Originally Posted by
jonconsiglio
I wanted to add my experience last weekend to this thread. A few of us went out to a friend's ranch this past weekend for three days. Most of my shooting and hunting was done with the SR15 with the Vltor A5 and standard buffer.
I recently got an LMT mk18 upper. Both had standard flash hiders. I just switched back on the SR15's from Triple Taps and will most likely go to Blackouts for all once the suppressor thing is figured out.
Anyway, my MK18 (10.5") upper shot just as soft, if not softer than the SR15 when both used the Vltor A5 and standard buffer. This was not my experience before with a borrowed Noveske 10.5" but I believe I had the brakes on the longer guns at the time.
So, my guess is that the Vltor A5 system is going to be most effective with a carbine gas gun over a middy, though both will definitely benefit. My bought is that you can only get so soft for the caliber and a 16" middy is already nearing that point, as is the 14.5". When we start running the shorter guns or carbine gassed longer guns, the A5 system has more to work with and it becomes more noticeable.
Seeing it on a wider range in barrel length and a wider range in gas system length as well, I have a feeling this is what the OP is experiencing here. I would say that on almost any upper we'll see some sort of benefit in feel amd reliability though we may need to use a lighter buffer for 14.5" middies, but we'll actually feel more of a difference on carbine gassed guns, whether 16" or 10.5".
I ran both the SR15 and MK18 on the A5 this weekend back to back as well as suppressed and I can say that it would be very hard to tell a difference between any of them using the same buffer with the A5. I couldn't say that if all I had was a carbine re and a carbine or H buffer. I like this set up more and more each time I'm out.