I have liked it, and I have hated it. I have finally come to my own conclusions about it, and those are captured below. First, I will start with VLTOR's official statements about their A5 system. Some of us are visual creatures, some of us are "let me read it" types. This handy video should cover both types:
Now, given that, why did I hate the system?
My issue stemmed from the fact that I shoot suppressed. A lot. When you shoot a weapon with a suppressor, it reduces your lock-up timing and leads to more pressure being in the bore when the bolt un-locks. We could debate the physics and semantics of that statement forever, but we won't, because functionally, it is just that. More regurgitation from the bore makes it into the upper. This results in gunk (lube, tar sealant, powder fouling, etc.) ending up on the inside of the feed-lips of the magazine. In humid environments, this can lead to cases taking more effort to strip from a magazine. My results using mil-spec springs both in a carbine RE, and Vltor A5 RE, are that this will cause the failure of the weapon to return to battery sometimes, especially when using the bolt-release or racking the CH, on a reload. I have had multiple failures from a Vltor supplied spring in the A5, doing just this. The spring measured in-spec. For that reason, I no-longer will use a mil-spec spring. I prefer Sprinco Blue for carbines, and Sprinco Green for A5/Rifles. In the end, it was the soft spring from Vltor that led to me abandoning the system for a time. NOT the system itself.
That said, why do I prefer the A5 system? In short, it enlarges the pressure and time envelope that the M4 type rifle will function within. It will allow you to run hotter ammunition with a reduced cyclic rate, and it will allow you to run low pressure ammunition and still afford positive function. Below, I illustrate this by comparing the Vltor A5 with mil-spec spring, to the Carbine system with mil-spec spring. The A5 was tested using the A5h2 (standard) buffer, and the carbine, with the H2 buffer. A suppressor was used to show how significantly increased operating system pressure affects each system, with ejection pattern showing the variances in BCG velocities, PMC XTAC M193 was the ammunition used:
Vltor Suppressed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y41C4yc46Tg
Carbine RE suppressed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBsgG9-AKpE
Also look at muzzle movement and consistency of ejection between the two.
Now also note, that I have had more luck with the A5 system cycling Wolf and Tula than I have with the A5 RE and H2 buffer, using no suppressor. The A5 damps things down on the big end, and allows for more lenient bottom of the envelop performance, on the low end.
All-in-all, the A5 simply enlarges the performance envelop that the M4 system will cycle under.
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Originally Posted by 556BlackRifle
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