The weights are only there to prevent bolt bounce. Bolt bounce is only a problem in full auto as it disrupts the timing of the hammer falling on the firing pin.
In semiautomatic fire the hammer falls when the trigger is pulled again, which is long after even the worse bolt bounce has subsided. The since the weights sliding in the buffer serve no purpose in semiautomatic fire, the order in which they are placed is immaterial.
In full auto, it makes sense to put the heavier weights in the back, as the weights hit in succession, first the forward one, then the second one, etc. You want the impact force to increase, not decrease as a function of time.
Last edited by lysander; 03-29-22 at 10:22.
I would argue that bolt bounce can be problematic in semi auto too. Bad bolt bounce could act like a bullet pulling inertia hammer on weakly neck tensioned ammo. It's possible that I could be totally wrong on this, but I've seen some slow motion video, and that was my first concern.
When you step up to the AR-10, bolt bounce with crappy buffers like HEAVYBUFFERS.com can be so awful that it's distracting. This is aftermarket nonsense of course, and not a real buffer. But an extreme example of a semi auto buffer still being important.
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
Disagree with you there… being I’ve seen out of battery discharges due to that very thing you said only is a problem with full-auto.
Link related to 9mm ARs, but still occurring with semi-auto fire. Just because OOB is almost non-existent in a 5.56mm, doesn’t mean it is the same across the board. And with the push of 9mm ARs over the past few years… it is a fair argument.
https://blowback9.wordpress.com/2021...ut-the-ar9/#23
That being said, putting the heavier weight forward helps prevent that. Shy of “just because,” give me an argument where you’d see weight balance shifting towards the rear as a positive. Legitimate question.
Because even if you fire quick enough to send the hammer down when the bolt isn’t locked… you still end up with click/no bang and need to cycle the action. If running buffers like that reduces that chance (bolt bounce), why not?
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
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