should i bother switching buffers when switching from 18" barrel with rifle length gas system to a 16" barrel carbine gas system?
currently the rifle has an h2 buffer with a red spring in a collapsible stock receiver extension.
the suggested buffer for a 16" barrel with carbine length gas system is apparently h3 weight.
would this decision change at all with a jp silent captured spring?
I would just try it with both buffers and diagnose your ejection pattern. A lot of it will be driven by your load, and your gas port diameter.
With the JP SCS, what I think I’m starting to see is that the standard AR15 SCS model seems to be set up for a lo-mass carrier, because it is buffered and sprung heavily in both departments. That makes sense, because lo-mass carriers is what I think John Paul had in mind with that recoil/buffer system.
It can be tuned with different spring weights that you can get from JP, but it might be ideal for a 16" CLGS as-is.
As to the standard buffers, I’ve had 18" RLGS work with standard 2.9oz carbine buffers, as well as H2’s and ST-T2’s.
A 16" CLGS really needs to be buffered heavily, and I seem to like H2’s or H3’s for that. I personally don’t mess around with that barrel length/gas system length, which is arbitrarily a combination of NFA laws and a gas system that was originally meant for the 10" Colt Model 607 Commando, so the dwell time just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, and treatment of it with buffering and spring weight is really more of a big band aid. They still will run of course, gassed hard with the dwell, but I also like using the MGI RRB for this set up.
I think this should be in the technical discussion, as Precision Semi-auto is a different forum.
It all depends on the gas port sizes.
The H2 is a good starting point for most things and is close to an optimum weight.
If there are cycling issues with the red spring, try a standard power spring.
The 16" CAR is not an ideal configuration, but can run if the port size is small.