Pros and Cons to heavier and lighter Recoil Springs

[HostileHabitat]

I have a Match and about the only spring I have not changed out to my liking is the recoil spring.

What are the Pros and Cons to heavier or lighter poundage recoil springs.

By changing one way or the other will I notice a difference in performance.

Or is the Factory spring the way to go?

Thoughts???

Thanks

[Pensfan]

Great video on what recoil springs do for you, how to review which you need, and how they affect your recoil and sight acquisition.

[Pop N Fresh]

nice, thanks pensfan

[HostileHabitat]

Yes, thank you that was a great vid. Anyone know that the poundage is on the factory spring on a 9mm Witness Elite Match?

[Nealio]

You really can't run much off of what you should be running anyway. If you run too light your slide hits the frame and if you run too heavy you get FTE's. When I switched to 124's I had to drop to an 8lb.

For the 9mm:

10lb (or stock) is good for factory 115gr ammo, or 100gr @ 125pf ammo

8lb is good for 115gr @ 125pf or 124gr @ 125pf ammo

6lb is good for 147gr @ 125pf ammo

[Mo Hepworth]

in my experience with springs in the 9mm small frame stock2....I found the lighter spring ( 8 LB) was flatter no matter what ammo I used (147gr at 129.6pf and 137 PF)....but I found it slower to go back into battery. When it gets dirty I can really see it...the slide slows right down going forward. With the 10 lb spring using 137pf ammo, I found there is a little more movement in the slide..but the slide gets back into battery faster....snaps back onto the target. Using 129-130 pf 147gr ammo you may get the odd stove pipe using a heavier spring. Note that not all springs are cut the same. The tanfoglio OEM small frame springs are longer although rated at approx. same weight. THe Wolf springs are shorter...and I prefer them as they are consistant. Also...using a lighter spring with hotter ammo will beat up the gun a bit more...i used a different slide release lever for practice as opposed to matches.

I have a friend who has the stock3 9mm...and he prefers the 11lb factory spring....he said the lighter shorter spring was not working well enough to feed the rounds all the time. His recoil spring is longer I believe.

I think I prefer the 10 lb spring over the 8lb or 11 lb. I have a couple of 9 lb Wolf springs coming from Eric to try out. I think something in the middle will work well.

[CHA-LEE]

I also want to add that the lighter the recoil spring gets the more important having a very solid grip is. If you have a 6lb or 8lb recoil spring in the gun and you allow it to muzzle flip due to a weak grip you WILL have feeding issues because the momentum of the slide coming back forward is being absorbed by the guns muzzle flip motion.

This is the main reason why most factory guns come with really heavy recoil springs. The factory recoil springs are heavy enough to overcome any poor grip which allows really excessive muzzle flip and still maintain proper feeding.

[zaphar]

Any recommendations on what spring rating a standard witness shooting 115gr@1450fps with no comp should use? The 14lb spring seems a bit light, but I tried a 20lb and it was too heavy causing FTF and stove piping. It seems like a 16lb spring may be a better choice but was also thinking a 18lb spring may work.

[Nealio]

Any recommendations on what spring rating a standard witness shooting 115gr@1450fps with no comp should use? The 14lb spring seems a bit light, but I tried a 20lb and it was too heavy causing FTF and stove piping. It seems like a 16lb spring may be a better choice but was also thinking a 18lb spring may work.

Why do you say the 14 seems light?

[zaphar]

It feels like there's too much slide velocity. When switching out the recoil spring to the 20lb rated one, it seemed like there was less shock, although I started having feeding/ejecting issues.

The brass is also ejecting quite far from me, so that too.

Edited June 2, 2013 by zaphar

[kneelingatlas]

9 Major with 115s and no comp? That must be a snappy little beast.

Edited June 1, 2013 by kneelingatlas

[zaphar]

Yes, kind of like light .357 Mag out of a snub revolver Heavier bullets seem to be a better choice until I can manage to get/put together some sort of comp kit.

[emjei]

10# 

[MemphisMechanic]

An 8# with 133PF 135gr and 147gr ammo wouldn't run reliably in my Stock III no matter how tightly the gun was gripped.

I just ran 250ish rounds through it without a single malfunction after switching to a 10 pounder.

[ryridesmotox]

Holy resurrecting an old thread batman

[emjei]

Did it on purpose

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[ryridesmotox]

I figured... But I had to do the obligatory resurrection advisement. Carry on

[mjmagee67]

FWIW I tried the 8, 9, & 10 lbs. springs in my S2's to me there wasn't that much difference I could feel. So I went with a 8 in one and a 9 in the other.

 

 

[CHA-LEE]

You don't feel a difference because you are not gripping the gun hard enough to feel it. If the gun is muzzle flipping then there will always be a minimum spring rate and below that you won't be able to feel a difference in because the muzzle flip is masking the spring rate difference.

[WJM]

I have been shooting my gun and doing slow motion with it.

My gun is dipping low after a shot, suggesting from what I have heard too heavy of a recoil spring. 

Right now I am using an 9lb recoil spring, obviously I will order the 8lb. However, if the result is unsatisfactory would it be terrible to just clip a couple coils off of the 8lb?

 

[johnbu]

I clip coils all the time. Is it optimum? Probably not. Does it work? Yes.  one tip is to use a cutting wheel in a dremel or similar to avoid twisting the coils when you shorten it.  Just go a little at a time and have a spare as it's easier to make them shorter than longer.  

 

 

[CHA-LEE]

I would avoid clipping coils because it will change the lockup pressure when the slide is forward. Every gun requires a minimum amount of lockup pressure to keep the barrel locked up consistently. If you use lighter recoil springs or start cutting coils off springs do some group shooting with the new setup to see if it starts to string the hits vertically. If it does then you don't have enough lockup pressure and will have to bump up the recoil spring tension.

Another reason why I don't like to cut coils off springs is that it usually creates a variable spring rate feel to it as it compresses. If you are looking for that variable spring rate feel then cutting coils is one way to do it. But if you like a linear spring rate through the whole travel of the slide you can't get away with cutting coils off. 

If you have run out of recoil spring weight options you can also tune the slide velocity with the hammer spring weight. A heavier hammer spring will bleed off more of the slide velocity as it comes back. If there is less velocity coming back then there will be less velocity coming back forward so it will feel like you put a softer recoil spring in it. The angle of the firing pin stop can achieve the same thing as changing the hammer spring. A firing pin stop with a reduced radius will act like a heavier hammer spring because it takes more leverage and friction for the slide to cock the hammer back.

[johnbu]

^ good points.  I've polished the rails with both use and polishing compound and they seem to lock up fine with light springs. But, that is an important thing to check! Another reason to not clip is it's dang difficult to repeat that exact spring to get a replacement.