recoil spring S&W SD40 VE

[johnwongjr]

i recently bought a smith & wesson sd40 ve and did not really like the plastic guide rod, i have always had metal guide rods before so i purchased a aftermarket stainless steel quide rod with 15lb recoil spring. i know the oem spring is 18lbs but i figured if i used a lower grain rd like a wwb 165gr fmj it may lessen the recoil and get back on target by cycling faster. am i correct in my assumptions? if not what ammo do you think i should use with that setup? or should i just switch the oem spring onto the steel rod?

[Banacek]

6 hours ago, johnwongjr said:

i recently bought a smith & wesson sd40 ve and did not really like the plastic guide rod, i have always had metal guide rods before so i purchased a aftermarket stainless steel quide rod with 15lb recoil spring. i know the oem spring is 18lbs but i figured if i used a lower grain rd like a wwb 165gr fmj it may lessen the recoil and get back on target by cycling faster. am i correct in my assumptions? if not what ammo do you think i should use with that setup? or should i just switch the oem spring onto the steel rod?

First, which after market spring and where did you buy it from?  The lower spring pressure will push the slide back faster but its a balancing act between how light and causing damage to the gun. Buffer pads can help but do you have other spring weights available?  Are you shooting factory or reloads with a certain power factor you are trying for?

[johnwongjr]

I bought the rod and spring from centennial defense systems and I'm shooting factory loads, haven't gotten into reloads yet. I still have the 18lb oem spring that's on the plastic rod. 

[johnwongjr]

Currently I am using wwb 165 great fmj's for target and for defense I am using sig v crown 165 great jhp and American federal Hydra shok 165 great jhp as well. I just want to be able to manage recoil and stay on target to be able to do fast follow up shots. 

[Banacek]

8 hours ago, johnwongjr said:

Currently I am using wwb 165 great fmj's for target and for defense I am using sig v crown 165 great jhp and American federal Hydra shok 165 great jhp as well. I just want to be able to manage recoil and stay on target to be able to do fast follow up shots. 

If you are not using the gun for competition, you will be fine with the lighter spring, if you were shooting thousands of rounds, it might be an issue but a three pound difference should not be a big concern.  You might look into buffer pads just to be on the safe side.  The factory ammo should have data on the velocity of the round, with that you can calculate the power factor (bullet weight times the velocity)  Example:  124 gr bullet at 1440 FPS equals 178,560 or a power factor of 178.  That is what I use to drive my 9mm Major comp gun.  Take a look at corbon and other defense ammo to calculate those power factors.  A 178 PF is high, 165 is fine for competition and higher than the average factory ammo you find.  Think about it as a hammer hitting the back of the gun, the harder the hammer the more damage to the base metal.  There are a lot of videos on youtube about drills you can try.  Look into a timer (phone app) and try some basic double tap drills between targets to check your ability to get back on target with the second shot.  

[johnwongjr]

awesome, thank you so much for your help i was kind of worried it might be to much for the gun but i'm only putting maybe 200-300rds through it a month, the phn app exercise sounds like a great way to test it over all, i've never heard of the buffer pads before are they difficult to find or install? 

[johnwongjr]

looking online i'm not even seeing buffer pads for this model unfortunately 

[Banacek]

On 4/6/2018 at 9:07 PM, johnwongjr said:

awesome, thank you so much for your help i was kind of worried it might be to much for the gun but i'm only putting maybe 200-300rds through it a month, the phn app exercise sounds like a great way to test it over all, i've never heard of the buffer pads before are they difficult to find or install? 

easy to install, not sure if they are available for that model, might check with Brownells, call them and give them the model, there might be a cross reference other that would work.  

[johnwongjr]

I saw one on Brownells for 79.99 it's a bit steep for me right now. I took it out today and was able to place groupings within an inch of each other and do double taps in under 2secs so I would say it performed just fine I honestly didn't notice any issues with the lighter spring at all, if anything I think the metal rod compensated with added weight. Really thank you so much I do believe your advice on the ammunition helped a lot. I ended up using WWB 165 grain with vel of 1060 so pf was around 174. 

[Banacek]

On 4/9/2018 at 11:12 PM, johnwongjr said:

I saw one on Brownells for 79.99 it's a bit steep for me right now. I took it out today and was able to place groupings within an inch of each other and do double taps in under 2secs so I would say it performed just fine I honestly didn't notice any issues with the lighter spring at all, if anything I think the metal rod compensated with added weight. Really thank you so much I do believe your advice on the ammunition helped a lot. I ended up using WWB 165 grain with vel of 1060 so pf was around 174. 

Something like this but for your gun.  Maybe a glock buffer pad will work.  Call Brownells and ask them just how universal they might be.  

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/100575788/wilson-combat-shok-buff-recoil-buffer-1911-government-polyurethane-pack-of-6