[jcooley6960]

Does the length of the gas system (rifle,mid,carbine) have anything to do with what buffer weight or spring you use in the buffer tube?

[mountainman13]

Welcome to FTF. One of our AR experts should be by shortly.

[Quentin]

The way you worded the question the answer has to be yes. Why not elaborate?

[jjfuller1]

Style yes. A rifle gas system should use a rifle stock and buffer. Mid and carbine should use carbine stock and buffer. It's possible but not advisable to interchange them. As far ad weight that's more of your call. Personally I use a heavy buffer. It reduces what little recoil there is and I just like it.

[AgentTikki]

Originally Posted by jcooley6960

Does the length of the gas system (rifle,mid,carbine) have anything to do with what buffer weight or spring you use in the buffer tube?

Yes.

Rifle gas systems usually are paired with rifle buffer assemblies.

Middy and Carbine gas systems use carbine buffer assemblies.

Rifle buffers are longer and heavier than a standard carbine buffer.
Rifle tubes (aka receiver extensions) are longer than carbine counterparts.
Rifle springs are longer and have different spring rates than a carbine spring.

There are other buffer assemblies aka pistol length systems and Vltor's A5 system.

General rule of thumb, use a rifle buffer assembly with a rifle gas setup, and carbine with carbine gas systems. You can mix and match setups but be careful.

[AgentTikki]

Just don't go mixing components within your buffer tube assemblies with one another and you should be fine.

[Vikingdad]

Originally Posted by AgentTikki

Just don't go mixing components within your buffer tube assemblies with one another and you should be fine.

So what does this mean? I have a bunch of different buffer springs and a few weights but I can't mix and match? Is there a chart that gives some guidelines or something?

This is a serious question. I am also worried about if I put a rifle length upper (20-inch) on my carbine lower (I have a 16 inch upper now) will it cause damage and/or injury?

I don't mean to hijack the thread but i am new to this as well.

[AgentTikki]

Don't mix up rifle buffer components with carbine buffer components.

Ie don't put a rifle buffer or sprng into a carbine buffer tube.

Ie don't put a carbine buffer or spring into a rifle tube.

[treehugger49]

Originally Posted by AgentTikki

Don't mix up rifle buffer components with carbine buffer components.

Ie don't put a rifle buffer or sprng into a carbine buffer tube.

Ie don't put a carbine buffer or spring into a rifle tube.

All of the above, and I think the general rule as far as buffer weight goes; use the heaviest buffer your particular gun will reliably cycle with the lowest powered ammunition you plan on using.

....and welcome to the forum!

[fsted2a]

The reason the posts are telling you not to get your buffer/tube/spring assembly mixed up is the BCG (bolt carrier group) has to travel the same distance, regardless of what assembly you have behind it (I beleive it is 3 or 4 inches). If you have a rifle buffer tube, with a carbine buffer, at some point the BCG will get jammed half in the tube and half in the receiver, and it will be a mother****er to get out. If you have a carbine buffer with a rifle buffer tube, you can either have a short stroke problem or a slam fire, which is bad juju with the ATF, and/or may cause a catastrophic failure of the firearm. I believe there are also other bad things that can happen if you mix and match buffer components. You can put a carbine buttstock or a rifle buttstock ASSEMBLY on any AR, just don't mix and match components of the assemblies.