It's basic inertia - you have a set amount of gas (force) coming into the system based up on your setup (carbine, middy, rifle, etc.). The gas exerts it's force onto the BCG and transfers into the buffer. Since an object that is at rest will stay at rest unless an unbalanced force acts upon it, this force moves both the BCG and the buffer only once it has overcome the system's inertia.
The more mass, the more force that is exerted to overcome inertia. Since the amount of force available is finite and already determined you should have the following outcomes: If you have a light buffer, less force is exerted overcoming inertia and more force is put into the actual movement of the BCG and buffer. If you have a heavier buffer, more force is used to overcome inertia and not as much is available to move the BCG and buffer - thus slower movement with less impact on the rear of the receiver extension. All of this assumes that the spring is the same. If you change the resistance of the spring, you are simply changing that part of the equation - however if you test a light buffer and heavy buffer with each spring setup, you should notice that the same holds true in either case.
This is why you have the potential to run into reliability problems with heavier buffers... if you slow the system down too much you can cause it to not function as intended...
Last edited by CaptainDooley; 08-15-10 at 23:44.
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