Bolt carrier diet and an adjustable gas system

[Rickofitall]

Another option: http://canadatargets.com/products/vz/vzbuff.html

Vz58/Cz858 Buffer

Like many of you we are big fans of the cz/vz58 platform. The ammo is cheap, readily available in bulk, and the rifle is robust (no finicky little springs to deal with).

We had a chance to play with a buffer add-on for the cz/vz platform.

The buffer can be installed in less than 5min with no tools. Based on our tests with a shot timer the rate of fire increased by 40-50%.

The gentleman that presented these to us also says that it reduces felt recoil; but we don't find much recoil with the 7.62x39 to begin with and had no objective way to measure it.

There is a similar product out there for the SKS and the general consensus is that they are a bad idea. After a bit of shooting the buffer starts to degrade and gum up the internals. I suppose if they are cheap enough you can keep a bunch on hand and just change them out before they go bad.

[CitizenPete]

Hmmm.

I stuck one of these rubber buffers in just about every AK I own.  Thought was it might stop the rear trunion from getting hammered and may help prolong the life rifle.  The only Kalashnikov style gas piston rifles that have a timing problem with them are a PSL and Saiga 12 and the S12 only on lower gas settings.  Never had a disintegration problem yet.  I will have to keep an eye out.

[Samikoo]

I've heard of AK's breaking rubber buffers pretty quick, less than 1000 rounds.

I did some more damage to the bolt carrier, this time it's more cosmetic.



I could cut the line a little deeper, but I don't think I'd gain much. This only netted a 5 gram weight removal, so it's really not a good idea to risk cutting just a tad too deep.

[RSR]

FWIW, the reason that VZs and AKs had heavy bolt carriers was that it improves cycling reliability when dirty or having grime.  A buffer that redirects the force back closing keeps that reliability while allegedly keeping an equivalent function speed to lightening.  I'd be very curious to see you do a head to head.

[Samikoo]

Yes. The gunsmith who performed surgery on the AK bolt carrier pictured here had a rifle that he had lightened the carrier and added a buffer. The cycling was so quick the magazine could not keep up, so he had to restrict the amount of gas the piston was fed.

Buffers somewhat protect the gun from wear and tear, and act as a progressive recoil spring. If only a buffer is added, the felt recoil will be different, as will the speed at which the carrier and bolt comes back to battery.

If only the bolt carrier is lightened, it will move quicker fore and aft, and with the original gas system it could move too quickly. The felt recoil will also be different compared to the original. If you combine a buffer and a lightened carrier you should get the best of both worlds. Fine tuning this system will take some time and effort.

As I predicted, the biggest single gain seems to be the gas system. I will try a stock bolt carrier when I get my hands on one.

We tried to time splits when shooting standing at a steel target (1/2 scale IPSC classic) at 70 yards, but the splits were between .7 and .8 seconds with or without the gas restricted. It was a lot easier to get back on target with less gas, as the dot never really left the target. We'll try to shoot a video when we do some more testing to show what it looks like.