Howdy

Just a question about what type to use for a pistol and carbine.

Are the buffers the same weight? are the springs the same?

If not what makes one have a heavier vs lighter?

The reason is i have a 10 in.pistol upper and have an 80% lower.
I have no pistol dedicated buffer or spring.

I tested it with my carbine parts and it seemed to work like it was supposed to.

Thanks,for any knowledge and snarky comments are welcomed.

If we're talking about carbine buffer tubes vs standard pistol buffer tubes - yes, both use the same carbine buffers and springs. The carbine buffer is a particular size, vs a rifle buffer that is longer and must be used in a rifle buffer tube.

Within the carbine buffer size, you can get different weights. These buffers are aluminum bodies with moving weights inside, usually 3 steel weights for a standard weight (some aftermarket options use shot instead of solid weights). Weight can be changed by using different materials for the weights, generally steel vs tungsten.

I thought as much but was second guessing myself.

It does cycle with a rifle buffer/spring and tube,it just looks funny.

Thanks

If you're using a rifle tube, then it needs a rifle buffer. If it has a pistol or carbine tube it needs a carbine buffer. Don't mix those together; one way (rifle buffer in carbine tube) won't cycle at all, and the other way (carbine buffer in rifle tube) will damage parts when the carrier slams into the receiver. Barrel length doesn't really matter to buffer and tube size (you don't have to use a rifle tube with a rifle barrel, carbine tube/buffer is fine too), that choice is mostly about what stock you want to use and which tube it fits.
Keep the springs matched up correctly as well, they are different.

Other than that, you can play with different weight buffers to figure out how your rifle shoots the best. That is one method of balancing the operating system, while adjusting the gas flow is the other common method.

Good post..

I'd much rather swap a buffer than have an adjustable gas block...

Really heavy springs and buffers don’t fix the actual problem of too much gas, they just mask it.

I’m at the point that if it doesn’t run correctly with a carbine or H buffer, with a standard or blue Sprinco spring, then I’d fix the gas.

You don’t have to go adjustable to make it work. BRT offers plugs for your gas block and gas tubes to permanently meter the gas.

I agree Blue. My post was just aimed at clearing up the OP's questions, but yeah when it comes to tuning the rifle I mess with the gas first. Lots of ways to do that, an adjustable gas block may be the most common for now (and works well when done right) but is not the only way or necessarily the best.

I also stick with mostly carbine and H1 buffers (Plainsman - in this case we're talking about different weights of the same size carbine buffer, standard vs the first step heavier), except when using light weight carriers and reduced buffer weights. Tuning the gas system allows any of those setups to run fine.

Bgold, I had an upper that ejected to 1 or 2 PM, I was up to an H3 with little change in the ejection pattern before I finally mentally agreed that you just cannot fix an over gassed gun with a buffer change. You have to bite the bullet so to speak and fix the gas. Then again another strategy is to bull headedly spend $100 on buffers to no avail and find you still need to fix the gas.