MemphisMechanic

Put the factory plunger spring back in, and you'll love the way the trigger resets. DA and SA weights will feel pretty much the same, too.

The only reason I ran that OAL was to see if the gun would feed it 100%. I haven't done any load development yet. That said, I'm going to have to disagree strongly to your assertion that you can predict the OAL which will be most accurate in my particular gun, using a bullet you've never shot. I have considerable experience developing a load for any number of different guns, and often even consecutive serial numbers liked different ammo. Who knows, however... if you're right, I'll let you know!

Oh right. Your gun is lighter than mine with the same springs by nearly a full pound. That further makes it sound like it could be nearly the same strength spring as my "14 pound" Wolff, which bumped me from 6.3 with the PD14... to 6.8 lbs.

Which is pretty close to the weights my gun gave me with a 14 pound Wolff.

That's going to vary widely. Every bullet profile is going to hit the rifling at a different length. I'm loading a 150gr SWC to 1.160" currently and the Stock III likes it just fine.

The right one looks suspiciously like a 14 pound Wolff...

Seems likely to me that something which the spring moves back and forth is galled or sticking: the shellplate and it's ratchet mechanism aren't moving as freely as they used to.

You have to run the round through the crimp die in order to have the dummy round fit into the barrel, so I made mention of this. I always crimp my ammo and my dummies the exact same, every time. Over-crimpinging (read: actually crimping) is the number ones cause of feeding and accuracy issues in 9mm. Use the crimp die as "flare removal" only, and you'll have good consistent ammo. Regardless of whether the bullet is an FMJ, plated, coated, or bare lead.

Are you single, by any chance? I find they usually don't appreciate that.

I've been oiling mine for two reasons. One, I keep taking it apart and oil is less mess. Two, the next time I shoot a USPSA match it's going to be cold. A glock or M&P doesn't care if you lube it with slide glide and it turns into molasses in freezing temps. A tightly fit 2011 sometimes won't run. I'm not sure where the Tanfo fits in that spectrum. So it's getting oil. I prefer to run my guns with grease (slide glide) so that I don't have to lube them as often. I'll do that once it gets 500+ rounds through it without a single malfunction.

And likely myself... as well. Pleasure to make your online acquaintance.

I certainly think so! I'd order one in a heartbeat if my gun isn't 100% on erratically-seated CCIs with the addition of the heavy firing pin. A lot of us want to be able to just pull the handle on whatever press with whatever primers and to shoot a gun that runs 100% for thousands of rounds while dirty. Without having to take a micrometer to our primers. We aren't chasing 4 pound triggers, nor are we willing to deal with Federal primer scavenger hunts.

You're making me want to do a "pencil launch test" with those two side by side...

Suggestions: 1. Regarding light strikes? Mirror polish every pin hole, spring (outside AND inside), and part that moves when the shot breaks. That means everything between the hammer spring's pocket and the firing pin. The hammer hooks, sear & cage , and trigger bar are optional to lighten your pull weights, but the previous paragraph's items are reliability issues. 2. Take the firing pin block out and leave it out until the gun runs perfectly, then consider reintroducing it as a variable. That way you're certain it isn't slowing the pin. 3. Run a 10lb or higher recoil spring until the gun is 100% reliable. I ran the factory one minus three coils once I figured out my 8 lb one was causing occasional malfunctions. The gun will eat 128pf ammo just fine with the factory spring. 4. If you get really frustrated, put all the factory springs in and shoot the damn thing and see if your Titan and single piece sear play well together. 5. If you aren't running a BOLO... get one before you keep going. It helps pull weight some but also really makes the SA trigger into something amazing.

My personal belief is that all of the springs combined will drop the trigger weight perhaps two pounds. The rest of it comes from polishing. That is so much more important than most of us want to admit. My gun wasn't reliable at all before everything inside looked like chrome, partially because it rough and gritty everywhere and partially because I went too light on recoil spring.

If the Wolff hammer springs vary like their recoil springs do... that could explain this. I very much agree with @PatriotDefense above. They're far from identical. Hell. Mail me an EG Light and I'll run it through the same gun, post the results, and mail it back to you.

You're positive he isn't withholding the presence of an aftermarket plunger spring from his modification list, right? For whatever reason, to me, it sounds like his DA is going back far enough to light those primers with a match-speed pull, but not with a bullseye trigger pull.

That's why I didn't discuss how effectively each spring fires primer brand X, and only compared the way they feel to the shooter and my trigger gauge. Hopefully I'll never know how effectively the Wolff and EGD springs are at firing off rock hard CCI primers. I'd be totally okay with that.

Long story short, round up all of the guns you will be shooting the ammo in, pop the barrels out, and bring them to the reloading bench. Load a dummy up at your longest desired length. Let's say that's 1.130" No primer no powder, but you need to size the brass, seat a bullet to depth and then crimp the case. Drop your new dummy round into the chamber of each gun. It should drop in all the way and spin freely: if it won't spin then the bullet is likely caught in the rifling, so this OAL is too long for that gun's chamber. The dummy should also fall out effortlessly when you flip the barrel over. Shorten things up until your round spins in everything, and then set your press up and begin making ammo. This works every time. How long you can load is dependent on your guns (Glocks and 9mm 1911s have loooong chambers and CZs are super short) and the profile of the bullet you're using. As shown above a flat nose 147 can generally be loaded longer than a round one, for example. Any time you change guns or change bullets, you will want to do a quick plunk test.

For plinking ammo I'd use 115s. If you aren't going to compete and you aren't worried about recoil, that would be it. Then I'd run power pistol, Win 231, WSF, WST, and even Titegroup. Any powder for which there is lots of published data. Whichever powder was available locally and/or easily online. And I'd shoot coated bullets to save cost over FMJs.

You are on the right track. Put a few hundred rounds through it, clean it, and look at where things wear. I did a "light polishing job" like you at first. When it takes all night to learn to take it apart and reassemble, you don't want to dremel for three hours. Gun was around 8lbs with a 14# PD hammer spring. I put a few hundred rounds through it in practice and shot two matches, then polished the pins and springs and holes like mirrors mainly to improve my light strike issues. Cleaned the gun well then polished all of the places I saw wear marks on the internals (sear, cage, hammer, bolo, and trigger bar) MUCH more throughly. Now it's 6.2 lbs and 3.2lbs consistently and I'm happy with it because it's such an amazingly smooth trigger pull. Some guys wind up around 5 pounds DA with a 14 pound hammer spring. Some guys wind up around 6 while running a 12 or 13. The more you polish everything, the lower that number will be... but Tanfoglio guns vary widely from frame to frame. I will definitely say that the 6 pound pull on a Tanfo feels vastly lighter than a 6 pound pull on a Glock. The trigger doesn't stack and it's so much smoother than a well-polished striker gun. My M&P has a 2.75 trigger, the Tanfo is 3.2. The Tanfoglio is vastly easier to use to clean a row of 10yd steel poppers because the trigger is smoother, crisper, and ridiculously short once that hammer is back.

Especially when it comes time to reload it. Longer mags are easier to hold onto and draw, and you have a nice long grip to keep you pinkie finger well out of the way. (I've seen at least 4 guys wind up with blood blisters from reloading a G26 or other subcompact gun, and pinching the flesh of the hand between the bottom of the grip and the mag's basepad.)

Who are you, and what did you do with our "designated tinkerer?!"

Whatever "Because f**k you, that's why!" is in Italian? That. He's talking about mine. Says "FT MADE IN ITALY" there on my Stock 3.

Agreed. Correlating that to hammer spring and trigger pull weights would be interesting. We'd know if that's one of the biggest contributors to the 2 pound variations you see from gun to gun in DA with the same hammer spring... or if it's not really a factor and it truly comes down to polishing meticulously.