Taccom Shortstroke Upgrade

[Blockader]

I have had the Taccom 3 piece buffer in my PCC for a year or so but saw their "Short stroke upgrade" a few weeks ago when I was buying another shell caddy from their site. $20 for a spring and a piece of plastic seemed a bit steep, but I just can't help tinkering so figured I'd give it a shot since I was already paying $5 for shipping the caddy. I did a side by side comparison with their standard buffer system components, which had already shown a marked improvement in my gun. 

 

My last USPSA match with this PCC was 139 alphas, 18 charlies, 1 delta, and 3 mikes. So fast double tap hits are not the problem for me, but like I said...tinkering. The mikes were all from a weak side stage, which is a weakness of mine, along with moving too slowly. I should have spent this time sprinting around, but messing with components is way funner. 

 

The rifle is built mostly from New Frontier parts. Side charging, 16" barrel, and the discontinued Hiperfire 3G trigger. I am not using a comp as I found the stability increase was not worth the transitions increase for me, especially in steel challenge. Overall weight is right at 7lbs, the bolt total weight is 14.65 ounces. I am using a standard carbine spring with the Taccom buffer as it shot flatter than the reduced rate rifle spring that shipped with it originally.

 

My load is pretty light, it shoots 138 pf out of the 16" barrel. I think the light load played a part in the results I obtained.

 

I shot a string of double taps at 20 yards with the standard Taccom buffer system then added the short stroke upgrade and repeated. Bolt hold open no longer functioned, of course. The Short stroke kit looks to take about half an inch off of travel, but I suspect the wave spring plays as big a part as the reduced travel, at least with this light load.

 

My split times with this setup are pretty consistently right around .18 and I tried to keep them steady across the test, using a timer to confirm. I also tried to grip the rifle with consistent medium pressure for each string.

 

The short stroke kit absolutely shot flatter and allowed the dot to settle faster producing a tighter and more consistent group. The impulse smoothed out considerably. I suspect the wide shots on the Long Stroke targets were from splits pushing below .18 a bit, though I didn't get super scientific with this. The down 3 hit on the long target was from the first pair and I'd call it a user error flyer.

 

With the short stroke kit the dot just sat there. It was a noticeable improvement and absolutely worth $20 at least with my set up and load and purpose.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Blockader

[Startingover]

I have a blitzkrieg in my current gun,  but I am collecting parts to finish my 2nd, and I am looking pretty hard at this setup because of the difference in price.

[CalTeacher]

1 hour ago, Startingover said:

I have a blitzkrieg in my current gun,  but I am collecting parts to finish my 2nd, and I am looking pretty hard at this setup because of the difference in price.

The difference in price isn’t worth the difference in performance.  The blitzkrieg with their stainless spacer is just a flatter shooting combo.

[dlightning]

Would be interesting to see a comparison between the Taccom short stroke and the Blitzkrieg.  

 

The reason I went the Taccom route was price and what I read about reliability.  

[Startingover]

3 hours ago, CalTeacher said:

The difference in price isn’t worth the difference in performance.  The blitzkrieg with their stainless spacer is just a flatter shooting combo.

The big problem I have, is I couldn't afford my current gun build!

Finishing my 2nd is going to get me into trouble with wife.

The big question is....how much trouble can I handle?

 

Between this buffer system and the difference between my Elftmann and the CMC I just ordered, it is starting to add up quickly.

If I find a couple more bucks to save along the way, it may add up to the point, I can afford to buy an optic!

[jkrispies]

2 hours ago, Startingover said:

The big problem I have, is I couldn't afford my current gun build!

Finishing my 2nd is going to get me into trouble with wife.

The big question is....how much trouble can I handle?

 

Between this buffer system and the difference between my Elftmann and the CMC I just ordered, it is starting to add up quickly.

If I find a couple more bucks to save along the way, it may add up to the point, I can afford to buy an optic!

When I build a gun I follow the part-a-month payment plan.  Yes, it may take a year or more to finish the project, but when I'm finished, I have the gun I want, not almost the gun I wanted.  Quality is worth the investment, both in terms of money and time.  

[Startingover]

6 hours ago, jkrispies said:

When I build a gun I follow the part-a-month payment plan.  Yes, it may take a year or more to finish the project, but when I'm finished, I have the gun I want, not almost the gun I wanted.  Quality is worth the investment, both in terms of money and time.  

I built my 1st one exactly how I wanted with no worries what pieces cost, and it's a pretty nice unit, that runs like a sewing machine.

 

This one is just a back up, or a loaner, or whatever.

 

But I definitely understand what you are saying about the quality thing, there won't be any super cheap parts on it.

in fact it will still be a pretty nice gun. 

 

[Blockader]

I don't have a blitzkrieg to compare, but if someone wants to mail me one for a week I will test it out side by side and mail it back haha. 

[jkrispies]

5 minutes ago, Blockader said:

I don't have a blitzkrieg to compare, but if someone wants to mail me one for a week I will test it out side by side and mail it back haha. 

I've actually compared the two side-by-side, and I prefer the Blitzkrieg... if you make the effort to customize the springs, test it with and without the optional weight, etc.  Basically, I think the TACCOM is perfect for somebody who wants to buy a relatively inexpensive buffer that has a tuned feel without having to do the actual tuning.  TACCOM advertises their buffer as "self-tuning" and I think it does that... which also means that it's perhaps a bit resistant to the user fine tuning it other than trying it with and without the short stroke kit.  So, yes, in my experience you can go farther with the Blitzkrieg, but you have to work for it.  It all depends on the amount of effort you want to put into the system.

[Blockader]

That's good insight. The biggest improvement I found was realized when I lightened my load and bolt simultaneously. I viewed this experiment more as helping someone who already owned the Taccom decide whether to spring for the new short stroke unit.

 

Now with PCC and 2x4 in 3 gun it will be interesting to see builds developed specifically for that game. 

[jkrispies]

2 minutes ago, Blockader said:

That's good insight. The biggest improvement I found was realized when I lightened my load and bolt simultaneously. I viewed this experiment more as helping someone who already owned the Taccom decide whether to spring for the new short stroke unit.

 

Now with PCC and 2x4 in 3 gun it will be interesting to see builds developed specifically for that game. 

Yeah, if you’re at 138pf after lightening the load, I think that helped. I’m currently at 132 out of a 5.5” TACCOM ULW but will likely be around 138 when I switch to my longer barrel. Will be interesting to play with the loads.  

[cecil]

On 1/27/2019 at 11:24 AM, jkrispies said:

Yeah, if you’re at 138pf after lightening the load, I think that helped. I’m currently at 132 out of a 5.5” TACCOM ULW but will likely be around 138 when I switch to my longer barrel. Will be interesting to play with the loads.  

 

I just finished building a PCC using a 5.25" Taccom ULW coupled to a Quarter Circle lower & running the Taccom 3 stage buffer system.. would you mind sharing which power & load &, bullet weight you used to get that 132 PF ?  

 

thanks,

[Startingover]

On 1/26/2019 at 7:43 PM, Startingover said:

The big problem I have, is I couldn't afford my current gun build!

Finishing my 2nd is going to get me into trouble with wife.

The big question is....how much trouble can I handle?

 

Between this buffer system and the difference between my Elftmann and the CMC I just ordered, it is starting to add up quickly.

If I find a couple more bucks to save along the way, it may add up to the point, I can afford to buy an optic!

For what its worth, to anyone else trying to decide, I went with the Blitzkrieg for the 2nd gun also!

[dlightning]

On 3/19/2019 at 5:22 AM, Startingover said:

For what its worth, to anyone else trying to decide, I went with the Blitzkrieg for the 2nd gun also!

 

What is your setup?

[DocBall]

I have a tacom buffer with the short stroke kit. 5th round through the gun i had an out of battery discharge. I thought ok new gun it hiccuped. Then it happened during a match.  Both times i had a bullet in the barrel.  I took the short stroke kit out and it seems to cycle better. Anyone had this happen?

[TRUBL]

what barrel are you running? 

[DocBall]

AR Stoner (Midway) light weight. 

[dlightning]

Reloads our factory ammo?  I just put the short stroke in. 

[DocBall]

Factory 115 Winchester and Remington 

[DocBall]

Angstadt lower, hyperfire trigger. Midway bcg 

[Mark Meyers]

When I recently bought the Taccom buffer system it came with an optional short stroke spacer.  It is just a Delron spacer with no spring.  Taccom also offers a short stroke spacer with a wave spring.  Is there much difference between the two?  

[tha1000]

30 minutes ago, Mark Meyers said:

When I recently bought the Taccom buffer system it came with an optional short stroke spacer.  It is just a Delron spacer with no spring.  Taccom also offers a short stroke spacer with a wave spring.  Is there much difference between the two?  

 

 

My understanding is that they are two different versions of the same thing.  I saw a post from @TRUBL that they quit using the wave springs due to breakage and no perceivable gains in performance.  Derlin spacer is current version.

[dlightning]

This isn't good, I just installed the wave spring.  But the new Derlin spacer is not available for purchase on Taccom's site.  Glad I haven't been to a match yet this year.

[Bwillis]

Mbx has them on their site for  $2.95  

[TRUBL]

2 hours ago, tha1000 said:

 

 

My understanding is that they are two different versions of the same thing.  I saw a post from @TRUBL that they quit using the wave springs due to breakage and no perceivable gains in performance.  Derlin spacer is current version.

Actually......I had noticed that my wave spring had been broken when I was cleaning my PCC.....and I didn't know when it broke, so I installed a new one.....went to the range to shoot it......figured, hey, lets do a 'side by side'.....with and with out the wave spring. And I noticed ZERO difference. As the internal spring was still doing all the work. So I said screw it.....I'm gonna redo the SS and include them in the 3 stage package.