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Posted: 10/22/2015 6:25:50 PM EDT
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So, I’m currently in the midst of building a 9mm SBR in which I’m 95% done. While I’m waiting on my stamp to come back on the lower I’ve been using my 16 inch 9mm upper on the lower. I had been using a Hahn 7 Oz. buffer in the lower till I got in my Spikes ST-9X which is 8.5 Oz.. I wanted the extra weight because the gun is going to be run 100% suppressed. I put the Spikes buffer in my lower and went to shoot it with my 16 inch upper and it functioned perfectly…. Except that the buffer spring all a sudden got the dreaded twang sound. I’m currently up to 7 lowers and this one is the only one that has had a really excessive twang. It was coming through my hearing protection so much so that I wasn’t even able to hear the shots really. I know what all the senior members are going to say “Learn to love the twang” but with this going to be a suppressed gun and I didn’t want that extremely loud twang. So I set of to do some research and found everyone recommending the high priced JP Silent Captured Spring but I was more interested in a cheaper alternative. I saw the chrome silicon springs which I already knew about but still wanted to try something different because I love to tinker.
So I started to see here and there about people using plasti dip on their buffer springs and thought that can’t be good but I took a closer look at it. I saw that it claimed to be flexible, wont crack or become brittle in extreme hot or cold conditions, and deadens sound. Sounds like everything I wanted it to do. I decided to get a can and try it out. Worst case scenario I buy a new spring and clean some crap off my lower. So I did four coats of white plasti dip on the spring. 1st light coat, wait 15 minutes, 2nd light coat, wait 15 minutes, 3rd heavy coat, wait 30 minutes, 4th heavy coat and wait 4 hours for it to cure. I chose white because I figured it would be easy to tell if it started to chip our anything. I put some oil on it today, shoved it back in the gun and shot 200 rounds. When I took it back out, it didn’t look good. It had some marks on it that looked like it had worn off. But I cleaned it off and it turns out that it was just junk that had gotten blown back. It turned out that it was still as good as new. The best part? ZERO TWANG NOISE! 
I won’t recommend this until I get at least a 1000 rounds on the spring without any chipping/pealing. But so far so good. My only question is why hasn’t someone done this commercially yet? I’m sure one of the manufactures could get a much harder coating on a spring that would withstand this type of abuse better. So far this seems like a pretty good quick fix, especially if you’re going to be running a suppressed gun. |
| Nice idea, might do the same. When I upgraded to the ST-9X I also picked up a pretty good twang, running oil on the spring helped a little and tried swapping springs & buffer tubes from other rifles to see if I could hit on the right combination. Was quietest with a Wolff xtra power spring but that setup only runs 100% on hot loads. |
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Quoted: Nice idea, might do the same. When I upgraded to the ST-9X I also picked up a pretty good twang, running oil on the spring helped a little and tried swapping springs & buffer tubes from other rifles to see if I could hit on the right combination. Was quietest with a Wolff xtra power spring but that setup only runs 100% on hot loads. What all springs did you try? I was surprised OP went as heavy as he did. I probably would have just tried one thin coat. |
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Haha. I was going to try this awhile ago but thought it would just come off and make a mess easily..
Nice job op and thanks for actually trying it 
I used it on my grill of my truck and it's been though lots of weather and dirt roads in the last 4 years it's still going strong. |
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Quoted:
Nice idea, might do the same. When I upgraded to the ST-9X I also picked up a pretty good twang, running oil on the spring helped a little and tried swapping springs & buffer tubes from other rifles to see if I could hit on the right combination. Was quietest with a Wolff xtra power spring but that setup only runs 100% on hot loads. It has to be something about the ST-9X, it was pretty quit before and the it was all a sudden awful with the 9X. This fixed it for now though. |
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Quoted:
What all springs did you try? I was surprised OP went as heavy as he did. I probably would have just tried one thin coat. Quoted:
Quoted:
Nice idea, might do the same. When I upgraded to the ST-9X I also picked up a pretty good twang, running oil on the spring helped a little and tried swapping springs & buffer tubes from other rifles to see if I could hit on the right combination. Was quietest with a Wolff xtra power spring but that setup only runs 100% on hot loads. What all springs did you try? I was surprised OP went as heavy as he did. I probably would have just tried one thin coat. I think with a thin coat that it wouldn't "bond" like its supposed to and just wipe of easily. I though doing it the way it said to on the can would put it on so thick that it would be hard to get the buffer back inside the spring but surprisingly slide in with ease. |
| +Tag my suppressed 300BO SBR twangs like a banjo at a hoedown shooting subs. My JP in my 9mm is awesome but I can't really justify the price on my 300BO as I don't shoot it nearly enough. But I happen to have some plastidip from it's official uses like tool handles. |
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Quoted:
+Tag my suppressed 300BO SBR twangs like a banjo at a hoedown shooting subs. My JP in my 9mm is awesome but I can't really justify the price on my 300BO as I don't shoot it nearly enough. But I happen to have some plastidip from it's official uses like tool handles. It blows my mind that with the forever rising popularity of suppressors right now that someone hasn't made something like this commercially. The JP is a great solution but the price is steep when I think someone could get coated buffer springs out the door for 12 to 15 bucks easily. |
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Curious to see how it stands up to a thousand rounds, if it took that long to start to crack it would definitely be worth the trouble.
I think soft hose squeezed over the spring, maybe with some light oil to help it along, might be a (still much more difficult, but) stronger, longer-lasting option. Got me curious. It would have to be some pretty small hose, you have to make sure it won't bind in the tube. I think I'll try the plasti-dip, that stuff has become like j-b weld the past few years, proving to be useful all over the place for tinkerers. |
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Something like these? http://damageindustriesllc.com/product/ar15m16-spring-recoil-buffer-action-music-wire or http://damageindustriesllc.com/product/enhanced-spring-recoil-buffer-action-carbine
I've used the black "enhanced" spring for like 12 bucks in a rifle length and it made the twang sound silent. My friend had similar results in his Rifle length as well. |
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Quoted: Something like these? http://damageindustriesllc.com/product/ar15m16-spring-recoil-buffer-action-music-wire or http://damageindustriesllc.com/product/enhanced-spring-recoil-buffer-action-carbine I've used the black "enhanced" spring for like 12 bucks in a rifle length and it made the twang sound silent. My friend had similar results in his Rifle length as well. I really like the damage industries enhanced recoil springs. I bought several earlier this year when they were on sale. When they have the half off sale, they're an excellent value. |
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