Anti carrier tilt buffer assemblies are available.

[Seth Harness]

My patent attorney finally told me it was okay to post publically. Good thing cuz I was getting anxious. So here are some pics of the part and the cocept of the design.

I was getting tired of seeing this inside my buffer tube, signs of tilt that is. Granted its not real bad yet but I wasnt about to let it go like this.



I have this problem, I have to mess with everything. If its not right I have to fix it, I dont know what its called but it keeps me awake almost every night. This was one of those ideas. Two sleepless night later, this was the product.

Comparison of stock buffer and ACT buffer assembly.






I have a ton of pics from me making this but Im not going to get into all of that again, I'll just show you the pics of the part after I machined them. I am using buffer tech gray buffers to hold in the tungsten and steel weights. I was also thinking of having them hard coat anodized, no dye just straight anodized. The thread I had planned was huge, maybe this time I can make this a KISS thread and still get the point across.

Heres a pic of the weight tube.



The way it works is the indexing nipple on the face of the buffer assembly fits into the hole in the back of the carrier, when the tilt tries to occur the carrier bares its downward pressure to the indexing nipple on the buffer assembly. The shoulder just behind the face of the buffer is enlarged to fit in the buffer tube with just enough clearance to fit with little wobble. So the downward pressure is applied to the floor of the buffer tube. With a dab of oil in the buffer tube it works great for me, though oil is not necessary for function, it will cut down on any adverse wear if there is any. I have about 80 rounds on one and the problem of carrier tilt is fixed.






So there it is, thats my idea for fixing carrier tilt as a drop in design. The only spec. needed is the hole in the back of the carrier. The one draw back to the design is, to pivot the the upper on the front pin you have to remove the upper completely, lift the upper high enough that the indexing nipple dosnt interfere with the back of the carrier then reinsert your front pin. To drop the upper back down you dont have take them apart again, you just bring the upper down on top of the ACT buffer, reach in with your finger and give it a little push back and the upper will drop into place. To make my upper pivot from my lower it takes an extra 4 seconds. To close them back together it takes me an extra 2 seconds. Not a big deal to me, definitely a fare trade for the problem it fixes as far as Im concern.


Thanks,
Seth H.

[Razorhunter]

This is very interesting. Somehow I knew you were working on a product or two!
I wish I still had my brand new 1980 SouthBend 13" lathe. Boy do I ever regret selling that machine.
Anyhow Seth, I am assuming this is primarily geared towards gas piston systems.

I have been doing limited research on this issue, especially since the LMT gas piston rifle is due out soon. (I hope)
I spoke with LMT about carrier tilt, and they said it was definitely an issue they addressed, and they were confident that they had a solution built into their piston system. Of course, they didn't get into details.
I have only seen one other piston gun (the Colt Advanced LE Carbine), which addressed this issue. Of course, they used "skis" on their proprietary Carrier, which supposedly cures, or at least helps with the problem.
I'd like to know if the Colt "Skis" actually work???


Also, I'd like to know if carrier tilt is a problem with ALL piston guns? How about the 416? What did Hk do to address this issue?
Finally, what exactly causes carrier tilt? I mean, If you think about it, IF an Op-Rod can cause a carrier to tilt, why can't THOUSANDS of PSI of gas hitting the carrier key also cause carrier tilt, in a DI system?
I just always wondered about that?

[markm]

Doesn't this make assembly a pain in the chachkas?

Makes me wonder about the Colt HALF CIRCLE carriers. Those carriers wouldn't be able to do the damage that a full circle apparently does.

[Razorhunter]

Interesting concept on the Colt half circle carriers.

[Seth Harness]

Doesn't this make assembly a pain in the chachkas?

Makes me wonder about the Colt HALF CIRCLE carriers. Those carriers wouldn't be able to do the damage that a full circle apparently does.

I agree, but with nothing to stop the downward tilt it would just create more adverse wear inside the upper on the bearing surfaces, having only a half circle allows for the system to travel down that much farther. The nice thing about this system is its drop-in. If someone wants to grind a porsion out of the bottom of their carrier, the system would pivot freely on the front pin. Like I said above, to make your rifle halves pivot freely from each other it takes an extra 4 seconds. Removing both front and rear pins seperating them and reinserting your front pin, your halves will pivot like normal. To reinstall, just set the carrier down on the indexing nipple, reach in with your finger and push it back and upper will drop down into place. It does take a tad longer but not so long its not worth the fix, IMHO.

Thanks for your reply and iterest.
Seth H.

[Seth Harness]

This is very interesting. Somehow I knew you were working on a product or two!

HAHA! I cant help it man, I cant turn my brain off it just keeps going, what really sucks is it keeps me awake at night. I have a lot more ideas, I just dont have the time to execute them. All in do time.

Thanks for your reply and interest.
Seth H.

[markm]

That would be an idea. A notched out bottom half of the back of the carrier rather than the half circle notion. Then you could close the receivers just like normal.

[Seth Harness]

That would be an idea. A notched out bottom half of the back of the carrier rather than the half circle notion. Then you could close the receivers just like normal.

Yep, I wondered if thats something people should do themselves or if I should. I could I guess, its just more stuff to send through the mail, if that wouldnt bother anybody.
Its not like this has to be done for this to work, it would just save you a few seconds in the take down time.

Thanks,
Seth H.

[AnimalMother556]

That would be an idea. A notched out bottom half of the back of the carrier rather than the half circle notion. Then you could close the receivers just like normal.

Wouldn't that negate the use of an M-16 carrier that some people are so found of for its additional weight? Not talkin' smack, just sayin.

[Seth Harness]

Wouldn't that negate the use of an M-16 carrier that some people are so found of for its additional weight? Not talkin' smack, just sayin.

I would imagine if one missed the weight one could just replace one of the steel weights in their buffer with a tungsten weight, which would be more weight than you'd be removing. The amount of weight taken away would be so minute I dont believe it would be missed. The size of vacancy at the bottom back of the carrier needed would be measured in grams. I dont think it would be an issue. I have been wrong before though.

Thanks,
Seth H.