Review: KynSHOT hydraulic recoil buffer RB5000

[556BlackRifle]

Does it work?

Comparison/Side-by-side vidz?

Side by side with the A5 system.

[Butch]

Does it work?

Comparison/Side-by-side vidz?

His wife thinks so. "My wife who has shot my other AR15 rifles found this one to be her favorite and it does not surprise me."



I never understood the recoil reducing gimmicks for the AR platform. There is no recoil. How do these 3-gun guys hit anything with their shotguns?

[Butch]

Long video on buffers. Sound quality sucks. Talks about the hydraulic buffer at 22:17

[Press Check]

If I'm not mistaken, weren't hydraulic buffers originally designed for the army to test in attempting to stabilize the cyclic rate of heavy machine guns, and reduce bolt-bounce? Not entirely sure I see the benefit in a semi-auto. In theory, if you dampen the initial impact of the BCG, doesn't that shorten the overall travel of the BCG, creating a condition in which short-stroking can occur? Seems like you would need to use a reduced power spring to allow full travel.

[militarymoron]

How is this buffer different from the Enidine buffer that was introduced more than a dozen years ago and discontinued a few years ago? It looks exactly the same. By the way, the KynShot says 'patent pending' on it - it's not patented yet.
My concern with this design would be based on what happened to my original Enidine (see pic). I was sent a replacement which I've used since then with no issues, but I always have a spare H2 buffer in my bag 'just in case'.

[Outlander Systems]

There was a great muzzle device comparison where dude tested MD's, and had metrics for everything.

Side by side with the A5 system.

[556BlackRifle]

There was a great muzzle device comparison where dude tested MD's, and had metrics for everything.

I remember seeing that.

[lysander]

...what happens is the Kinetic energy is actually being transferred to a different type of energy in the form of thermal energy. It is important to understand the principles of energy conservation and energy changing forms. When you rub your hands together, Kinetic energy is transferred to heat as a result of friction between your hands and the energy is lost in the form of heat. The same concept works for a hydraulic buffer. The ‘recoil’ and momentum is actually reduced by the transfer of energy to thermal loss. Similar to a how a shock operates on a car or motorcycle there is a piston, orifice holes, seals, chamber and fluid more or less in the KynSHOT buffer. While I don't have the design details for good reasons because the KynSHOT is patented and the details of the design are proprietary, it is a safe bet to assume it operates similar to a regular shock. I contacted John who is a Director at KYNTEC, he provided me with some specific information and details about the operation of this buffer. This buffer is a single acting device working on the compression stroke only, unlike a car or motorcycle shock.
"As the recoil event begins, the bolt carrier group moves rearward and compresses the piston rod as the spent casing is ejected. As this happens, hydraulic fluid is orificed and at this interface kinetic energy (energy of mass in motion) is converted to thermal energy and dissipated through the cylinder of the buffer. This is exactly the advantage of the hydraulic buffer as it is compared to so many spring and tuned mass dampers on the market today. Hydraulics is the only way to take energy away from the system. Springs and tuned mass dampers just move energy around, store it in springs, and are not efficient. Once the buffer and bcg hit the back end of the buffer tube, the buffer spring takes over and pushes everything forward, causing the bcg to pick up the next round from the magazine and chamber it. This forward motion is also felt by the shooter. The energy of the buffer in motion is dampened when the buffer comes to a stop at the front retainer detent and the piston rod strokes again, dissipating more energy."

As you can see, John has confirmed the Physics behind what this type of buffer offers compared to a standard buffer. Full circle back to the reasons I was interested in this buffer is the KynSHOT buffer reduces felt recoil which is very appealing. It reduces muzzle raise which is critical for 3-Gun shooters and range shooters practicing quick target acquisition and rapid successive follow up shots. The buffer also eliminate the spring "twang" noise which is unpleasant, and significantly reduce wear and tear saving your AR15 as the moving parts are slowed down by the transfer of energy. The fact you can use this buffer to reduce ‘felt recoil” to a minimum, makes it an ideal product for introducing newcomers to the sport who might otherwise be concerned about recoil. I personally find anything which reduces the recoil or makes the firearm friendlier and easier to shoot as a welcome option in my toolbox. My wife who has shot my other AR15 rifles found this one to be her favorite and it does not surprise me.

1) There are other ways to remove energy from a system, mechanical friction dampers being another simpler and cheaper method.

2) The equation for the energy absorbed is:

E = ∫Fdx from 0 to x = total stroke.

Where Fdx is the resistive force generated by the damper (buffer) as a function of distance. Or, simply the area under the F-x curve. It gets complicated as the resistive force is going to be a function of velocity, or how fast you try and push the plunger in. Generally it's not a huge amount, but it is a little. M60s have had hydraulic buffers for years, I never felt one of those even get noticeably warm.

The major benefits of a hydraulic buffer for recoil is the increased length of time the recoil energy is applied to the shooter, reducing the "felt recoil". A long push, as opposed to a sharp blow.

The biggest improvement about this design is that it will slow the cyclic rate down a huge amount, so even if you are severely over gassed, you will not have the usual feeding issues associated with over gassing, you still might have the extraction issues, but not the feeding issues.

[jetspeedz]

To answer some of the questions:

Price varies depending on model so here is the website link: http://kynshot.com/eshop/

There is a 1 million cycle or 10 year guarantee with the KynShot. Comparing decade old colt or enidine buffer to this is futile.

Hard to capture "felt recoil" in a video, which is why the physics and explanation of how this product works, makes more sense.


Cheers

[militarymoron]

To answer some of the questions:
There is a 1 million cycle or 10 year guarantee with the KynShot. Comparing decade old colt or enidine buffer to this is futile.

I don't think it's futile - I think it's reasonable based on the fact that they look identical in design externally. Unless information is made available to the contrary, it's logical to assume that failure modes would be similar.

Is the guarantee against failure (guaranteed that it will not fail within 1 mil cycles or 10 years), or REPLACEMENT is guaranteed within 1 mil cycles or 10 years?
Enidine replaced my failed buffer without any hassles, but it still failed.

When you review a product that looks EXACTLY like one that was released more than a decade ago, you must expect folks to ask how they differ and why this one is better. I'm not surprised by their similarity, given that the VP of Engineering at KynShot (Jerry Spyche) worked at ITT Enidine until 2012. So, a little history behind the KynShot buffer and its heritage and design differences (for those of us who had experience with the Enidine) would be relevant (and IMHO, necessary) for your review.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that if it's 'patent pending', it's not patented yet. If a patent application has been filed, anyone should be able to look at the 'proprietary design' if they were interested in understanding how it works.