tuning a recoil spring on a 22/45 MKIV

[Les Snyder]

I shoot CCI Blazer for a competition ammo in both my MKIV and CMMG kitted SBR...  the last match I had a couple of malfunctions with the pistol where the bolt did not travel far enough to cock the hammer, and re-chambered the fired case...the pistol was well oiled and the chamber cleaned prior to the match...I ordered a Volquartsen spring kit for the pistol, and installed the lightweight spring, but have not shot it yet

 

two questions... has anyone actually shortened a factory spring to help tune for marginal under powered ammo?  the length of the factory spring looks like a good 1/2" or so could be removed without sacrificing its ability to close the bolt

 

has anyone run into problems using the VQ lightweight spring over a protracted length of time?

 

thank you for your comments

Les L747

[Gregg K]

I run the lightweight VQ spring in all my Ruger pistols. VQ doesn't polish the rod they send and sometimes they feel like it's threaded. Chuck the rod up in your Dremel and polish it with successively finer grit paper until it's like a mirror. Buffing wheel after sanding would be nice.

[Les Snyder]

GreggK... I lightly chamfered the VQ front mounting lug hole with a tapered ream just breaking the corners... it smoothed out the spring guide feel pretty well... will put the high buff the next time I dis assemble ... thanks

[Les Snyder]

follow up... old age is setting in (73)... I thought I'd lubricated the hammer spring on my initial check of the new pistol... after installing the light VQ spring,  it was still not very smooth to work the bolt... couple of drops of lube in the main spring/plunger tube and well duh, it really smoothed out...

 

 

edit... shot a practice match today, ran very smoothly with some junk ammo

Edited April 9, 2021 by Les Snyder
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