I need a better understanding of recoil springs

[DrDenby]

I have a LLama 1911 .45acp 5" barrel

The endcap is so easy to get off. Hard to describe how easy. Hardly any pressure at all to push in and turn the bushing.

In addition, I get often spent casings jammed.

You should know, I have checked the extractor tension and I am not limp wristing.

There is no supply for the specific recoil spring. I am going to need to make/jerryrig one.

With a caliper, I found that the spring wire is the same diameter and same loop diameter as my other Govt 1911 .45 which has a standard colt recoil spring.

It is however approx 1 1/3 inches shorter than the other.

Several questions

Should I be getting a heavier pound spring to stop the jams?

How do I measure the spring weight of the current one?

Can I order a Colt government recoil spring and use it with the longer length? I put the spring of the other 1911 in and it seemed to hand cycle ok, but I didn't fire it.

Will a spring that much longer hurt anything?

I guess that is it for now. I probably will have more follow up questions dependent on what I learn from these.

Thanks

Doc

Edited December 23, 2015 by DrDenby

[bountyhunter]

It is however approx 1 1/3 inches shorter than the other.

Be advised, an old beat up spring will be significantly shorter than it was when new.

[reptoid]

You can get springs for your Llama here:

https://www.gunsprings.com/index.php?page=items&cID=1&mID=37&dID=161

Edited December 23, 2015 by reptoid

[Hi-Power Jack]

Best way to "measure" the weight of a spring is buy a new one -

they'll tell you what it weighs.

It won't be accurate, but it'll be closer than you can determine

on your own.

All approximate -

[scottlep]

Many, if not all, new 1911 recoil springs have to be cut down to eliminate spring coil stacking or binding. I have been told this directly from the guys at Wolff Gunsprings. If you know that an old spring and a new spring are the same "weights", the correct way to determine the correct length of the new spring is to count the number of coils on the old and cut the new to the same number of coils.

Also, you can buy tuning packs of strings from Wolff. The packs will include several spring weights so you can tune the gun to run better and "feel" better.

Edited December 23, 2015 by scottlep

[DrDenby]

Thanks for the help.

That one LLama spring at Wolff is for a different model. When I spoke to (I forget his name) he said that spring will ONLY work with the one model that I don't have.

Looks like I will get some Colt springs and count coils though I don't know what weight the current spring is. Add to that it is closed at both ends unlike the standard 1911 spring.

How will I know if the spring is too long? What are the symptoms of binding?.

Doc

[racknrider]

When I cut down a spring to fit my XD, I took the spring out, retracted the slide fully and marked the frame. I then kept cutting the spring 1 coil at a time until I could retract the slide with the spring installed to approximately the same place. I would try something in the 14-16lb range.