Do you buy a bunch of the different buffers and just experiment? Then sell the unused ones?
Thinking of getting one for a 10.4" MR556 and some guys over on HKPro are saying they’re using these XH 10 ounce buffers for their MR556s.
http://heavybuffers.com/vltor.html
What do you mean by “tune”?
Candidly speaking, buffer weight should make very little difference in an A5 for a properly setup rifle.
If you are trying to reduce felt recoil impulse by the maximum amount possible you should be using 3 gun specific type parts anyway.
Johnson,
Keep in mind that HeavyBuffers are not true A5 buffers. The Patented A5 buffer has twice the travel of the internal counterweights. This extra travel slows the rate of fire and eliminates ALL bolt bounce.
Also, the HK416 is way over gassed. From testing in the past, you would need an all steel bodied tungsten filled A5 buffer to get it the same carrier velocities as a G.I. M4
Eric
Buy the A5 kit and install it.
If it doesn’t work, get a new barrel.
If over gassing is the problem, piling on massive buffer weight is not the best solution.
Go with the standard A5 buffer and figure out a way to cut down the gas drive.
Very interesting to learn, I didn’t know that before.
This is my experience as well. Although you can get heavier buffers if you need them, the vast majority of setups, from a 20" rifle to an SBR, should work reliably with the standard A5 buffer.
The only thing I dislike about the A5 system is the small extra length (about 3/4") that it adds. Other than that it’s entirely a good thing.
I have three A5 systems. I don’t know what “tuning” it would consist of. They all worked great from the first shot after installation and I haven’t bothered to fiddle with them.
This would be best. I wouldn’t sweat an A5H1 or A5H3 combo. I wouldn’t sweat an A5H2 combo without a can to running the A5H4 with a can.
I went up to the A5H3 and that was the extent of tuning I did.
No matter what, the proper weight is what is needed for best operation. If the existing setup only allows an A5H1, it’s not necessarily bad, I would prefer the A5H2. If the existing setup allows the A5H3, that’s fine. The potential issues may arise when a combination may require an A5H0 that is never suppressed, or an A5H4 without a can.
There’s a whole A5 thread, but I’ve used the standard buffer on 10.3-16" carbines (Colts), 14.5-16" mids (BCM), 18-20" rifles (BCM, LaRue).
All ran fine on all ammo with the A5 and A5-3 buffers with any ammo. The 10.3" was suppressed and full auto. Itbcame from Colt with an H2 buffer and ran fine with that too.
I have started to shift my thinking toward gas port sizing. I think there can be something of a misconception about buffer sizes and tuning along the lines of, “oh, my rifle can run an A5H4 on cheep .223 unsupressed!” Well that probably is not a good thing depending on how much the A5H4 even tames the cycling down, it would be better to have a properly gassed barrel in the first place. I am not an expert though, just cautioning against the tinkering mindset that might prefer a barrel that has to buffered down so much thinking it is better/more reliable because it can run the real heavy buffer.
Heavy buffers are en vogue here.
Mostly due to necessity
I’m running an A5 H3 buffer with an LWRC flat wire spring in my 11.5 BCM. It will cycle with lower power ammo like wolf when I shoot it one handed no problem.
As for tuning it I just read as much as I could find and I seemed that people were having problems if they used an A5 H4 but the H3 did not seem to have any mass issues so that was what I went with and so far it has been fine for a little over three years.
What makes it necessary?
I used to think this, but having my new Faxon Gunner 18" rifle gas barrel, with a GP of well under .090, it runs smoothest, with the meat net gun movement, on an A5H4 buffer and tubbs AR10 17-7ph flat wire spring. I tried it with all buffer weights for the A5 and I’m running the same gas setting on my SLR Sentry 6 Ti gas block as I could with the A5H0 buffer (with the same margin for lock back).
We’re getting into a sweet spot for delaying bolt unlocking and allowing chamber pressure to subside.
There are very few absolutes in life and the same applies to this topic.
As long as it works 100% and shoots smoothly the world is your oyster. The very same folks complaining about gas port sizing, would be griping about ammo that didn’t cycle with a"correctly" sized gas port. -I still don’t know what that means, after reading a multitude of the threads on the subject.
I always find it interesting when I read about “over sized” gas ports. Over sized as compared to what? The .MIL crowd has a very limited selection of ammo in use, which makes it fairly straight forward for the folks at crane, or wherever, to size the gas port to work with the selection of ammo being used and factor in suppressed function, if required.
It isn’t necessarily the same situation in the .CIV world. So arguing “correct” gas port size is a bit of a specious statement, in my view. You should feel free to tune whatever you like in your setup to get it to shoot how you like it to shoot with the selection of ammo you shoot.
That is considered a plateau in the system. When incremental changes in reciprocating mass do not appreciably change carrier velocity within the span of function. It is easier to find this in 20" .222 and short barreled 300 blackout supers. It can be more combersome in 5.56, but they still happen. The result can mean a wider span of function for a given amount of gas.