Haha. I think for years people were criticizing the AR for needing to be clean and soaked in lube, and a lot of folks still think its the case. I’ve gotten to where I mainly lightly lube my bcg and that’s pretty much it anymore. So far I’ve not had any problems. I’m also running a NiB BCG so I’m not sure if that helps or not.
I was on a course in which a friend of mine was shooting a borrowed, new KAC SR-15 that did not run reliably until the buffer and spring were lubed, IIRC.
I recall that he was fairly frustrated by the issue because lubing the spring and buffer was certainly not the first thing he thought of, or attempted. I think it was eventually suggested by the instructor after all the obvious stuff was tried.
I fail to see how lubricating the buffer spring would have made the weapon more reliable. I never leave the Springer buffer on any of my weapons and they seem to be working 100 percent just fine. Maybe I’m missing something or do something wrong. 
ALL springs require some lubrication to operate as designed.
it’s just a matter of discretion in application of the lubrication of choice for that particular application…
for example: the valves in an auto/motorcycle engine require lubrication only where they contact their keepers.
“Springer” airguns can gain quite a bit of power simply by a proper lube job on the mainspring. the mainspring normally has a lot of contact with the receiver tube causing friction that interferes with the travel of the mainspring. the air gun industry has developed special lubes for air gun springs for that reason.
if you choose to lubricate i would do so, sparingly, with a lube that’s specifically for springs.
Friction is not a good thing in any mechanical device. I lube the spring very lightly with a cloth that is damp with gun oil.
To be honest, I’ve never heard the spring sound on any of my 5 ARs when fired, not even my A2 Sporter… with over 10K rounds on every one of them. I change out springs and things at the 5K interval. On active duty back in the day, yes on A1s and A2s, it was a pretty standard sound.
Curious, if your (anyone’s) weapon makes the spring sound when fired, does the action spring need to be replaced?
Mine makes the sound and I think it’s natural. I’ve had some that haven’t made the sound also. J&T distributing sells a rubber piece that’s designed to stop it but doesn’t work good. It’s called the twang buster.
FWIW, my S&W lower is quiet, my LRB lower is noisy. No real difference in care.
I have no field experience or real technical know-how from a professional perspective about lubing or not lubing the receiver extension, the spring, and buffer. However I did apply some Froglube onto the spring and buffer using a cloth and I did noticed that the twang sound has been significantly reduced along with the action of my DD M4V5 being far smoother than anything else.
To compare results, two of my friends run the exact same rifle and they’ve only Froglubed their upper receivers and bolts. When you rack their rifles there is more of a tooth/friction versus my rifle which feels far smoother, with almost no friction.
So far I haven’t seen much crud build up in the receiver extension.
I have observed that, when the spring and buffer assembly has a moderate amount of lubrication, the action is quieter, smoother, and less “draggy” when cycling by hand. I can’t say for sure that there’s no difference in spring noise when fired, but I haven’t noticed one, nor was I expecting that.
I view this sort of thing as preventive maintenance, but it clearly isn’t absolutely required. Lack of additional lubrication of the buffer/spring isn’t likely to ever prevent the action from functioning on it’s own, but I definitely consider lubing these moving parts as a good measure towards maintaining the overall system. I don’t live or operate in a sandy or dusty environment, and I have never noticed any significant build-up in the RE, so cleaning considerations aren’t much of a factor for me.
Same here. After 29 years in this gun club I’ve shot A1’s and A2’s as well as the M4 I carried during my last trip to the great sand pit. The A1 and A2 without a doubt had that 'spring" sound when fired but I never noticed it with the M4. As for my personal M4 I just ran some frog lube paste over the buffer spring threw it in the over for like 10 minutes installed it and haven’t touched it since. My middy runs great with that Springco blue and a H2 buffer for over 1500 rounds now.
I could not tell you; I am only relating the fact that the weapon had issues until the spring and buffer were lubed, at which point it began to operate correctly.
I am not the owner of the gun, nor would I have thought of that as a possible source of issues. I was purely a spectator to the incident, but the gun definitely did not run to begin with. A number of fixes were attempted without success. It’s possible that the gun was breaking in and the problems went away coincidentally after the spring and buffer were lubed, as I believe the weapon to have been brand new and almost never fired.
I would guess, based on the number of rounds I fired at that course, that the lube was applied somewhere around the 400 round mark. Prior to that the gun ran very poorly and the shooter was quite annoyed.
So whether one should have to lube their spring and buffer is not something I could tell you; obviously if your guns run well without lube there it’s not always necessary. Maybe this particular gun was marginal to begin with, and a normal amount of buffer friction was still enough to disrupt cycling. Or maybe the .223 ammo I believe the owner to have been using was a little weak, and the gun broke in over 500 rounds and the lube was a coincidence. But there was clearly a point where the gun went from “runs terribly” to “runs fine” and it was right after the spring and buffer were lubed, unless I am remembering things incorrectly.
I have a message out to the guy who was actually shooting it so hopefully I will be able to get more details later today.
Strange how different people get different results. A5 System with brand spanking new (less than 300 rds) green springco spring and I get the sound. No big deal though.
-Jax
I wonder how much “the sound” depends on what stock you’re running? Using an LMT Crane stock or a Magpul STR, my A5 extensions make no noise like that. Maybe it’s accentuated by a thinner stock in the cheek area?
Agreed. I don’t see it as function issue as it is an annoyance. Just curious as what is actually happening to cause that sound/vibration in certain weapons and not in others. Perhaps the buffer and or action spring has gone bad/worn and is momentarily hanging up, binding or ratcheting inside the RE.
You just reaffirmed my ‘different results’ post Buford T. I use a Crane on the A5.
-Jax
Or imperfection inside the RE causing the spring and or buffer to slightly deviate from its intended path. I’ve never really noticed it except on this particular A5.
-Jax
i’ve found that the ‘smoothness’ or amount of spring noise inside the receiver extension is also dependent on the finish inside of the RE. if you feel the inside of the RE, some are very smooth whereas some have light machine marks you can see and feel slightly. the rougher ones will have more ‘scraping noise’ from the spring as you pull back the charging handle. i’ve never noticed a difference in reliability between the two, but i just prefer a smoother feeling action when i pull it back.
I probably am. Maybe in 50,000 rounds my trigger will be toast. Until then I’ll keep oiling my BCG and letting that oil do its work on my FCG.
Mayhap I’m an idiot. I received my A5-Emod kit, the spring was liberally coated in grease, and I did not clean it, and have not since.
Compared to other ARs of various flavors that I have handled (not fired) mine is ghostly quiet when charging as compared to the others with bone dry springs and RE. All I could say to the others, “Mmmmmm…Gritty.”
As far as the “Twang” noise - never listened for it. Might try on the next outing.