Polymer

I currently use 4.5 lb striker spring with 13 lb recoil spring

Try pointing the gun upwards, hold trigger back, pull the slide back and slowly walk it forward. As you get close to the slide going all the way into battery, let it go. Slowly try and make it not go into battery. It should lock up all the way and fully go into battery. Lighter/factory trigger spring helps slide not fight it when returning into battery. Dry fire pistol. Slowly pull trigger and watch to see if slide pulls out of battery. The vertical extension part of connector should be polished and smooth. This helps slide go into battery easier by not causing friction when that part of connector rides along cam in the slide. I've used factory striker spring before with a 13lb recoil spring. Worked fine but again i didn't shoot tons through that set up and i feel like that's pushing the limits and on the edge of safety.

Different part of finger is contacting trigger or length of trigger pull

If you liked everything about the SP-01 but the trigger, cajun gun works does amazing work. Its a different gun after they go through it.

147g usually couple inches higher from everyone I've talked to.

How much heavier are you talking about? Are you sure you aren't putting too much lube that its attracting gunk/powder.

Pair the correct spring with the power factor... I don't know what the power factor is on those particular rounds you have. It does come down to preference, but almost everyone and all high level shooters will go with a lighter spring. The more experienced the shooter, the more noticeable/beneficial the lighter spring will give. The absolute best way to determine is to run some drills and time yourself. Don't go by feel, go by time.

Muzzle will always rise on recoil, proper grip and technique will limit it. The recoil spring excels as the slide is returning to battery, pistol doesn't dip, and bounce around between shots/splits/transitions. Best way to demonstrate is lock slide back, then release slide using slide lock/release. You will notice with the heavier spring, slide slams forward, muzzle dips and front sight bounces around.

You don't need to drill anything out. If you do like a larger fiber/dot, when you are installing the fiber, melt it more so the end is larger.

Slide cycles faster, pistol shoots flatter, muzzle doesn't dip as much when returning to battery, all of this translates to quicker follow up shots and splits.

Great!

There are a couple of members on this forum that love the OC Custom trigger bar.

If you want mainly less take up/pretravel, and use what you have/want to keep your current polished parts, just buy the trigger bar from dk triggers. It'll make the most difference.

Looking from the outside of pistol, should be a gap between back of safety tab and frame. If not, it might be rubbing against frame.

With the trigger all the way out, is there a small gap between trigger safety and frame? There should be, if not it's out of spec and that could be problem. I would not use the ghost trigger spring. Use factory or different brand heavier trigger spring if you must have heavier spring. Many use factory trigger spring....much more reliable and the heavier trigger spring only decreases pull marginally.

Highly doubt channel liner is issue. If it was scratched/gouged/damaged, the striker wouldn't be sliding smooth as it is currently. You say you have been toying around with connector angle....is this with factory or the ghost? When trigger immediately resets, is it very tactile and audible, it should be. Have you tried using a different trigger bar?

Do not say screw it and try to live with the 5.5 lb spring haha, we'll figure it out eventually. With the slide off, pushing the trigger forward and backwards, is it smooth? Is it pivoting well/smoothly on the trigger pin? Is the trigger pin bent? Slide catch installed properly to not effect trigger pin? Installed, when you pull back on striker lug, is it smooth? The spring cups installed correctly so the end of spring isn't on the end/edge of cup?

Does it bind with factory connector? I'm not huge fan of ghost products. When you put slide back on, it should be very easy, slides straight back. You should not have to wiggle side to side or navigate slide in order for upper verticle extension of connector to guide through the back plate. The striker assembly goes into slide with little resistance. Most of resistance should be the initial inserting of the assembly into slide....the striker spring straightens out a bit in striker channel, causing resistance.

Does this happen with the factory connector? With no barrel, no guide rod/recoil spring, it won't be smooth because you are feeling the top of connector contacting the slide. This is normal. It feels like binding since you don't feel the recoil spring tension. With the pistol completely assembled, does it bind when slide goes rearward or forward? Rearward, the screw on some guide rods if you are running captured can rub against the bottom hole on slide where the front sight tool is put through.

Make sure there is no pinching/slipping of the spring and it getting sandwiched between housing and trigger bar....double check, make sure! Is trigger spring installed correctly, it should make an "S" when looking from the right side of housing (google image if you don't know what I'm referring to). Does this happen with the factory connector?

Check your other thread regarding striker spring. As mentioned above, looking under the slide, is that where the slide is contacting the top part of connector? Is it preventing slide from proper cycling?

First thing I've seen happen, are you sure the trigger spring is hooked on the trigger bar properly? When twisting the trigger bar to get the cruciform back into the trigger housing, the end of the trigger spring will sometimes move to the side, and spring gets pinched between the housing and trigger bar. Second, check the connector angle in relationship to the housing.

Thanks for everyone's input. I do know that Freedom is not great ammo. I get what's cheapest at current ordering time and do shoot a variety of ammo from freedom to quality match grade stuff. What is everyone's round count or experience with the current striker they own? I've been told so many things, from 1k to 25k rounds before tips broke off or deforming.

Thanks DK, i will take that into consideration. Love2fishnshoot, i know what you're going through. I've shot 400-500 rounds of the freedom munitions problem free with current setup. Then i started having light strikes. I've changed out striker spring to a new one just to rule out old/worn spring but same result. Having a feeling freedom gets whatever is cheapest/available when they manufacture ammo and I'm currently shooting a harder primer they used.

What about longevity wise, have you had time to put numerous rounds through them?