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dont_tread_on_me
09-11-23, 16:09
I was swapping uppers around the other day and noticed some unusual wear on the face of the buffer. Geissele REBCG on a VLTOR A5 buffer. Traditionally most of the wear on the buffer face seems to be at the hands of the buffer retaining pin but this is far too concentric and high to be the pin. I’m wondering if the the whiz bang BCG has a burr on the back of it? Thoughts?
70852
markm
09-11-23, 16:31
Bouncing off the back of the carrier or like you say.. a burr or sharper edge somewhere. Not uncommon at all. The buffer does rotate in the R.E. so you'll see the scoring just like your pic illustrates.
grizzman
09-11-23, 18:06
I can think of nothing besides the whiz bang bolt carrier that could cause this. This shouldn't be occurring, but it should only be cosmetic.
BillBond
09-11-23, 19:53
I had a gun that did that and tracked it down to a little tit on the back of the bolt carrier.
mpom
09-12-23, 04:28
Would bother me, as the steel carrier will keep damaging the aluminum buffer face. Find a flat surface; glass, countertop, whatever is handy. Using finer and finer emery cloth, rotate the carrier standing upright until the tail is nice and smooth. Clean, oil and no more buffer wear. BTDT.
dont_tread_on_me
09-12-23, 10:04
Would bother me, as the steel carrier will keep damaging the aluminum buffer face. Find a flat surface; glass, countertop, whatever is handy. Using finer and finer emery cloth, rotate the carrier standing upright until the tail is nice and smooth. Clean, oil and no more buffer wear. BTDT.

Not sure if that would be as easy as we think with the coating on the BCG.
Disciple
09-12-23, 10:56
My Vltor A5 buffer looked like that or worse after little use. I assumed the coating was rather soft as I don't think the previous buffer had that much wear.
dont_tread_on_me
09-12-23, 13:55
My other V5s haven’t looked like either but that’s using a BCM BCG.
Disciple
09-12-23, 14:56
Then the tail of my carrier needs some polishing. Thanks for posting this Q as it's not something I would have addressed otherwise.
DoubleW
09-12-23, 16:57
Geissele strikes again! Pun intended.
dont_tread_on_me
09-12-23, 21:12
I emailed Geissele and received a reply that essentially it was a discrepancy between BCG hardness and buffer.
vicious_cb
09-12-23, 21:20
I emailed Geissele and received a reply that essentially it was a discrepancy between BCG hardness and buffer.

That is some crap right there, from the uneven wear it looks like there's a pretty sharp burr on the inner radius of the carrier. I would pay very close attention to the machining on the buffer retaining pin channel of the carrier by running your finger and feeling for any sharpness. From there you can just knock it down with a file.
DoubleW
09-13-23, 12:52
Wrong thread
rifleman8
09-15-23, 08:18
I've run into this about 4 times over the years, and with "Tier 1" BCGs. Tiny little tit burrs - associated with the retaining pin channel machining on the carrier tail as Vicious mentioned. And as Markm pointed out the buffer is rotating while being pushed up tight against the ass end of carrier, so a tiny steel burr will leave dramatic looking gouges in aluminum buffer face. Kinda like when you spill a small spoonful worth of oil on the garage floor and a minute latter it looks like you dumped a whole quart. When working with a carrier for the first time I just assume it has burrs and proceed accordingly.