S2 Hammer spring life

[Stafford]

I’ve been running an 11.5lb CGW hammer spring for a while with no issues on factory ammo. Also run the extended firing pin and soft spring. I’ve recently had some light primer strikes with some cheaper ammo including Tula and remanufactured ammo, but no issues with what I normally run, Blazer Brass. This weekend I had a couple of light strikes with Blazer. My first guess is that I should change out the hammer spring as I’ve probably hit the end of it’s life span. What is the general life span of that spring?

[Sig]

I'd clean & lightly lube the firing pin & channel first, then recheck it for light strikes.

[MuayThaiJJ]

I had that 11.5 and same issue, the 13# for me is sweeter with a crisper trigger and little if no light strikes.

[Friedrich_der_Grosse]

Your issue isn't necessarily the hammer spring wearing out as far as I'm concerned. For your pistol to be guaranteed to ignite every single primer imaginable (in my testing), I would highly recommend stepping up to a 13lbs hammer spring, with an extended firing pin and reduced power firing pin spring. 11.5lbs will handle most, but not all primers, and 8.5lbs is HORRIFICALLY unreliable with primers that aren't Federal only. If you have the finger strength for a 13lbs one, just know that if you're running a reduced power trigger return spring your double action shouldn't be any more than 7.5lbs at worst. 

[Stafford]

I am running the extended firing pin and reduced power firing pin spring. I have the original main spring along with a 13lb that I ran prior to going with the 11.5. I also have a new Eamann 10lb. 

 

Today, I cleaned the firing pin channel and removed the 11.5lb spring and put in the 10lb. I will test tomorrow and if it reliably runs with the 10lb spring, then I can surmise that the 11.5 had worn out. If it doesn’t run with the 10lb spring, then I’ll drop the 13lb spring in and go from there.

[slavex]

hammer springs should never actually wear out. I've run 11lb, 8lb, 9lb for years in my various guns and from new to retirement they don't vary more than a quarter of a pound when put on a scale. 

[rowdyb]

I've had fp spring wear out that's for sure. A hammer spring is less than 10 bucks... why worry about such a cheap part, just replace it.

[slavex]

@rowdyb I'm lazy lol, and never bother with it. Only springs I've had break or need replacing are the older TRS and both light and regular firing pin springs. Recoil springs I've done occasionally, after the initial swap when new, mostly juts because someone asked me to try their brand of spring, not because it was needed. Properly made springs should be good for hundreds of thousands of cycles, many hundreds of thousands. 

 

[Johnny_Chimpo]

As has been mentioned, a coil spring made of quality steel wire appropriate for the application should last forever.

 

When was the last time anyone in this thread changed their car's suspension or valve springs?

Edited August 13, 2022 by Johnny_Chimpo

[motosapiens]

On 8/13/2022 at 8:08 AM, Johnny_Chimpo said:

As has been mentioned, a coil spring made of quality steel wire appropriate for the application should last forever.

 

When was the last time anyone in this thread changed their car's suspension or valve springs?

most people don’t give a crap about the springs in their car, but competitive motorcycle racers do in fact change the suspension springs. maybe it is just superstition, but that is OK with me.

[Johnny_Chimpo]

7 hours ago, motosapiens said:

most people don’t give a crap about the springs in their car, but competitive motorcycle racers do in fact change the suspension springs. maybe it is just superstition, but that is OK with me.

 

Whether they give a crap or not isn't the point.  The point is that suspension and valve springs virtually never fail under conditions that are downright brutal compared to what happens inside a pistol.  Why don't they fail?  They don't fail because they are engineered and made correctly.  The same goes for properly made firearm springs.  That was the point @slavex was making.

 

What racers do out of superstition or habit is irrelevant.

[MuayThaiJJ]

Doesn't hurt to try, swap em

[motosapiens]

3 hours ago, Johnny_Chimpo said:

 

Whether they give a crap or not isn't the point.  The point is that suspension and valve springs virtually never fail under conditions that are downright brutal compared to what happens inside a pistol.  Why don't they fail?  They don't fail because they are engineered and made correctly.  The same goes for properly made firearm springs.  That was the point @slavex was making.

 

What racers do out of superstition or habit is irrelevant.

it doesn’t bother me if you believe that. I have talked to good shooters like Angus Hobdel who likes a 10 pound recoil spring but told me it wouldn’t last more than a few months and that an 11 pound recoil spring would be a more durable option for the CZ.

 

while it is true that motorcycle suspension springs don’t generally fail it does appear that they eventually lose some spring and become weaker. Just like other springs that get repeated heavy use. Almost like science is real.

[Stafford]

For the record, I’ve changed out the hammer spring, which I already had on hand. And, I’ve ordered a new extended firing pin soft spring at $5.

 

May work or may not. But, I haven’t broke the budget.

[slavex]

My point was, the number of cycles it takes for springs to get to a failure point, or even losing any meaningful poundage. Motorbike springs, or car springs, see more cycles in one day than pretty much any gun will see over its lifespan, probably 100 lifespans. Hence the reason they change them. Gun springs hardly get cycled at all. Perhaps the super keen dryfirer or a very high  round count live-firer will see a measurable change, but 99 percent of the people, even competitive shooters, won't. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by slavex