XC Buffer?

oo10inz said:

If it is recommended, what kind (material) do you use and where do you get them from?

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Staccato expressly states not to use them in their guns. Keep in mind that they are primarily a duty / defense oriented company now, and are not going to recommend or approve of anything that negatively affects reliability. And, the fact is that Shok-Buffs do reduce reliability to some degree (unless the gun/slide is designed and/or machined to use them from the start).

The primary issue is that they effectively short-stroke the gun, and can prevent the slide from locking back on the last round in some cases/guns. Even if you get slide lock, you may not be able to sling-shot the slide to chamber a round upon reload. Then of course there is the increased likelihood for FTE / FTF malfunctions. It may not be an issue on a gun that is well tuned, with everything in spec. However, if one or more components are worn and/or out of spec, a short-stroked gun can exacerbate those issues, resulting in the aforementioned malfunctions.

Conversely, those are really non-issues in the competition world, so you do see plenty of folks using them in that setting. Though, a lot of those are on Open guns running light springs and major PF ammo. So, the bottom line is that they do work as advertised and prevent excessive wear / peening between the slide frame and provide a bit of added protection in the event of an over-pressure round...but with slightly decreased reliability/functionality (potentially) as the trade-off.

For me, I skip them on SD/HD/carry guns but do run them in my XC, Costa, and Omni. Those are lightly-sprung range/comp toys only, that get fed +P ammo.
I use the Wilson blue ones, which seem to hold up the best, and are not as thick as others. YMMV...