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Lower hammer spring weight=more felt recoil?


Postal Bob

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In my Kimber 1911, I decided to replace the stock 23lb hammer spring with a Wolf 18lb one. I left everything else unchanged in the gun. When I measured the trigger pull weight, it only reduced it by 1/8-1/4 lb. But the felt recoil increased noticeably. I also plan to work on the sear spring too to help reduce trigger weight. So if I use a lighter mainspring as part of an overall way to reduce trigger pull, do I need to increase the recoil spring weight to compensate for the lighter resistance to the slide movement?

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The angle of the firing pin stop will also affect felt recoil. If you drop the hammer spring weight you may want to increase your recoil spring weight a little. Its all a balancing act to find the right combination that works for you, everyone is different so there are probably no quick fixes.

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Try experimenting with different spring weights until you find something you like. Luckily springs are cheap and easy to play with

The other big factor is the ammo your shooting.

I shoot 230gr bullets with Clay's powder which results in a fairly soft recoil. I run a 17lb mainspring and a 14# recoil spring (stock was 16# in my Kimber).

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With my kimber .40 I run a 12lb wolff recoil spring with a 15lb mainspring and generous radius on the fps stop. It’s hits pretty hard but I like the quickness and the balance is perfect (for me). Not many people run it that way though so you just gotta try out a few things and see what you like.

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  • 1 month later...

Postal - your load will make a difference. I run 17 pound mainsprings in all my 45s and EGW firing pin stops. With hardball ammo I use a 19 pound recoil spring. Lighter loads get less recoil spring.

Sear spring is what makes the most difference in trigger pull unless you're going to change the hammer and sear engagement surfaces. None of that is hard to do and parts are relatively cheap when you make a mistake. Start with a good polish on engagement surfaces and reduce sear spring pressure. Make sure you keep enough pressure on the disconnector leg of the spring.

-john

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The angle of the firing pin stop will also affect felt recoil. If you drop the hammer spring weight you may want to increase your recoil spring weight a little. Its all a balancing act to find the right combination that works for you, everyone is different so there are probably no quick fixes.

/\

!

This is the ticket.... Try a 14-16 pound recoil spring and the radius on the FP stop and see if you are not a happier camper....

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