Or will a carbine length receiver extension and 3oz weight work ok?
Thos is for a 20” barrel that uses rifle length gas tube.
Hope this basic question is ok in this forum.
Thanks
yes.
Eta: Hope I didnt cause confusion. I meant yes it will work with carbine RE/buffer, not yes it needs a rifle RE. Oops.
Carbine tube, buffer, and spring.
Not sure what weight buffer to use.
You can use a carbine RE assembly with a rifle upper. I’d start with an H2 buffer.
The Canadians use such a configuration as their C7A2 service rifle. IIRC it uses an H3 buffer or equivalent.
Someone will probably recommend the Vltor A5 kit as well. I can’t recommend it from any first-hand experience, but I seem to recall that it was designed with a 20" barreled rifle in mind.
It looks like rifle and carbine buffers have the same length of travel, but the rifle system has a longer buffer in a longer tube and has heavier weight in the buffer. If that’s the case, then it’s pretty simple to find tungsten weights to make a carbine system buffer and tube work with a rifle length gas system on my 20” barrel. Yes, the tungsten weights aren’t cheap, but it would add flexibility designing a system.
If they’re not using tungsten, but the actual buffers are the same size (C = H1 = H2 = H3 (size)), then do heavier buffers use lead for weights instead of steel?
The A5 buffer system gets it’s name from being part of Vltor’s proposal for an M16A5 upgrade program.
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The H3 weighs about the same as a rifle buffer.
The H6 is the official carbine buffer to use with a 20" rifle gas.
My experience is that you can really run any buffer with a 20" rifle.
My 18 inch SPR (rifle length gas) runs fine with standard carbine buffer and spring.
Carbine buffers are all the same size, but different weights. The H number represents how many steel buffer weights are replaced by tungsten weights - a H2 buffer has 2 tungsten weights and one steel weight.
Rifle buffers are much longer and use steel weights and an aluminum spacer. Generally speaking, rifle buffers are approximately 5.2 ounces and there are no “H” rifle buffers.
Great info, really fills in the gaps, thanks!
This is good rule of thumb info, but ultimately going to depend on gas port size. If you have a rifle that is under-gassed a heavier buffer is going to cause problems. There are also different gas tubes on the market now that have different internal diameters which can also cause gremlins.
Here is a reference table for gas port sizing–there is no way to tell this info without removing gas block/FSP.
http://www.tacticalmachining.com/learn/ar-style-rifles/ar-15-gas-port-sizes.html
If you run a carbine RE, then I believe the correct weight buffer would be an H6, however I have yet to find a reliable source for one. My suggestion based on first hand experience, would be to run a Vltor A5 system. I equipped my last rifle length gun with an A5 system, and it ran as smooth as silk. It also ate every type of ammo I gave it, so I would not hesitate to use it again.
H6 buffer thread for reference:
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?147657-H6-Buffer
Damage Industries sells the H6 buffer.
Andy
The Damage industries H6 is what I run. Prior to that I ran an H2 with no problems either.
18" SPR with rifle gas.
Here is this thread on rifle plus carbine RE
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?10502-Rifle-gas-system-telestock-buffer-spring
The A5 buffer is close to the same length as a rifle buffer minus the fixed spacer.
This has come up several times. I have built a few rifles for guys locally using correctly gassed 20" barrels, Sprinco blue springs and an H3 buffer. They ran perfectly fine.
That portion of the rifle buffer is about a half inch longer than the A5 buffer.