Does anybody know if the M4 buffer tubes marked "J&T" are mil-spec?  I'm looking to get a Vltor stock, and I need to know if I need a new buffer tube.  Thanks!

Andy

As far as I know the Vitor stocks are built for Colt dimensioned tubes, which are smaller than the aftermarket pieces used by everyone else. If this is still true, then you'll need a Colt tube for the installation.  J&T uses this same size that all the other aftermarket folks do. That's because all the major aftermarket people are getting their stocks from the same aftermarket supplier[:D]

Who would that be?

Beats the devil out of me[:D] I, too, have a J&T version of the stock, purchased at a show that J&T had attended and had a table set up for. When I commented to the guy that their stocks were identical to the Rock River and Bushie pieces that were being sold elsewhere around the hall, except fot the ID mark in the right lower corner, he acted kind of embarrassed, and owned that they were all made by the same subcontractor.

Understand, 80-90 percent of the pieces in everybody's ARs these days are made by sub contractors, and most everybody is using the same subbies for the same pieces.

As an example, all the aftermarket builders are using magazine release levers by the same maker. Colt dloesn't, and if you know what to look for, you can see a very tiny difference between the rivet shape on a Colt mag release, and all of the aftermarket jobs.  Doesn't make one any better than the others; just a tiny bit different----but every single aftermarket makers mag releases I've seen have that same tiny difference.