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Posted: 3/14/2015 7:15:47 PM EDT
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I am building a lightweight mid-length and need help choosing a buffer weight. This build will have a 14.5" barrel with mid-length gas system and will be shot primarily suppressed. The complete lower came with a standard carbine buffer. Will this be sufficient for my setup?
Being relatively new to the AR platform, I do not yet understand the relationship between gas systems and buffer weight, so if someone cares to expound on this subject it would be very much appreciated. |
| buy a h3 buffer and then together with your standard car buffer you can mix and match weights to make the buffer that works for your setup with out guessing or buying 4 buffers look at the pic here link to see how you can change the weights around |
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OK, you won't know how optimally your system is gassed until you fire it. No reason to bother with the buffer, at all, for now.
The reason for different buffer weights to have an easily swappable part to match the gas levels for optimal performance. If it's over gassed, like so many rifles these days, switching to a heavier buffer helps counter the extra gas moving the carrier. But again, until you shoot it, you won't know, and a carbine buffer might be perfect right off the bat. Don't waste your money on the heavier buffers, at least for now. |
FWIW, I recently shot my M4 carbine, M1A, and a new PSA PA-10 .308. I had read previously about how overgassed the PA-10's tended to be, so I picked up an H3 buffer just in case it was.I then had problems with the PA-10 not working right and such, so I put it aside and shot my M4 and M1A for the rest of the range time. My M4 was overgassed (16" barrel and standard carbine buffer) as it was shooting the brass forward at the one to two o'clock position. Since I wasn't using the PA-10 anymore, I swapped the H3 buffer with the carbine buffer in the M4 and Viola!, the brass was shooting out at the three o'clock position and it seemed the gun calmed down a bit compared to what it was shooting like before. So you may find it works for you, but as Cavscout8 said you will have to fire it initially to find out. You might not need a H3 buffer shooting suppressed, as your ballistics will be milder than what I was shooting (regular 5.56 M855 162gr green tip) I'll still need to get me another H3 buffer for my PA-10 when it gets back from PSA, since I will be back in the same boat in the beginning. Just my $ .02. 
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