Early colt ar15 buffer

[PhillipM]

Yes. But it certainly wasn't the only issue (propellant, non-chromed chambers, insufficient/inadequate cleaning equipment/supplies, etc.). You'll find all of that covered in The Black Rifle by Ezell, and Maj. Culver (R.I.P.) has a few things to say about the problems from an infantry company commander's perspective on this very site right here. See "Saga of the M16" at the top of this web page.

Yes, I've read Major Culver's saga one and two a few times but what specifically causes the Edgewater buffer to contribute to jamming? In other words, why was it changed?

[oldtirediron]

The light buffer and the change in the powder caused the rifle to fire at a higher rate than it was intended, The light buffer alone, was not the only problem, only a contributing cause--- The un-burnt powder that shot through the gas tube into the action, caused havoc with the gas system, and having a higher rate of fire worsened it- I saw some of the rifles and they were in terrible condition after firing a couple hundred rounds at full auto. The buffer was changed to a heavier buffer (Current Model) which changed the cyclical rate of the rifle (Slower by 150 rds plus a minute), along with correct cleaning procedures, and at first a chromed chamber, then a chromed chamber and bore-- Made the rifle somewhat more reliable, the final fix was making corrections to all the early M16 rifles, and issueing cleaning materials, and even a pocket cleaning instruction card,and I suppose the comic book helped a lot for the ordinary G.I. user !

[PhillipM]

Dumb question. Why are current AR type rifles so reliable without chrome chambers or bores?

[bonnie]

Dumb question. Why are current AR type rifles so reliable without chrome chambers or bores?

Good question!

The chrome bore and chamber came into use because it provided high corrosion and rust resistance, and increased the barrel life of military weapons that were used hard and in rough conditions; high humidity, rain, snow, dust, dirt, etc.
I believe the M14 rifle was the first US rifle to use a chrome chamber and bore. Other countries have been using chrome or nitriding for many years. AK47s are chromed, HK G3 rifles barrels were nitrided.

Civilian rifles do not normally experience that kind of hard use. Also a quality made carbon or stainless barrel can usually be slightly more accurate then a chromed barrel because the chroming process is not easily, evenly applied.

[oldtirediron]

When have you seen anyone using that old LSA Lube in their rifles?? I believe that cottage cheese looking lubricant helped gum up the early m-16 rifles, and powder technology has come a long way- Sure if you shoot Wolf 223, you will know exactly what I mean, that dirty ammunition messes up your rifle in a short time, But if you use US Quality ammunition you can shoot a ton of it and your rifle just needs a quick wipe down, a little light lubricant of any type like break Free serves as a clean and a superb lubricant, nothing like the older lubricants that did not do anything but worsen the problem ! If you have been around for a while other lubricants were around like a lube that had Teflon beads in it, but as the lubricant started to dry out or evaporate the Teflon beads fell off and left your rifle dry ! So today with good ammunition, even without a chrome bore you can probably shoot all day long and have no problem with your platform rifle no matter what it is !

[Andouille]

Well I tell you what. All the goddam army had available when I was in was LSA, and it worked fine in my experience, then and now. This was after the goddam army had fixed the ammunition and buffer issues and had chrome chambers, but hadn't started chroming bores just yet. I've dallied with some of the modern lubes but hadn't found anything that worked better than LSA, with one exception. The "machine gun" lube sold by LaRue seems to allow less carbon build up. That stuff I believe in, but I'm still using LSA on some of my rifles.

[RED]

McNamara and the Whiz Kids had a lot of ideas. One of which was (IIRC) was a scope sight made by Bausch & Lomb. it had a fixed, non adjustable reticle. It didn't need one because it would index on the rifle's bore and all of those were the same. Oops! turned out they were not the same, in fact no two were ever the same. I would imagine one of those scopes today would be a valued collector's item.