I have two Thompson/Center R55 Benchmark rifles. They both have the same rubber buffer, which is removable and sits at the rear of the receiver.
Here is the receiver with the rubber buffer inserted:
And here is the receiver without the buffer:
On both rifles I have had problems with the rubber distorting and impinging on the bolt to such an extent that the manual bolt catch is hard to engage. Another symptom is when the bolt doesn't come back far enough to strip a round from the mag.
It may well be that some of the cleaning products I use have caused this material to swell, I don't know. But I have had to trim the rubber as a first measure on both rifles. They have both lasted 10k rounds, the one pictured here has gone up to 20k rounds:
Parts cannot be found for these rifles easily. They are no longer made and S&W doesn't provide spares to the public for these rifles any longer.
I want to make my own buffer, which should be easy enough since it is nothing more than a rubber stopper molded to the exact shape of the rear of the receiver.
How should I go about doing this?
Here is the receiver with the rubber buffer inserted:
And here is the receiver without the buffer:
On both rifles I have had problems with the rubber distorting and impinging on the bolt to such an extent that the manual bolt catch is hard to engage. Another symptom is when the bolt doesn't come back far enough to strip a round from the mag.
It may well be that some of the cleaning products I use have caused this material to swell, I don't know. But I have had to trim the rubber as a first measure on both rifles. They have both lasted 10k rounds, the one pictured here has gone up to 20k rounds:
Parts cannot be found for these rifles easily. They are no longer made and S&W doesn't provide spares to the public for these rifles any longer.
I want to make my own buffer, which should be easy enough since it is nothing more than a rubber stopper molded to the exact shape of the rear of the receiver.
How should I go about doing this?