Eliminating AR buffer "Twang"?

[12Bravo20]

But, embrace the Twang! Love the Twang! It is the sound of Freedom!
Twang=good
No Twang = empty

The twang sure hasn't bothered me in the last 31-32 years. In fact I want to hear it. And like others have said, it is the nature of the design. I can also say that you sure don't want to put a bunch of grease on a buffer spring if you are in a very dusty environment, especially during a 3-4 day long dust storm. The only time that I noticed a loud twang was when using a cheap stock made of hard plastic AND wearing ear muffs that rested against the stock while shooting. A set of low profile ear muffs or ear plugs along with a better quality stock mitigates that.

 

[David Hoback]

Holy cow! Only way to eliminate is avoiding the design?? Don’t swap springs/buffers, use grease??

Why do people who DON’T know, always reply? Really is a point of contention for me. Because these people believe they are knowledgeable! Ay vey!

 

[bassjam]

I put a little grease on my M&P Sport buffer spring and it did the job.

My 2 builds I used Damage Industries silicon covered springs. They're cheap, they work, and you don't have to worry about grease in your buffer tube.

http://damageindustriesllc.com/stor...t/product&product_id=409&search=recoil+spring

 

[kBob]

Hmm. Spring piston air gunners use open bearing grease to quiet the sound and vibration of a big spring that is moving fast ( though in one direction) in a tube and it seems to work....

I can see though that in an AR it would have to be cleaned on occasion and reapplied.

Do wonder if the grease might shoot out the buffer tube vent as a gas and get the shoulder of my jacket nasty.

-kBob

 

[12Bravo20]

Grease could squirt out of the vented stock bolt.

As far as putting grease on a buffer spring, I speak from experience of actually using a M16A2 in the desert while in the Army. I would not want to have grease in the buffer tube especially during a sand storm. For a rifle that is only used on a range, do what you want to try and quite the twang. To each their own.

 

[armoredman]

I fired an M16A1 in 1984 and that TWAAAANG just drove me nuts, so I avoided the platform for years. Two years ago, some nice gents decided to get me back into the evil black rifle, and I discovered things had changed somewhat. With a MagPul MOE stock and a Strike Industries flat wire spring I hear practically nothing at all. And I have discovered that I really LIKE this rifle.

 

[CapnMac]

There are all sorts of ways to tame the twang--and they are all above.

Minor note, please do not fill the buffer tube with grease--this is messy and under-productive.

Smoother buffer tube helps. Keeping hard shell muffs off the tube also helps a lot. Self-contained spring really works.

And, it does help to be glad that you have good enough hearing in a quiet enough environment to hear the twang enough to register it.

 

[792mauser]

I have 7 ARs and haven't heard the twang in any of them yet.
Am I just licky?

 

[Varminterror]

I’d be quite interested to see how much sand could make it into the buffer tube and foul the incredibly small beads of grease a guy needs to silence the spring - AND THEN - examine how much sandy grease it would take to cause issues for the relatively self-cleaning buffer and spring.

Flat wire and braided wire springs are quieter. JP’s are silent. Greased springs are satisfactorily quiet.

 

[Demi-human]

Caution! Humor follows!

Minor note, please do not fill the buffer tube with grease--this is messy and under-productive.

Whaddya mean? That vent hole is perfect for a grease zerk!
And it will keep the grease in, to be distributed through the whole receiver, keeping the dust out since the cover will stay closed...

This has been humor, not advice.
Had this been real advice I would be video recording the results.
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

 

[buba68]

Holy cow! Only way to eliminate is avoiding the design?? Don’t swap springs/buffers, use grease??

Why do people who DON’T know, always reply? Really is a point of contention for me. Because these people believe they are knowledgeable! Ay vey!

What is your solution to tame the twang????

 

[DustyGmt]

My least twangy rifle is my 16" SS build with magpul fixed stock. Another poster mentioned magpul being a dead plastic. I think I get that. The other thing is that same rifle has a QD bipod on it so it's got some weight out front, I notice that when I take the bipod off the twang is slightly more noticeable.

Just to reiterate the twang is just a small bother, it doesnt effect my ability to get a shot on target. I just sometimes find myself shooting and thinking "lord, I bet people hate that twang, I bet people wont even touch these rifles for the twang alone". I figured somebody had a solution to the non problem. I'll try a small dab of grease, I wont be in any dust storms afaik and the amount I'll be using wont harm a thing....

 

[Sistema1927]

The only time that I have ever noticed it was the first time that I pulled the trigger on an M16A1 in Basic Training. I thought "that's different", but then ignored it. It has never bothered me one iota.

 

[Tommygunn]

There are all sorts of ways to tame the twang--and they are all above.

Minor note, please do not fill the buffer tube with grease--this is messy and under-productive.

Smoother buffer tube helps. Keeping hard shell muffs off the tube also helps a lot. Self-contained spring really works.

And, it does help to be glad that you have good enough hearing in a quiet enough environment to hear the twang enough to register it.

It also helps to leave a little room in the buffer tube .... for the buffer .... duh. .....

 

[RainDodger]

You want it really quiet? A few years back I bought one of those pneumatic recoil buffers. Looks like one of those pneumatic hood supports on your car, if you car has one of them. Works ok, but I kept thinking, why? A spring isn't gonna ever lose any air pressure. It was pretty silent though.

 

[12Bravo20]

I’d be quite interested to see how much sand could make it into the buffer tube and foul the incredibly small beads of grease a guy needs to silence the spring - AND THEN - examine how much sandy grease it would take to cause issues for the relatively self-cleaning buffer and spring.

Flat wire and braided wire springs are quieter. JP’s are silent. Greased springs are satisfactorily quiet.

You would be surprised how much sand gets into everything when you are stuck in a 3-4 day sand storm, especially in the Middle East. That very fine powdery sand gets into everything and I do mean everything. Why take even the smallest of chances of a malfunction when you are in s situation where a malfunction can get you or your squad mates killed. And yes I do speak from personal experience on this.

Now as far a civilian use on the range or inside a home, then by all means put a light coat of grease on the buffer spring if you so desire to do so. Personally I want to hear the "twang" which to me means that everything is working properly.

 

[DukeConnor]

It never bothered me until I started using suppressors. Know it annoys the hell out of me.

 

[Varminterror]

You would be surprised how much sand gets into everything

I wouldn’t.

I didn’t imply that sand can’t or won’t get into the tube. But I WOULD be very surprised to be convinced by actual data and demonstration that the incredibly small amount of grease used to silence a buffer spring were actually an exacerbating circumstance. I’m quite confident a lot of sand can and will get into a tube, as I’ve seen it myself, but when we’re talking about enough sand to cause failure, I posit a failure is imminent regardless of that small amount of grease in the tube.

Notwithstanding, of course... a poorly built rifle which is already running on the ragged edge of failure even when clean and lubed... which is an unfortunate reality for a lot of folks... I saw a gunsmith (documented) on another forum this week claiming he has owned two AR’s for 20 and 40 years, and that both start malfunctioning within 100 rounds regardless of his choice in lubricant... 100 rounds... 100... One... Hundred...

 

[daniel craig]

But but but the AR is Peerrrfeeccttt! No mods needed, just like a Glock.....

That said, just shoot more, you’ll get to the point where you neither notice nor care anymore. Guns make noise, it’s a fact of firearms. Some things in life it’s just easier to learn to ignore than throw time and money into solutions thay only kind of work.

If it really bothers you that much get a flat spring, that’ll help a bit.

 

[Riomouse911]

I really hear the “twang o’ freedom” with hard cup ear muffs that touch against the stock when I fire. With my custom plugs and the wider cheek rest area of the BCM stocks I have on some of my AR’s I don’t notice it nearly as much.

Again, it’s one of the idiosyncrasies of the rifle that comes from the design, sorta like the Garand clip-eject “ping” and the “insert-rock-click” of the M1A/Mini-14 mag insertion routine.

Enjoy it while you can. Lots of new shooters found out ARs are hard to get here in Ca anymore and may never get to hear that sound.

Stay safe.

 

[Cannibul]

The twang on my 9mm AR pistol drove me nuts.

I went with the Armaspec Stealth system.

Problem solved!

 

[12Bravo20]

Well military use especially while in a combat zone is a lot different that most civilian use. I personally will not ever do anything on purpose that could cause a malfunction at a very critical time. I have seen a lot of people both in the military and civilian world think that if a little lube works, a whole bunch will work better. I treat all of my firearms as if I am in a combat zone even though they will never see that rough of use now that I am retired.

As far as the "twang", it is part of the design. It is more of a personal preference if people want to do something to quiet it down or not. To each their own.

 

[kBob]

12Bravo20,

Yes sand can get into "everything" During the First Gulf War a deployed friend's wife asked me what would be really appreciated in boxes for our local boys over yonder. When I said wet wipes and Baby no water wash cloths she had to have it explained.... Dang that t-paper in the old C rats was brutal in a sandy environment!

-kBob

 

[DustyGmt]

Enjoy it while you can. Lots of new shooters found out ARs are hard to get here in Ca anymore and may never get to hear that sound.

Stay safe.

How come they may never own an AR? Talking upcoming election or something to do with the mag restrictions being lifted making AR's very scarce?

In California, you can have standard 30's now but they still have those unconscionable mag release apparatus that makes the reload unreasonably slow in place, correct?

 

[Riomouse911]

Buying or owning larger than ten round mags, which the recent 9th Circuit ruling was about, and buying or owning the centerfire semi auto rifles that use them, aren’t the same. The latest ruling has no effect on the laws of gun purchases, just their magazines.

Purchasing AR 15, AK -47 or any similar-in-looks or style semi auto centerfire (FAL, Thompson, CETME, HK Mp5, Uzi, etc.) has been banned for many years here for non-government purchasers.

There have been occasional work-arounds, like the “ bullet button” (Now the purchase with those are outlawed) or “hellfire” device that cracks open the action before the magazine drops. The “featureless” ARs, with kydex blades around the grip so you can’t “grip” it or a stock that removes the pistol grip altogether, are other workarounds that don’t change the functioning but take the “visual evil” away from the guns... these really affect the ergonomics and handling of the AR to the point that, IMHO, make them not worth it (Just walk in and buy a Kel-Tec or a mini 14, those are not sufficiently “evil”...yet.)

(Ca is a wacky animal, mostly rural but ruled by a few mega-large, self-righteous liberal cities installing elected clowns hell-bent on destroying this golden goose... through a brainwashed urban electorate that can’t look past a (D) next to a candidates name at voting time.)

But no, you can’t walk into Turners Outfoorsman and buy the same AR 15 style rifle that you can in free states. It may “twang”, but unless it’s a grandfathered original gun, a featureless “compliant” gun, or an illegal gun, it’s not the same. (3 of my ARs are grandfathered original condition guns, 5 are grandfathered “bullet button” guns that, until now were restricted to 10-round magazines. All are registered with the State DOJ in compliance with the laws .)

Stay safe.