Purpose For Cutting 5 Coils Off Mainspring?

[InTheBlack]

My friend just bought a NIB-looking used stainless SA 1911 A1. Previous owner installed a magwell (slide into mainspring housing type) and ambi safety.

Took out the housing and discovered the mainspring has 5 or 6 coils clipped. The recoil spring feels light when I compress it in my hands.

So is there any particular purpose why some people "prefer" to cut so much off the spring, or was the guy just sloppy?

[CenTX]

When the slide moves to the rear and cocks the hammer it has to overcome not only the recoil spring, but also the mainspring. Mainsprings are available commercially in at least 15, 17 and 19 pound ratings.

With a lighter mainspring the slide is easier to move to the rear, but you will also have a lighter hammer/primer strike and therefore the possibility of a failure.

[davidwiz]

I believe that cutting the length of a spring does not decrease it's 'weight', just the length of travel. That is what the person who cut the mainspring did probably thought. However, there is no reason to do that, as there are mainsprings of various weights commercially available.

[SteveZ]

I belive the mainsprings on Springfields ILS guns are shorter than "stock" in order to deal with the ILS changes.

[eerw]

if it is an ILS gun..the mainspring is considerably shorter than a standard mainspring.

if the spring was cut..it would change the point that it would meet the resistance of the mainspring..which might give it the feeling of being lighter..

[InTheBlack]

Gun has standard mainspring housing, not the lock.

[Vlad]

Then perhaps it DID have the ILS system but when he changed to the new mainspring housing he used the old ILS mainspring?

[InTheBlack]

SInc says the ILS mainspring IS much shorter than the "standard" mainspring. So this guy didn't know any better. And since the ILS housing doesn't have a mainspring cap retaining pin, he has apparently shortened the hammer strut in order to get enough movement.

Now that I have the correct spring pinned in place, the hammer wobbles when decocked, has a lousy trigger release, and I cannot get it onto half-cock.

Does this sound like a too-short strut or not? When I take out the beavertail, I can observe that the strut does not touch the mainspring cap at all when the trigger is decocked, and I believe it ought to touch & have just a little tension, right?

[Carlos]

This is obviously not correct; the strut should contact the cap. Obviously your buddy bought a gun that had been improperly modified by the previous owner.

I have asked how this gun shoots, but considering the problems encountered so far, I strongly suggest you take the gun directly to a person knowledgeable about the 1911 - preferrably a gunsmith speciallizing in the 1911. Since these problems were caused by the previous owner mis-installing parts (and who knows what else he did?), and these problems were missed by the gun's most recent buyer, I think it is unreasonable to either blame Springfield or expect them to fix it under warranty. What part of the country are you in? Perhaps we could suggest a good 'smith.

Regards,

D.C. Johnson

[InTheBlack]

This is my friend's first fun gun, so I'm hoping to get solutions lined up before I tell him about the problems. Don't want him getting bummed out.

I think the bottom line is that the store sold a gun that was assembled in a way that masked its true condition. Not relevent who cut the strut too short. I think I'll ask the store to install an ILS housing and see if the trigger works properly with the short mainspring.

The trigger _is_ very nice with the short spring not held captive. But it just seems like a bozo way to do the job.