PT Honcho Recoil Spring Weight

[looking4reloadingdeals]

For those running Honchos what recoil spring weight are you running? Iv always run a 6lb as the manual and PT says, however I am thinking about experimenting with bumping this up to a 7lb. 
 

I am shooting AA7, and the unburnt powder really ends up slowing the slide down after a couple hundred rounds and sometimes the slide will not return all the way back. Not a huge issue for practice, but it is a pain point for majors with higher round counts. This is also a fairly new recoil spring, maybe 1-2k rounds on it so it shouldn’t be too worn out yet. 
 

At the end of a major last year a local Honcho shooter saw one of these times the slide didn’t return all the back and I had to push the slide on a stage and the first thing he asked was what spring weight I was running and when I told him 6lb he said that has started using a 7lb and had much better luck along with a couple other guys he knows. 
 

So, is it worth trying a 7lb or should I go back to my HS-6 load which I remember having much less unburnt powder and thus being much cleaner. Any input is appreciated.  

[Robertwil18]

I ran a 7 without issue with my 9 major loads and it ran very flat.  

[MikeBurgess]

I would run whatever combination of ammo and springs results in 100% reliability, after that and I mean way down the list I would worry about what combination gets the dot to return to the spot it left from, then  about 200 places further down the list I would worry about how flat the gun is.

 

 

[ltdmstr]

Guy I was squadded with at MI Sectional last year, who I think was high overall, shot a Honcho open gun.  I got to check it out after the match and he told me he was using a 6 lb recoil spring.

[HI5-O]

I don’t think there’s any harm in trying it since others have used a 7lb and it worked for them. 

[looking4reloadingdeals]

So an update to this, I tried the 7lb spring and hated the recoil impulse from it. The muzzle was dipping bad. 
 

so I think I will going back to the 6lb, and trying out my HS-6 load again since i remember it shooting cleaner and when shot directly next to the AA7 load, I can’t tell that much of a difference. 
 

thanks for your input everyone

[HI5-O]

1 hour ago, looking4reloadingdeals said:

So an update to this, I tried the 7lb spring and hated the recoil impulse from it. The muzzle was dipping bad. 
 

so I think I will going back to the 6lb, and trying out my HS-6 load again since i remember it shooting cleaner and when shot directly next to the AA7 load, I can’t tell that much of a difference. 
 

thanks for your input everyone

Thanks for trying it and posting your results. I have a new Honcho to try out and conventional thinking had me seriously considering a heavier recoil spring. 

[looking4reloadingdeals]

12 hours ago, HI5-O said:

Thanks for trying it and posting your results. I have a new Honcho to try out and conventional thinking had me seriously considering a heavier recoil spring. 

Ya, stick with the 6lb to start. I like the feeling of that much better. I’ll report back after trying a couple hundred HS-6 and see if it’s a lot cleaner because I can’t remember 

[lroy]

You could try using a conventional instead of the 6lb variable spring they come with. Might help with that last bit of slide movement.

[looking4reloadingdeals]

On 2/1/2023 at 11:52 AM, lroy said:

You could try using a conventional instead of the 6lb variable spring they come with. Might help with that last bit of slide movement.

What is the difference between the two? I’m currently using a Wolff 6lb conventional recoil spring, which if I remember correctly is what they suggest you buy? 

[lroy]

1 hour ago, looking4reloadingdeals said:

What is the difference between the two? I’m currently using a Wolff 6lb conventional recoil spring, which if I remember correctly is what they suggest you buy? 

 

They recommend a variable spring.

 

Conventional springs have evenly spaced coils. Variable have tighter coils at the back end of the spring.

[looking4reloadingdeals]

1 hour ago, lroy said:

 

They recommend a variable spring.

 

Conventional springs have evenly spaced coils. Variable have tighter coils at the back end of the spring.

Interesting, I’ll check into that

[HI5-O]

I shot my new Honcho yesterday in 38SC and using Eley ammo (same lot that recorded a 174 of at A2 last year in my old gun) and had 6 failures to go into battery. Most I just had to apply slight pressure on the back of the slide and a couple I had to retract the slide a few millimeters and let go then it went into battery. Maybe it just needs to be broken in and the accuracy was impressive. I’m thinking of using a heavier spring for break in and going back to the 6lb once the gun smooths out. I was using new MBX 140 and STI and 2011 170’s. Only fired 35 rounds so far. 

[jubi351]

Look to see where the bullet is hitting the feed ramp. Might be hitting too low and slowing the slide down. A little tweek to the feed lips could fix it.