Carbine Buffers in high end AR's

[Disciple]

People taking stuff to limit certainly gives some perspective. Using the lightest or softest recoil is not my goal, I am mostly interested in reliability. Which can be achieved in a number of ways as the Hide post illustrates.

In furtherance of that perspective here are two more posts from Anthony Deitmeier (TonyTheTiger) in that thread.

And even if the feel is snappy that's besides the point. The sights move less and fast pairs on paper have significantly less dispersion. That's what matters. I've got a whole pile of low mass rifles that might feel snappy to some but I can shoot a .14 second split on 40 yard paper and trust that the holes are within 3" of each other. Show me a full mass rifle that will do that. I'll wait. I've tried it so I know I'll be waiting for a while.

I do have a couple rifles set up for HD/truck gun stuff that use mil-spec ish components and they are reliable, but they shoot less than 500 rounds a year while my main match gun was 10k> pre rona, so I don't have equal amounts of data in both directions. My match rifle with all it's low mass components is just as reliable with the caveat that I actually wear parts out in that vs. the HD guns that will never wear out. I shoot all my game guns in sub zero temps and 100+ and they all work at both extremes. I don't really clean them either, pretty much just keep dumping Mobil 1 in.
I keep records of all my malfunctions in game guns, I don't have them in front of me but they say things like: gas rings smoked, cam pin broke, aluminum carriers = bad idea, trigger spring broke, extractor hook worn away, extractor spring weak, things like that. So basically wear items wearing out or in the case of aluminum carriers, an experiment that had poor and somewhat expected results.
No failures that I would directly attribute to the weight of reciprocating mass. Speaking of which, the people saying they're unreliable never say how or in what way they fail. They just parrot the conventional wisdom, and I would guess it's because they've never even tried the setup they're denigrating.

[mack7.62]

Proper gassing should put ANY Carbine actioned AR at an H2 buffer if you subscribe to the idea that matching the rifle buffer system as closely as possible is best. (which I do)

I have (arguably) under-gassed guns that I had to step down to an H1 carbine buffer. (14.5 middies with .078 ports) I'm unaware of ANY gun that runs best on a carbine 2.9oz buffer. LMT does or did still ship guns with that buffer too.

SR-15's are not carbine or mid they are KAC gas length. Of course I suppose a lot depends on the vintage of the rifle and barrel length but assuming newer and 14.5 or 16 a KAC should not need a heavy buffer or it would come with one. KAC puts a lot of work into building a balanced rifle designed for combat under all conditions, the idea that it comes with the wrong buffer or that it would work better with a different one does not ring true. American's like to tinker, this is not always a good thing. KAC does their own thing, like they refuse to fire a proof round with their bolts which they say takes up to 10,000 rounds off the bolt life but they build superior rifles.

"What I find is the really special feature on the barrel is the gas system. The low profile gas block is double pinned to the barrel and sits far forward in what I have seen referred to as a “longer then midlength” or “battle rifle” gas tube. This tube length is about an inch longer then mid and reduces gas pressure going back to the bolt carrier group, the difference in “smoothness” may be slight when compared to a midlength gas system, but compared to an M4 it is night and day."

[Wake27]

SR-15's are not carbine or mid they are KAC gas length. Of course I suppose a lot depends on the vintage of the rifle and barrel length but assuming newer and 14.5 or 16 a KAC should not need a heavy buffer or it would come with one. KAC puts a lot of work into building a balanced rifle designed for combat under all conditions, the idea that it comes with the wrong buffer or that it would work better with a different one does not ring true. American's like to tinker, this is not always a good thing. KAC does their own thing, like they refuse to fire a proof round with their bolts which they say takes up to 10,000 rounds off the bolt life but they build superior rifles.

"What I find is the really special feature on the barrel is the gas system. The low profile gas block is double pinned to the barrel and sits far forward in what I have seen referred to as a “longer then midlength” or “battle rifle” gas tube. This tube length is about an inch longer then mid and reduces gas pressure going back to the bolt carrier group, the difference in “smoothness” may be slight when compared to a midlength gas system, but compared to an M4 it is night and day."

This is the 16”, the 14.5 carbine does have a standard middy gas length IIRC. And the 14.5 and 11.5s use the KAC HH buffer. Pretty sure.


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[mack7.62]

This is the 16”, the 14.5 carbine does have a standard middy gas length IIRC. And the 14.5 and 11.5s use the KAC HH buffer. Pretty sure.


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Not according to KAC, the 14.5 uses a longer than mid length.

https://www.knightarmco.com/12991/sh...ube-mid-length

SR-15 E3 Gas Tube, Mid-Length
PN:95155

Replacement intermediate length gas tube assembly for the SR-15 IWS Series of rifles. It is slightly longer than mid length and slightly shorter than rifle length, and is compatible with SR-15 gas systems only.

Tubes Fit the following Knight’s Armament Rifle Models:

SR-15 E3 IWS Carbine SBR (14.5″ Barrel)

SR-15 E3 IWS Carbine Mod 0

SR-15 E3 IWS Carbine Mod 1

$67.27

Out of stock

[Disciple]

$67 just for a replacement gas tube? They really don't want poors like me owning their rifles, do they.

[BufordTJustice]

I run a Geissele Super 42 rifle spring and BCM Mk2 (A5) T1 buffer in my 16" SR15 mod2. LMT E-Carrier.

Smoothest AR I've ever shot. Comp gun smooth. Runs perfectly even bone-dry with PMC bronze 55gr, in 28F weather. Obviously I never run any of my guns bone dry. Bone dry = cleaned and stripped with brake cleaner. ZERO lube.

T0 is an easy step-down for colder weather (close to 0F), but I suspect I won't need it since all my practice ammo is hot .223 or 5.56 NATO pressure, and all my SD stuff is 5.56 NATO pressure.


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[Disciple]

I run a Geissele Super 42 rifle spring and BCM Mk2 (A5) T1 buffer in my 16" SR15 mod2. LMT E-Carrier.

Are you still using Tubbs springs too or do you now prefer the Super 42 springs across the board?

[BufordTJustice]

Are you still using Tubbs springs too or do you now prefer the Super 42 springs across the board?

Tubbs AR10 in my suppressed shorty.

I have found that the Geissele Super 42 Rifle springs either run superbly, or in a very "AK-ish" way, causing the gun to move and rock a lot. Using the Super 42 Rifle in my SBR brought that result; Tubbs was much smoother and also gave less gas to face.


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[26 Inf]

In furtherance of that perspective here are two more posts from Anthony Deitmeier (TonyTheTiger) in that thread.

I wish I would have read those posts a couple days ago. I built a dissy using a Del-Ton barrel with a .098 port. Would not lock back with a rifle buffer. Next range trip I broke my box of buffer parts as well as a spacer and carbine spring. Rifle buffer with all aluminum weights still wouldn't lock back.

Put in the spacer and carbine spring, ended up at 2.1 (HF scale that I bought for this extravaganza) and about 75 percent lock back. Ejecting around 4:00 to 5:00. Didn't cycle as smooth as my mid=lengths. So I removed the FSB and drilled the gas port to .110. I used a #39, a #37, and a #35 bit for the final and it pinned at .111.

Haven't shot it yet.

Wished I'd read those posts earlier, I'd have put foam in the carbine buffer and tried that.

[HKGuns]

Several posters in this thread are using partial A5 setups, either BCM or OEM. I've always used the standard VLTOR setup with the VLTOR spring.

Why aren't you using the standard A5 spring? What is the advantage of using a spring other than the spring that comes with the A5 system?

All of my rifles have stock VLTOR parts and they all function reliably.

I am curious about all of this spring changing and what you're gaining, or hoping to gain.