I'm looking to try something new, and looking at the Vltor A5. However looking at the cost of the tube, spring, and buffer I'm getting close to the cost of a standard carbine extension and a JP silent captured spring. I have one in another build and love it. Does anyone have experience with the Vltor A5 that can speak for the system?

I haven't fully decided on what the rifle will be yet, there is a possibility of going with 6.8 SPC instead of 5.56. Either way, I will be running an adjustable gas block.

Love my A5. The length of pull is longer, but not so much that it will bother you IMHO. Makes my rifle shoot smooth with almost no felt recoil.

There are some reports that A5's need careful tuning when on a 14.5" middy set-up. Not surprising considering this product was created with the goal of taming Carbines & SBRs.

I unfortunately seem to be one of those individuals that encountered a hiccup, but Vltor was more than happy help me sort it out.

From my post earlier today.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_126/652939_Overbuffered_and_Oversprung_aka_Too_Much_Of_A_Good_Thing_Is_A_Bad_Thing.html

I really like the A5 and run them on everything and am a firm believer that all carbine receiver extensions should be of this length.  

They were developed for the Marine Corps in order to replace A2 fixed stock on 20" barreled m16s with an adjustable stock, not for carbines and SBRs.

Just like with a carbine receiver extension or A2 stock, the proper spring and buffer need to be used to ensure proper cycling, middies have the same issue with the wrong buffer in a carbine RE as they do with an A5, but the A5 will have a larger operating "window" so to speak. So they actually need less careful tuning than they do with a carbine RE.

Vltor makes 5 different weight buffers and some other buffer weights are available from other manufacturers.

Tubbs Flatwire spring will silence almost as much of the "sprong" as the JP silent capture.

and for cost, the tube is about $15-$20 more than a carbine RE of sillier quality, (the spring, castle nut and end plate are the same cost) and the buffer is about $15-$20 more, not sure how the additional $40 gets close to the additional $120 for the JP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njaLucvpEV0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7IoXcLm_2g

100% correct. Ignore my earlier comment. I got side tracked mid sentence and started thinking of something else.

regardless of why Vltor came out with them, I notice a more dramatic difference with them on my 10.5 guns vs on my 14.5" and 13.7" mids.

That's partially why I got side tracked. I remember being at the local range and the guy in the next lane had the old EMOD stock on his SBR  We chatted for a bit and he allowed me to run through half a mag. I remarked how buttery the recoil felt vs. the sharp jab I had envisoned I was going to receive, and he said this was solely a factor of the A5.

I was sold on theory but put it aside for awhile during my initial spec for build because I was more concerned with carrier tilt until I found a strong deal on a used set.

$20 [extra] for the tube. $50 for the buffer. $20 for the spring. $90 vs the $120 of the SCS. Close enough for me. That's ignoring the fact that I have an extra carbine tube lying around.

In any case, I will be giving the A5 a try. I won't finish this build anytime soon, however I may build the lower and throw a KAC 16" intermediate gas length rifle on it and see what happens.

Buy with confidence and know if it doesn't work out, you'll have no problem selling it on the 2nd hand market.

Happy A5 user here. Huge fan of em, I honestly won't use anything else. I believe it is the best upgrade that has come out for ARs in a while.

I am in the same boat, Have built my last 4 rifles with the system installed and all ran exceptionally well with the VLTOR Kit and a Tubbs replacement spring.