Recoil Buffers

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  • Last Post 06 January 2021
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Millelacs posted this 05 January 2021

I've seen ads for rubber and poly fiber recoil buffers.  1911, Mini-14, SKS, etc.

 

Are they worth using, or just another gimmick?

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Eutectic posted this 05 January 2021

It depends on how much and what you shoot. Light loads or a few factory equivalent loads maybe NO. Hot loads or thousands of target loads Yes.

My 1911 hardball gun has over 8000 rounds. It chews up a buffer in ~ 200 rounds, that is a beating the frame and slide do not take. I can feel it when the buffer wears out, the recoil is sharper. Buffers are cheap! Frames are expensive!

mini 14, SKS no experience

Steve

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RicinYakima posted this 05 January 2021

I have been using recoil buffers in my "duty" 1911s' for over 30 years. After I cracked the frame of my almost new Colt Commander, no aluminum frames and buffers for +P carry loads. You need to test them to make sure they work for you, as they can short cycle  with light loads.  FWIW

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Bud Hyett posted this 05 January 2021

Like new fishing lures to attract a new fisherman, there are many 1911 (Min-14, SKS, AK-47) add-on gimmicks to attract the new shooter. The basics are what works; good chamber, uniform barrel, good crown, and practice with self-critical evaluation.

I know this because I was once a new shooter and thought a recoil buffer on my 1911 .45 ACP Bullseye would help. Fortunately, we had a Ransom Rest setup for fifty yards at the Marston Municipal Rifle Range for before and after testing. The recoil buffer shot larger groups and was sold at the next Aledo Gun Show. I was already shooting medium recoil loads for target.

Recoil buffers also tempt the new shooter to add powder and chase .300 Winchester ballistics from the 7.62X39 cartridge on an unwritten promise. Their quest will be in vain, a tea kettle will not generate the same steam volume as a locomotive boiler. There is no substitute for an accurate medium recoil rifle and regular practice.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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RicinYakima posted this 05 January 2021

Bud, my idea of a recoil buffer is the flat plastic thing that fits between the recoil spring guide and the frame. Never used one of the things that went inside the spring and hit the spring plug. Ric

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David Reiss posted this 05 January 2021

I agree with Steve and Ric, recoil buffers are worth the cost and effort. As a gunsmith I have been using and recommending them for years. 

When I was young, my first .45 acp was a Star PD. Why, because I wanted a 1911 style pistol and could not afford anything else. I remember buying it 43 years ago like it was yesterday. I paid $200 for it new in the box and wanted it to last. I was just starting to learn about working on firearms and read everything I could get my hands on. Knowing that it was an aluminum frame, I knew that I could not abuse it or would suffer the consequences. I read somewhere that a buffer could be used in an 1911 to avoid punishing the frame and so since they were so similar in size and parts, I ordered some buffers and with an exacto knife trim them a little to fit. Now some 15,000 or so rounds later it is still intact and in fact one of the most accurate small .45s I have ever used. I went on to have it hard chromed about 1984 after most of the bluing hard worn off from carrying it off-duty.

Without buffers that little 45 would have bit the dust with as much use as I have gotten out of it. They do work!

 

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
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Bud Hyett posted this 05 January 2021

Bud, my idea of a recoil buffer is the flat plastic thing that fits between the recoil spring guide and the frame. Never used one of the things that went inside the spring and hit the spring plug. Ric

Ric: My experience was with the metal unit that went inside the spring and buffered by hitting the spring plug. Perhaps we have an apples and pears comparison. To make it work, I needed more powder for reliability and that must have pushed the bullet out faster for less accuracy.

Loading light for Bullseye, I was not worried about frame wear with a good lubricant. I wore down a Gold Cup at 25,000 rounds and had it rebuilt. Shot far better after the rebuild than when new.

I've often wondered if the Ransom Rest gives the ultimate accuracy. Using the same gun and load, Charlie Woodford could outshoot the Ransom Rest at 50 yards time after time by shooting one-hand supported.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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JimmyDee posted this 05 January 2021

...my idea of a recoil buffer is the flat plastic thing that fits between the recoil spring guide and the frame. 

For 1911s, do you mean like Wilson's ShokBuf?  That fits on the recoil guide and is held on the rod by the tight coil on the recoil spring.

I use them and, judging by the beating they take, believe they protect the frame.  Be careful when installing them on Commander or Officers ACP pistols: there's not much "extra" room in those and installing a buffer might result in complete spring compression and interfere with slide lock.

Replace 1911 recoil springs regularly and remember that shorter springs need more frequent replacement.  Consider flat wire springs; they use less room and last longer.

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RicinYakima posted this 05 January 2021

JimmyDee, always just laid them between frame and spring guide since they came out. Never had one move or create a problem.

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JimmyDee posted this 05 January 2021

I gathered that from what you wrote.  It seemed strange to me but, if it fits, it's fine.

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RicinYakima posted this 05 January 2021

To me, it just seems right to put it between the steel spring guide and the aluminum frame that was peened to failure. The spring guide never had a mark on it from the slide hitting it.

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Millelacs posted this 06 January 2021

I guess I should have posed a picture of the recoil buffers I was talking about, although I did not know about a buffer that went inside the spring and hit the spring plug.

 

Below are samples of what I was referring to:

 

        

.                1911                              High Power                                            Mini-14

.                     SKS

 

Thanks for the opinions.

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JimmyDee posted this 06 January 2021

To me, it just seems right to put it between the steel spring guide and the aluminum frame that was peened to failure. The spring guide never had a mark on it from the slide hitting it.

The spring guide doesn't move relative to the frame so, at first, I thought, "In front or behind: what could it matter?  The goal is to lengthen the impulse of the slide-to-guide rod impact."

I took a look at a 1911 and the back of the slide (front) presents a slightly larger area than the rail ends (behind).  A recoil buffer on the guide rod might provide (very little) more damping and last (a little bit) longer.

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RicinYakima posted this 06 January 2021

I put a new one in the Gold Cup Commander in April 2018 after inheriting a new batch from my shooting friend who passed. I have fired it maybe 250 times since then, not very good at picking up brass anymore. So, stripped the gun today and there is wear on the back of the buffer where it contacts the frame, but none on the front against the spring guide. So I think your last sentence is correct. thanks, Ric

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