slide / frame/ guide rod/ recoil spring weight relationship

[Field]

please elaborate or correct me if i am wrong with any of this, or elaborate anyways because that is what i am looking for

1...ideally you want a handgun that has a light slide in comparison to the weight of the frame itself, because having more weight in the frame and less in the slide will produce less muzzle flip when you are shooting..

2..you simply want a heavier guide rod because it puts more weight up near the front of the gun thus producing less muzzle flip when shooting..

3..a heavier recoil spring's intertia and force will make the gun want to dip down after being fired. You want to put in as light of recoil spring as possible to reduce this tendency but you want the spring to be strong enough where the load that you are using is not forcing the slide back so far every time that most of the stress is being put into the frame/locking block part of the gun..

thanks

[G-ManBart]

3..a heavier recoil spring's intertia and force will make the gun want to dip down after being fired. You want to put in as light of recoil spring as possible to reduce this tendency but you want the spring to be strong enough where the load that you are using is not forcing the slide back so far every time that most of the stress is being put into the frame/locking block part of the gun..

thanks

Not really. Unless you're using a recoil spring that's way too heavy, the slide is going to go to the end of it's travel and the load will be transferred to the frame. If it isn't going to the end of it's travel, it's short-stroking and probably won't extract/eject or feed properly. There's usually a decent range of spring weights that will allow the slide full travel and run reliably. What you want is to do timing drills to find the weight spring that doesn't cause excess muzzle flip or muzzle dip. That may not be the ideal for longevity, but if the gun was fit and times properly, it's going to last many tens of thousands of rounds before you have to worry about things breaking (like cracked slides etc). R,

[Field]

eh might as well try out that 14lb recoil spring i guess.

[CocoBolo]

Lets compare two guns so you get a better idea.

The STI Edge heavy slide and the Brazos, light slide.

The first thing you will notice is how light the Brazos gun is and the difference in the balance point. Now using the trigger control set one off. OWEE that thing has some flip to it, and the recoil seems snappy but not that hard. The gun feels more like a little snappy 9 mm, now the Edge has a little less flip and the recoil is slower and makes more of a push than a snap.

Which one is better, well depends on which feel you like better. XRE says that soft and flat does not necessarily mean fast, I have to agree with that, as long as it tracks up and down it doesn't seem to matter that much.

Springs in the right range change the recoil profle, the heavier spring will have more rise as the barrel unlocks first part of recoil and less at the end, the lighter spring will have more of a hit in the palm which will produce a little more recoil at the end of the travel. I shoot better with a heavier spring gives me more time to react to the gun. (just an opinion)

Guide rods come in 3 basic flavors Aluminum, Steel, and Tungsten, adding or removing weight to change the balance of the gun and weight to absorb recoil.