Hello from Texas

[6arcgene]

Howdy everyone.

I ran across this forum and just had to check it out. I have been building ARs for many years and was never fond of the 223. I discovered the Grendel and was happy with it for a few years, but recently I decided to resize all my Grendel brass and go all in into the 6 ARC. I have not been disappointed.

BUT I did have to do ONE thing to my 6 ARC that was unusual: The buffer spring seemed too stiff so I actually had to cut it down a bit in order to get the gun to work properly!!!  Its a 20" Faxon match barrel,  but perhaps the gas port on it is too small... I may have to drill it out a bit. 

Have any of you encountered this issue???? Is it common to 6 ARCs?

Anyhow, nice to meet you all. I look forward to meeting shooters in the Weatherford, Texas area. I live in the country and have a nice private shooting range ( although its only 386 yards... wish it was 1000!!! ha ha !!)

Hope to chat again soon.

Gene

[grayfox]

Welcome aboard! This is a good bunch of folks, and a very good little caliber!

As to your buffer spring question, I have not heard of this. Personally I confess I'm not an expert on buffers and which weights are best for what, but my Arc's all work fine with either a reglar buffer or a n H1. Springs are either the basic one or sometimes I get a "centerless ground" one. Haven't figured out what that really means though. They seem to be the same thing but maybe made a bit better than the standard ones.

To really discuss buffers and springs, we'd need to know the entire setup. If you want to pursue, maybe open up a thread in the gas/AR forum portion or troubleshooting...

[6arcgene]

Welcome aboard! This is a good bunch of folks, and a very good little caliber!

As to your buffer spring question, I have not heard of this.  Personally I confess I'm not an expert on buffers and which weights are best for what, but my Arc's all work fine with either a reglar buffer or a n H1.  Springs are either the basic one or sometimes I get a "centerless ground" one.  Haven't figured out what that really means though.  They seem to be the same thing but maybe made a bit better than the standard ones.

To really discuss buffers and springs, we'd need to know the entire setup.  If you want to pursue, maybe open up a thread in the gas/AR forum portion or troubleshooting...

Thanks Grayfox for the welcome and reply.

I have been building ARs for over 25 years. My 6 Arc has a 20 inch Faxon barrel, rifle length gas tube and runs flawlessly... but only after I slightly reduced the length of the buffer spring.

I am going to check the gas port and see if I can fix that by drilling it out a bit, I have an adjustable gas block so I will be able to adjust it afterwards.  

I also have a new 24 inch barrel coming in a few days and will check that first before installing it.

[SpeyRod]

It would be interesting to know what it gauges at. I ordered the superlative arms adjustable gas block for my 20” Bartlien. But with a +2 gas system I am not sure it will be needed.

Welcome aboard.

[alwie]

Welcome to the forum 6arcgene!

[sneedb82]

welcome Gene. I too am newbie to this forum from Texas. Not new to the AR realm at all.

I actually am the "head janitor" at South Texas Arms. Regarding the coils on your buffer spring, I've never had any desire to cut down the springs. The beauty behind the buffers, is that they're adjustable with weights. You can punch out the roll pin of a standard buffer and modify the series of weights. If that's too much, then you can do some modifications. It certainly can become problematic if that spring ever gets removed since it will be different in tension and geometry compared to the "standard"...

That said, I'm certain that the problem is in underpowered factory ammo in conjunction with a smaller than optimal gas port size on your barrel.

While I don't recommend it for general shooters, I would rather open up a gas port hole than try to cut the springs' coils. The beauty of a gas port is I can restrict the gas on it with a gas block adjustment key, but with a spring coil, I cannot go back and add a coil after it's cut. Food for thought for next time.

Just out of curiosity, was the spring a Flat Wire spring you picked up? or the standard coil spring? Any chance that you do not have a standard buffer and maybe an A5 buffer? Lots of questions come to mind if the "spring" felt too stiff. Maybe it's a rifle buffer spring instead of a carbine spring.

[UncleBob]

Welcome Gene. I run the same barrel, I opened up my gas port to .110, and run an adjustable gas block. Something I have had to do for my Grendel builds as well.