stock springs - how to tell?

[Onagoth]

Is there an easy way to tell what springs are what if they get all mixed together? hammer springs, recoil springs, etc?

I managed to mix mine together without labeling them.

[kneelingatlas]

I'm in the same boat, I've begun sorting mine by coil diameter to figure out what they are relative to one another. I also recorded some diameters of know springs for comparison:

Recoil springs:
10# - 0.0385"
11# - 0.0390"
12# - 0.0400"
13# - 0.0405"
14# - 0.0415"

Long Hammer springs:
8.5# - 0.0335"
11.5# - 0.0375"
13# - 0.0390"

EAA Short Hammer Springs:
13# - 0.0285"
14# - 0.0315"
15# - 0.0315"
16# - 0.0315"
22# - 0.0345"

[Onagoth]

that is very helpful...initially I thought it was more related to number of coils and length, but I couldn't figure anything out based on that.

Can you clarify for me which weights the stock springs are...>I think the recoil is 18# from the factory, but I'm unsure

Edited May 6, 2014 by Onagoth

[kneelingatlas]

The factory springs are rated in kg, I think my Hunter came with 5.5kg and 6.3kg recoil springs which puts them in the 12-14lb range with the hammer springs in the 18-20lb range.

Edited May 6, 2014 by kneelingatlas

[BeerBaron]

you can do a test to at least rank them from strongest to weakest.

and by getting a 'known' spring you should then be able to figure out exactly what they are too.

get a piece of threaded rod of smaller OD than the spring ID. should be able to buy a suitable piece of threaded rod from a hardware store.

buy a bunch of nuts to fit said rod and some washers.

put nut on the bottom, washer on top of nut. put spring #1 on top of that. now put another washer on top of spring #1 and put spring #2 on top of that. now put another washer on top of spring #2. you can now compress the springs. whichever one compresses first is lighter than the other. now repeat with other springs till you have them sorted out from strongest to weakest. it will be hard to rig this up for hammer springs but it can be done for that too.

[BeerBaron]

forgot to mention if the going gets hard that you can't compress the rod against something put another nut on top and just start screwing it down.

[Onagoth]

put nut on the bottom, washer on top of nut. put spring #1 on top of that. now put another washer on top of spring #1 and put spring #2 on top of that. now put another washer on top of spring #2. you can now compress the springs. whichever one compresses first is lighter than the other. now repeat with other springs till you have them sorted out from strongest to weakest. it will be hard to rig this up for hammer springs but it can be done for that too.

Awesome...thanks for that.