Removed, cleaned/polished with crokus cloth. The cylinder that this piston rides in was cleaned by going in with a tight fitting drill bit and turning it by hand.
During firing it looks like the rod on the piston comes back1/2" to 3/4" and pushes the bolt back about the same amount. If this pistonrod is suppose to come back more let me know- this is the problem. If not (bolt gets enough momentum from the short piston rod push) that is why I clipped the recoil spring. I thought the spring was too stiff to allow the bolt's momentum to push it back.
Near as I can figure is that I have a gas leak at the front of the gas tube and rear of the gas valve junction. I have no way of telling unless I put my hand there during firing. If my hand comes away bloody then I found the leak. When my hand get infected and gangreen sets in I won't need the gun anyway as rifles are hard to shoot with only one hand