short handguard on your SBR or pistol and have limited reach and room for accessories. It also limits sight radius for your competition style rifles, which is an area that Adams has been focusing on lately.

Now with the new XLP System these issues are a thing of the past as the XLP was made specifically to be able to fit under most handguards. Another big advantage to the smaller block size is weight savings, with “ounces is pounds” being everyone’s favorite saying when referring to a carbine these days, the XLP offers you a 30% weight savings over the conventional Adams Arms blocks.

I took my XLP rifle that comes equipped with the Samson Evolution rail and swapped it for the ODIN Works KMod, which is one of my favorite handguards, some minimal modification was required to the barrel nut to work with the system. I also added one of their XMR extended mag releases, sent the rifle off to MCM Manufacturing for a medium grey Cerakote job and then added a B5 Systems Bravo stock and pistol grip in foliage green. In addition to tuning the rifle I also added a Lantac Dragon to help keep the muzzle rise to a minimum. I an incredibly smooth shooting rifle that my wife refers to as “hers.”

The old system was adjustable for unsuppressed fire, suppressed and a setting to shut the gas off completely. The new XLP has added two more settings into the mix for a total of 5 settings, giving you the ability to have 100/75/50/25 and an off setting so you can shoot suppressed or really tune your weapon how you want it and be able to run their lightweight bolt carrier group without risking reliability. It also allows for use of a broader range of calibers including the new 300BLK.

Adams Arms recently announced that they were taking steps to bring all production in house meaning they could focus even more on quality control while also minimizing cost and passing on savings up to 20% to consumers on everything from rifles to their piston kits. They are also extending their line with .308 rifles, .22LR rifles, pistols, shotguns and has several other product planned for the future.

To learn more, visit Adams Arms online at http://adamsarms.net and find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/adamsarms.