Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Buffer weight? When in doubt go H2 ??

Here's how I would break down your questions:

1. Gas port - unless you have a machine shop and experience, leave it alone. Most quality barrel brands will be ported correctly enough to run with standard parts, the lower price point barrels tend to be over-gassed (DPMS comes to mind, and JSE bargain barrels), they tend to error that "more" is better.

Buy a quality brand barrel, and you will probably not have to worry about the gas port.

2. Gas block - Yes, an adjustable gas will allow you to tune the gas flow, and the cycling speed of your system. HOWEVER, You need to decide if you what the forearm to cover the gas block or not. The design/size of the gas block will drive your selection of a forearm tube. Some have gas keys on the side of the gas block, some adjust from the front. If you decide to cover the gas block, you'll need to see if the adjustment location is going to be covered or not. I think the Syrac Gen II is a good choice, and will be an easy gas block to cover with a rail with if you go that route. The adjustments should still be easy to get to from the front, unless you get a super long forearm tube.

3. Bolt carrier - unless you see yourself competing for shot times against the clock and other shooters, the full-auto carrier is the easiest to find, and has pretty much become the standard for BCG sales. Most shooters I know with light-weight bolt carriers are competing in 3-gun, and working the shot-to-shot times down by faster cycling. For the average shooter, a bit more mass to hold everything in battery longer, and smooth cycling when tuned correctly.

4. Gas length - yes, longer is better IMHO, and not something to use a lot of brainpower worrying about.

5. Buffer and spring - IMHO, more of an issue without an adjustable gas block than with one. With an overgassed system of any length, and no adjustment to the flow of gas, the only options are mass in the BCG, mass in the buffer, and more resistance in the buffer spring. You gain the mass in the BCG by using the full-auto carrier, and that's about the limit without getting into special parts that aren't cheap. The buffers now come in several weights, but the H series are the most common. An H-1 is a good start, and you have the adjustable gas block to help balance the system.

Springs - a good spring is going to work, since you are building, I'd get the Rock River spring kit for your build, and to have spares if you lose or damage a spring. It will come with every spring in the rifle. The spring market is not my strongest knowledge base, but Jeff and others have quite a bit knowledge on the subject.

6. Bullets and loads - yes, balancing...but, with the gas block, you should be able to "tweak" any issues with the combinations you want to try. Unless you are loading really exotic rounds, what you have listed for your build should work, and allow you the adjustments to make it work as you change loads.

7. Suppressed - aka blowback. Yes, it's a good idea to be able to adjust the gas for a suppressor, but not always a requirement. If it ain't broke... Again, you are going have to put the parts together in your head, research for others shooters using the same set-up and see what their results are. Gemtec makes a bolt carrier for suppressed rifles, and there are others out there. If the can is never going to come off, then setting the rifle up for suppressed fire makes sense. Or if the can is an occasional use, you probably want the ability to adjust your gas.

A suggestion - build your first upper for daily use, and build a second upper for suppressed when you decide if that is the route you want to go.

I've probably missed something, and there other opinions on these topics as well that are valid as well.