Hey team, question please. Thinking of trying Vltor A5 on a 14.5 mid. What spring is recommended. The kits I see on websites come with a stock rifle spring. But in researching some suggest sprinco green. Can you suggest a preferred spring or just use the one that comes with buffer tube kit.
Paging BufordTJustice…
The factory spring is a good spring, but the green springco is preferred.
I have used every quality rifle spring (Colt, BCM, Brownells SS, Brownells CS, Tubbs flat wire, Springco Green, Wolff reduced power, & Wolff std power.) And the factory copper washed Vltor A5 spring provided the smoothest recoil impulse.
It’s literally one of the only situations where the factory spring is best.
Because it is a rifle spring, it will have an inherently longer life than carbine springs.
I’ve got two Vltor A5 springs that have over 4000 rounds on them and their length is identical to a factory new Vltor spring.
EDIT: My wife uses my old upper, a BCM 14.5" middy, and she uses the std Vltor copper washed spring with an A5H4 buffer. It’s the apex setup for that gas system when not using a suppressor.
I prefer and use the Sprinco green spring. All of my lowers use them.
Same here
I thought you were now using the Wolff reduced power?
You sequenced all the springs in another thread.
Sorry. Need to update. Back to Vltor, though that Wolff RP spring is closest in performance and feel to the Vltor spring.
One of the nice things about the A5 is that many different rifle springs work well.
As a default, just run the stock vltor spring that comes with it.
I have had 100% reliability with the Vltor spring. In my 14.5 I have the -2 buffer and Vltor spring. I have 6 rifles with the A5 RE and 5 have the Vltor spring and one has a Colt spring I think. All are 100% reliable.
I have never used a Sprinco anything.
I prefer the stock spring that comes with the A5 kit. I tried a Sprinco Green and the A5 spring is a lot smoother IMO.
The Springco is an excellent spring and no doubt it will outlast the std Vltor spring, but for the A5 it may be gilding the lily. Regardless, anybody who runs it will not be poorly served. Springco makes quality stuff.
EDIT: I rec Springco white or blue springs in carbine receiver extensions above all others and I use their 5 coil extractor springs exclusively. They make great kit, but their green spring allowed more gun movement and caused muzzle dip for me whereas the A5 spring doesn’t cause muzzle dip in any config I’ve tried, regardless of buffer weight.
Interesting… I threw the “green” in as soon as I had the castle nut staked. Never bothered with the spring that came with the kit.
Just to be absolutely clear, when you say copper colored spring, we are referring to the stock spring that comes with the kit?
The reason I ask is I did not notice a copper finish on the spring I got with the kit. Kit was ordered from RogTactical (no afilliation whatsoever).
The current Vltor A5 spring as ordered from Vltor is very similar in color to the new Colt copper washed extractor spring. They are $5 from Vltor. I know the early A5 springs from Vltor had a very dull, sandy/copper color and a rougher finish.
The Vltor spring actually has a slightly different spring rate than a std rifle spring according to Phreakish. Having used virtually every quality rifle spring on the market, I now believe him.
Is it safe to assume the spring rate between the old and new are different?
The spring I got almost looks “caulky” if thats a good enough description. Lke a penny that went through a laundry wash cycle. Definitely not like the Colt extrator spring.
Have you reordered your judgment of each springs stiffness? Why did you switch back to the Vltor, needed more carrier return velocity? How about Brownell’s CS rifle spring? Maybe Spring Co will make a rifle equivalent to the carbine white spring.
I’ll admit, it’s only out of laziness/cheapness, but the stock setup on all my A5 lowers has worked perfectly, so I haven’t ventured to see what I can change on something that already works better than I need it to. I just spent that money on more A5 kits.
That’s the first gen. I found the rates seem identical, the first gen is just rougher.
Brownells was fine and felt similar, but I’m in Florida and the last formal training day I had I got POURED on with my AR15. Ultimately, the Vltor spring had more corrosion protection than even the 17-7 ph mil spec springs and it just felt best.
A lot of engineering went into the Vltor spring according to Phreakish. I keep finding that they did the job right the first time.
I have a bunch of notes at home (I’m at Disney World now, feeding the animals). I’ll try to find them and post the updated version in the next few days.