I called one of my local shops today (10 Percent Firearms) and asked for a .308 carbine buffer. What they sold me was an H3 heavy AR15 buffer. Does this sound proper? Will the H3 work with my .308 carbine?
IIRC, the length is different.
My armalite ar10 stock kit came with a h3 marked buffer(direct from armalite). Can’t comment on the length though. I’dd have to pull it out and compair.
308 carbine buffer is shorter and will end up lighter than H3, got my buffer and spring from midway
Not enough info. There is no 308 carbine, there is the AR-10, SR-25, LR-308, MWS… they are not all the same.
Ok pulled the buffer out of my ar-10 and compared it to a standard h buffer. Both are the same length. The slash buffer used when using an ar-15 buffer tube is shorter if I’m not mistaken.
OP guess it matters on which 308 you are running. The armalite one uses a h3 buffer when you use their buffer tube.
I am using an Armalite 6 position “AR10” receiver extension which is a little longer than my standard mil-spec extension. I should also note that my .308 is of the DPMS variety if that matters…I didn’t since the only main difference is the way the upper mates to the lower.
If you are running the armalite ar-10 tube then you should be fine with the h3 buffer.
The Armalite extension uses an AR-15 carbine sized buffer with three internal weights. The DPMS extension uses a cut down buffer with only two internal weights.
As a reference:
The LMT SOPMOD kit for AR10 (Armalite) uses an H3 buffer.
http://www.lmtstore.com/bolts-carriers-groups/buttstocks/l7la2c.html
Now that I mentioned this, if someone has a DPMS pattern gun and they wanted to install this kit, since it comes with the tube as well (which is longer than a standard 556 carbine tube), that would work as well with the longer buffer, right?
Yes, the Armalite buffer system should work just fine on a DPMS pattern gun. As others have pointed out, Armalite just uses a longer buffer, buffer tube, and buffer spring.
The H3 is correct for that buffer tube length.
Does anybody know if this H3 buffer and spring can be used with a Magpul UBR on a .308 platform?
The real expert on buffers and springs for the various makes of .308 carbines is Clint Butler, AKA “Slash” at heavybuffers.com. I don’t know of anyone who has done more research, more machining, more shooting or more troubleshooting of carbine-length 7.62 X 51 (and other caliber) AR-platform rifles. I have several of his products and they are absolutely bullet-proof (pardon the pun). I bought one of his buffers secondhand and had a question about it. He didn’t even hesitate to examine the photos that I sent and tell me not only which buffer it was, but when he made it and provided recommendations to help me improve reliability on several rifles.
No, the standard length carbine buffer works with a longer buffer tube in the AR-10 and MWS.
Thank you. But what is the difference between the H3 and standard carbine buffer? The Magpul Website notes the UBR accommodates the standard carbine buffer and spring…will it not work with the .308 due to the length ofthe BCG or is there more?
The longer buffer tube is to allow the longer bolt carrier travel on the 308.
DPMS shortened the buffer to allow more travel but it loses a 1/3rd of it’s “buffering” ability with only 2 sliding weights.
Mine works with one of Slash’s heavy buffers and a rifle-length springs. That’s what he recommended. It is an AR-10 carbine specific buffer.
the VLtor A5 system also is a longer tube and you can use the ar15 standard carbine length buffer with that and a 308.