Cutting and fitting

[JD45]

After reading several old posts on recoil spring fitting, I never really found any clear answers.

There was a lot of talk about checking for springs collapsing with the slide removed.

I checked my uncut Wilson spring by removing the slide and compressing the guide rod all the way so the buff touched the slide. I would estimate that the coils never touch each other from what I could see right before the buff hit.

So, did anyone ever determine if chopping springs is necessary in a 1911? I don't read much about it anymore.

[JD45]

Oh come on!

Nobody has talked about this recently. If it is a bad idea somebody should say so.

[Flexmoney]

I'm not really clear on what you are asking? Is there a reason to chop springs on a 1911?

[DogmaDog]

Well, let's see.

With the gun assembled, you should retract the slide all the way and mark the guide rod as far down as you can. Now remove the spring and repeat. The slide should have retracted the same amount. If it did not, that means that the spring is stopping the slide's rearward movement before the slide hits the base of the guiderod, which means the spring is "bottoming out".

The same test will work with or without a shock buff installed.

On my Kimber, with a Wilson buff installed, I have found that I don't need to cut either Wolff or ISMI recoil springs.

I wrote in an earlier post how cutting a spring should theoretically affect the funcion of the pistol:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9975&hl=

DogmaDog

[JD45]

Flex,

After reading a whole bunch of replies about cutting springs to fit a 1911 I never really found a clear answer. There was even an argument that marking the slide was not a true indicator of a springs coils touching.

When I did my own test (described above) the spring seemed okay uncut.

I want to know do you guys cut and fit them or not?

[mcoliver]

Since I use weak springs, I just remove the complete top-end. I then push the guide rod forward until either the spring collapses fully or the guide rod head (or buff) hits the spring tunnel (slide). If it's the former, I cut coils until the spring tunnel makes contact with the guide rod head/buff.

Did this on some wolff springs before with a very thick buff combo.

[bulm540]

As dogmadog, that is exactly the instruction on ISMI recoil springs.

[Dan Burwell]

You only have to fit them if you want your gun to work.

[chp5]

Recently, I could not get either of my Glock 35’s (I have two) to reliably feed the last round of any of my four 140 mm mags. I tried everything to solve the situation: new followers, different mag springs, different recoil springs and weights, different bullets and OAL – but nothing solved it.

Then, by chance, I cut two coils off of my ISMI 13 lbs recoil spring (Joe D on the board runs this trimmed spring and suggested it). They all now run 100%. I also feel that the G35 shots flatter and softer as well.

It’s good to experiment