CGW reduced power firing pin springs wearing out quickly?

[slowhands]

I'm running a Shadow 2 with the standard CGW upgrades, and every time I remove the firing pin it seems that the CGW reduced-power firing pin spring is totally worn out, twisted up and about half the original length. This happens after only a few hundred rounds. The result is that the base of the firing pin doesn't protrude at all then the chamber is empty, and is barely proud of the stop when the tip is pushed back by a chambered round. I'm not getting light strikes, but I've replaced a few springs so far just to be on the safe side.

 

Is this normal for these springs, and is it an issue? I've heard the Eric Grauffel reduced-power springs are a bit more robust, but if it's not an issue I'll just leave it as is.

 

[cheby]

That is also my experience. I through them all away and using the RAMI ones instead 

Edited June 25, 2020 by cheby

[George16]

Same experience here too. 
 

I actually broke during my dry fire practice. I contacted CGW and they sent me a replacement emailing them a picture of the broken spring. While waiting for the replacement spring to arrive, I reinstalled the stock firing pin spring. It worked without any problems during my live fire practice. This is with a CGW 11.5# hammer spring, 11# RS and extended firing pin.

 

I didn’t experience light strikes even with the harder CCI small pistol primers.

[rowdyb]

They've worn out exceptionally quickly the few times I've bought a used gun that had them installed. The 2075/RAMI if you want a CZ part or I'm liking the Ultimate fp spring from Eric Grauffel that's in two of my guns currently.

[slowhands]

Thanks for all the replies. Just ordered an Eric Grauffel spring and a handful of RAMI springs (because they're cheap) from BSPS. We'll see how these hold up.

[chomorro]

I had a shadow 1 that I put thousand through it and didnt even know the reduced power firing pin spring was broken and missing coils.

Good thing it still worked fine lol

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[slowhands]

3 minutes ago, chomorro said:

I had a shadow 1 that I put thousand through it and didnt even know the reduced power firing pin spring was broken and missing coils.

Good thing it still worked fine lol

 

I'm not convinced it's actually an important part. As long as there's *something* there to keep the pin from protruding too far and prevent the pin from slamming into the channel during dryfire, it seems to work fine. But I also don't want to test this theory at a major match.

[slowhands]

Also, I never noticed this issue with my SP-01s, but it was more of a pain to pull those firing pins so I didn't do so as often, and the firing pin retaining pin probably absorbed a lot of the energy, at least during dry fire.

[ck1]

Yeah, I try to only dry fire my CZ's using snap caps (except of course for the obligatory "unload & show clear" at the end of runs) and discovered a while back that the CGW RPFPS's are always mangled and/or broken in no time at all... I switched to using the Rami FPS's or the Eric G Ultimate FPS's and they seem to be much better, no issues.

Edited June 25, 2020 by ck1

[ck1]

29 minutes ago, slowhands said:

 

I'm not convinced it's actually an important part. 

 

It's pretty important, and not just for function/reliability either; if the firing pin were to get stuck while protruding from the breech-face it could be dangerous as then the gun wouldn't be safe with a round in the chamber, and if one was really unlucky it could go off while chambering a round, or burst and/or go full-auto.

 

Honestly, In the interest of altruism or as a PSA, if one is reading this and has a CGW RPFPS in their gun that they haven't checked in a while... probably not a bad idea to give it a look... Really, regardless of brand/type of spring, it's not a bad idea to check your firing pin + firing-pin-spring every time you clean the gun, only takes a minute.

Edited June 25, 2020 by ck1

[hal1955]

i clip a few coils off the factory fp springs. Never had any problems.

[slowhands]

7 minutes ago, ck1 said:

 

It's pretty important, and not just for function/reliability either; if the firing pin were to get stuck while protruding from the breech-face it could be dangerous as then the gun wouldn't be safe with a round in the chamber, and if one was really unlucky it could go off while chambering a round, or burst and/or go full-auto.

 

Having no firing pin spring would be bad, but it seems like a broken or worn out spring might not cause any problems as long as it still stops the firing pin from protruding too far. That's not a theory I want to test in my competition gun, though.

[slowhands]

2 hours ago, hal1955 said:

i clip a few coils off the factory fp springs. Never had any problems.

 

That's probably the easiest option. Factory springs are pretty stout and probably will never wear out, considering that the gun still runs fine with a flimsy mangled CGW spring. Already ordered the RAMI springs though.

 

Mostly I'm just glad to hear I wasn't being a complete idiot and somehow mangling the springs every time I installed them. CGW stuff is generally so good so I was a little surprised.

Edited June 25, 2020 by slowhands
typo

[cheby]

4 hours ago, ck1 said:

 

It's pretty important, and not just for function/reliability either; if the firing pin were to get stuck while protruding from the breech-face it could be dangerous as then the gun wouldn't be safe with a round in the chamber, and if one was really unlucky it could go off while cambering a round, or burst and/or go full-auto.

 

 

In addition, if the FP spring is too weak, you could lose the FP stop along with the FP during the fire. Happened to me luckily  during my practice. Also If the FP stop just slips down a little during the fire because of the weak spring it would prevent a hammer from moving freely causing slowing down the slide movements. You would have all kinds of malfunctions because of this. Also happened to me and I could not figure out why my gun was not working for awhile. Those springs are no go in my opinion.

Having said that, some people in pursuing super light trigger pull are using those springs together with 8# main springs. This is unnecessary in my opinion and compromises reliability (And safety) while achieving nothing.   

Edited June 25, 2020 by cheby

[slowhands]

27 minutes ago, cheby said:

In addition, if the FP spring is too weak, you could lose the FP stop along with the FP during the fire. Happened to me luckily  during my practice. Also If the FP stop just slips down a little during the fire because of the weak spring it would prevent a hammer from moving freely causing slowing down the slide movements. You would have all kinds of malfunctions because of this. Also happened to me and I could not figure out why my gun was not working for awhile.

 

Good to know, thanks! I've got a couple spare CGW springs in case the RAMI & Grauffel springs don't arrive before this weekend's match.

Edited June 25, 2020 by slowhands

[hal1955]

32 minutes ago, cheby said:

In addition, if the FP spring is too weak, you could lose the FP stop along with the FP during the fire. Happened to me luckily  during my practice. Also If the FP stop just slips down a little during the fire because of the weak spring it would prevent a hammer from moving freely causing slowing down the slide movements. You would have all kinds of malfunctions because of this. Also happened to me and I could not figure out why my gun was not working for awhile. Those springs are no go in my opinion.

Having said that, some people in pursuing super light trigger pull are using those springs together with 8# main springs. This is unnecessary in my opinion and compromises reliability (And safety) while achieving nothing.   

 

That has happened to me too. I use a dab of blue loctite to between the firing pin stop and the slide to prevent that from happening again. It  holds securely yet is easy to remove the plate when necessary.

[slowhands]

An update if anyone else has this problem. Picked up one Grauffel spring and a few RAMI springs, started with the RAMI since it's cheaper and looks more robust. Works perfectly with the 13# hammer spring. I'll have to revisit this if I drop down to the 11.5# spring, but I'll stick with 13# as long as I have a mixed inventory of primers, which could be quite a while, depending on what's available.

[gregj529]

Thanks for the tip on this guys.  Ordered a handful of the Rami Springs to start with.  I'll report back with any findings.

[FALAR]

I can't imagine having to deal with that stupid roll pin just to remove the firing pin.

 

Glad we can buy Shadow 1/2/TSOs instead.

[gregj529]

Just now, FALAR said:

I can't imagine having to deal with that stupid roll pin just to remove the firing pin.

 

Glad we can buy Shadow 1/2/TSOs instead.

I'm so thankful that the Shadow 2 is so much easier to work on than my old SP01.

[FALAR]

Yep, I love my CZs but will never buy one with a firing pin block.

[Howar438]

On 6/25/2020 at 10:19 AM, ck1 said:

 

It's pretty important, and not just for function/reliability either; if the firing pin were to get stuck while protruding from the breech-face it could be dangerous as then the gun wouldn't be safe with a round in the chamber, and if one was really unlucky it could go off while chambering a round, or burst and/or go full-auto.

 

Honestly, In the interest of altruism or as a PSA, if one is reading this and has a CGW RPFPS in their gun that they haven't checked in a while... probably not a bad idea to give it a look... Really, regardless of brand/type of spring, it's not a bad idea to check your firing pin + firing-pin-spring every time you clean the gun, only takes a minute.

I have had mine in for about 1000 rds and checked it. Completely mangled. I’m going back to stock for now and ordering the EG from Stoeger shop. I had never thought this would be a part I’d need to keep an eye on (like the trigger return spring) so I’m very glad I saw this.