Good morning all. I am a long time reader but this is my post. I have a few d.i AR-15s and now I'm looking into buying a piston gun. I have narrowed it down to the CZ Bren 2 and the IWI Carmel. Is there any benefits to one over the other? Which would be the better buy?

Look into LWRC. They have been doing pistons for a long time and are good at it. Im sure flaming will ensue for this opinion but no cares given. They flat out work and will go bang on everything Ive put through them.

Probably want to tag a mod and get this moved to General Firearm Discussions since neither are AR pistons.

Of those two, I’d probably go with the CZ Bren 2.  The carbine has been on the market for a while now and I don’t know that I’ve seen a single negative thing about it.  A lot of CZs production capacity was devoted to Ukraine so the carbines really haven’t been available at all for a long time.

IWI has kinda dropped the ball on the US iteration of the Carmel which killed my interest in it since it’s such a bastardization of the original design.

Agreed.  I love my LWRC and it's definitely true that the Bolt Carrier Group  remains very clean after shooting.  I cleaned mine after every shooting, but there was like, almost nothing needing clearning.

A few years later I got a Ruger AR-15 with an 18" barrel, that actually shoots a hair better than my LWRC.  Perhaps the extra 2" length in the barrel is to "blame" lol, but I've read for the longest time that Direct Impingement shoot more accurately than Piston, so it could also simply be that.  Nevertheless, every single shot from the Ruger is not pleasant due to the face full of gas I have to breathe on every shot.  Very unpleasant.

I love my LWRC and it came with every upgrade possible, right out of the box.

I had to pay the extra $30 for the premium hard rubber grip that comes on the LWRC and put it on the Ruger.  All cheap AR's come with hard plastic grips that need to be taken off ASAP.  

Also the LWRC comes with the best iron Skurmish sights available (imo).  I see today that they are $250 on the LWRC website (they were $210 3½ years ago) which is getting out of hand.  I had to pay for those too, to put on my Ruger.  If I rcall, I wrote about it on here a few years ago.  I tried the Magpul sights that were as cheap as a box of cracker jacks, that broke and were made of plastic.  Returned.  Got the Skurmish and put them on the Ruger and could not be happier.

Those two items are standard on the LWRC.

If you do decide to go LWRCi, I recommend paying the extra money for the A5 versus the SPR.  The A5 has a suppressor adjust knob allowing you to use a suppressor to modify the gas to perfection.  The only disadvantage is that you forfeit about an inch or so of railing on the top at the far end where the adjust switch is.  Negligible.

OP I know this wasn’t one of your poll options but I strongly concur. I have an A5 as well and it is outstanding. I can ring steel with it at ~610yds with 62gr as easily as I can with a DI gun with an 18” Brownells Mk12 barrel. Certain people claim they are unreliable or inaccurate, I have experienced neither, but I don’t feed it steel case ammunition either.  I added an A5 extension with a sprinco and A5H4 Vltor buffer and it shoots very smoothly.

AR > everything else

Look at the Brigade Makasi FAL/ AR hybrid. On the manufacturers site they’re still doing a Father’s Day discount that takes them to a three figure price. It’s a short stroke AR180 operating system, side charging, adjustable gas. I tested mine against a bunch of 5.56 guns  (Bren 2, Carmel, Galil Ace, Templar, BRN180, Scar, MCX Gen 1, Spear LT, etc.) and ended up selling a few to get more Makasis.

If you get one, swapping the heavy OEM stock to something lighter gets them close to DI ARs in weight.

Brownell's BRN-180 upper receiver is made by PWS, but a short-stroke piston.  Although Gen2 is rather good, Gen3 is rumored to be released any day now, and I'm buying one immediately.

Unlike some other piston designs, there is no buffer tube so a foldable stock is an option.

Get both?

I like my Bren's, fun shooters.

I'd like to try the Carmel.