Please read the following BEFORE responding to the above poll:

We see a lot of threads covering "what buffer wieght should I use in my M4-gery", information that will be of particular interest to those of us planning to build new post-AWB M4-geries with collapsing stocks. Unfortunately, I've not seen any of the previous threads give good definitive recommendations other than "try some different buffers and see what works". Well, any buffer might be functionally reliable, but the concensus seems to be to go heavier to reduce bolt stress. On the other hand, there is some evidence that you can go too heavy and thus lose functional reliability.

The intention of this poll is to understand which buffer is most commonly used and will most universally work well. Please respond to the survey ONLY if you have a rifle that meets the following criteria:

1) The rifle is an otherwise "standard" semi-auto 5.56/.223 M4-gery with 14.5" or 16" barrel and collapsing stock (no M16s, SBRs, fat-boy tubes, fixed stocks etc. please).
2) The rifle has suffered no more than two "non-ammo/mag" malfunctions in the last 1000 rounds.

If you don't have such a rifle, you can still unlock the poll results by responding in the "No Qualifying Rifle" category.

Fingers crossed for some useful data... thanks for responding.

As borrowed from ---> http://www.ar15.com/forums/manageReply.html?a=quote&b=3&f=118&t=183291&r=1412496&page=1

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Basic buffer weights-, should make no real difference in semi-auto.

Rifle - 5.2oz - works fine for full auto in both 223/556 and 9mm using any barrel length.

CAR - 2.9oz, aluminum body, not enough weight for full-auto use in both 556, semi is ok. I may try mine for semi 9mm use to see how it acts, as I have suppressor also.

9mm - 5.5oz, steel copy of the 2.9oz CAR, no need for it if doing 9mm with rifle tube/stock (unlike RRA claims), will need for full auto with CAR type stock-tube-spring.

H - 3.8oz CAR style buffer, for CAR tube/stock, typically found/used in full auto short barrel applications to control added rate of fire with shorter barrel/gas tube set-up (M4, 11.5", 10.5"), though the 5.5oz "9mm" buffer would probably be a better chioce to control "bolt-carrier bounce" when firing full-auto with sub-16" barrels with the CAR (short tube) stocks.

Had the El-Cheapo plastic no-name buffer in my stock, but I started getting doubles with commercial ammo.  Figured I needed to change cheap-buffer to H buffer for reliability and the doubles totally stopped.

H-buffers for me please...

Tex78

H buffer in my patrol carbine, it works fine.  My other carbines are using a standard buffer without any troubles.  For the poll, I put the H Buffer, as it is on my most important rifle.

Quoted: BUFFER ASSEMBLY - 9MM, SPECIAL PURPOSE (A) BUFFER ASSEMBLY - 9MM, SPECIAL PURPOSE (B) BUFFER ASSEMBLY - 9MM, SPECIAL PURPOSE (X) BUFFER ASSEMBLY - CARBINE/M4, H (1) BUFFER ASSEMBLY - CARBINE/M4A1, H2 (2) BUFFER ASSEMBLY - COMMANDO, H3 (3) BUFFER ASSEMBLY - COMMANDO, STEEL 2 PC, (C) Can someone tell me what the various weights are of these Colt buffers?

Got these from a related thread here:

Regular buffers...

Rifle - 5.15oz, made of aluminum
CAR - 2.9oz, made of aluminum
H - 3.77oz
H2 - 4.7oz
H3 – 5.6oz
9mm - 5.47oz, made of steel

Special purpose buffers designed for suppressed SMG's or 9mm carbines using high pressure (+P+) ammunition...

9mm A - 6.3oz CAR style buffer
9mm B - 7.1oz CAR style buffer
9mm X - 7.9oz CAR style buffer

Damn I looked earlier today and missed it......was it on ARFCOMM? Thanks......

Dude... do I have to fly over there and wipe your nose too ?

Hmmmmm... interesting. Looks like about a 50-50 split between the standard carbine buffer and the H-buffer. It seems that a good approach might be to try the H-buffer first, and transition to the standard buffer if your chosen ammo does not cycle reliably. Thanks for the data, guys.

I use the steel 9mm buffer with a Wolff XP buffer spring.  Runs great, ejection is smooth and consistent, even with suppressor mounted.

In my semi guns I use a standard buffer. In my 11" M16 I'm running an AAC rate reducer. I'm not certain of it's exact weight but it's heavier than my two piece heavy buffer.

My M16 ran 90% with the standard light buffer and 100% with my heavy two piece buffer. The AAC rate reducer does not change it's reliability, only it's recoil and rate.