When To Replace The Recoil Spring?

[JFD]

I doubt if he's ever tried it or else he wouldn't have made that statement. I know folks doing it, and they never had a problem. IMHO you have to be crazy to use anything stronger than 14 lbs. Changing to a 14 lb spring give dramatic results, but after that it becomes very subjective with further drops in spring weight. Of course I'm speaking for myself.

I tried a 12 lb spring in my .45 Kimber with 174 PF loads today. It looks like further testing will be needed to see if I make the switch permanent. It's the same spring I use in my .40 Limited gun.

I guess I should be happy there are folks out there fighting with their 16 - 18 lb springs. Less folks to worry about in the final results

[ryan45kim]

From the GMs I’ve had a chance to talk to I’d say there average recoil spring rate in a 1911 40S&W limited gun is between 9lb—12.5lb. I can not recall anyone running a spring over 12.5lb.

[Mick]

With Wolff springs every 2500 - 3000. With ISMI springs ever long long long while....... I have more than 10 K on my Caspian/STI .45 and it MIGHT be 1/2" shorter.... Don't be afraid to change them as it is cheap and easy.

My .02

When I used Wolff I changed every 3000 rounds but as Merlin says with ISMI chrome silicon springs I wait until I feel a difference or see it's a coil or two shorter.

They're $5.31 in Brownell's so change them if you like but I went 6 months with the same 14# in my SV .40 shooting only 171 pf loads. That amounts to over 10M rounds and I didn't feel a difference and it looked only 1 coil shorter.

I tried a 12.5# in my .40 and didn't like it, it cycled too slow and I waited on the front sight to return. I just rebuilt the lockwork and the current SV will give .11 splits on demand that ARE controllable with a 14# spring. I went as low as 9# and as high as 16#. My original SV came with a 14# 11 years ago and I have learned to love the 14# spring. Others don't.

I know two good young shooters who both shoot .40 bushing barrel guns. One uses a 9# spring and the other uses a 16#. Their guns feel drastically different but they both shoot them well. The guy with the 9# is 6'5" and 270 so he can handle the kick at the back of the stroke. I prefer the other guys gun and IF I ever run a bushing barrel gun it will have a 16#

recoil spring and a 17# mainspring.

I run 14#s in my 5" fat free, my 5" classic slide gun, and a 5" long/heavy gun...

Anyone know the history on ISMI springs?

p.s. I run a 16# in my .45 single stack with a PB 230 grain over 4.0 grains of Clays @ 760 fps. It's pretty soft.

[HI5-O]

I just check the length against a new one every so often or; when it starts giving me problems and; especially before I shoot in a big and expensive match.

b

Edited March 31, 2007 by HI5-O

[bkeeler]

ISMI recoil springs once a year.

BK

[Rob Bartley]

I went to my local gunsmith who had only Wolf springs. I purchased one and compared it to the original in my gun. The old spring was a half inch shorter so I replaced it. I will purchase a couple new ISMI springs to have on hand and replace as needed. Thanks for all of your help.

[Carmoney]

Companies that make springs "might" just have an ulterior motive for providing very low round counts between changes

Ya think????

Most newer shooters are still way over-sprung on their recoil springs. They don't realize that a recoil spring that is too heavy is actually harder on the gun than one that is too light (1911s are designed to slam open good and hard, but they don't do well when they slam closed too hard, particularly pistols with nice competition trigger jobs).

Most shooters change out their recoil springs unnecessarily often. After initial compression (which is generally obtained after a couple hundred cycles), they don't change much.

But what do you expect to hear from people who are trying to sell springs??

[Radical Precision Designs]

If at all possible, obtain a "1911 Recoil Spring Tester". Most of them will have a mark in the internal "guide rod" for the "at battery" measure in addition to the "compressed" measure.

The main idea with one of these tools is to make sure the spring you are using indeed measures what it was advertised at. Many springs do not measure at the exact poundage as their wrapper states they are. Therein could be a problem when you replace the spring with a similar one from the same or different manufacturer. The same applies to the overall lenght for different brands of springs. Comparing the "new" lenght to a spring bought at a different time may surprise you to find that they are not the same lenght, even though they are both new and of the same brand. It is even more so when the new one is from a different brand. This is why it is a good idea to buy several springs at the same time, verify their "matching" length. And, if you happen to own a 1911 Recoil Spring Tester, use it to verify uniformity of spring weigth, as advertised.

There are two measures to be concerned about when rating a recoil spring: first the compressed or advertised weight, and the most important one the AT BATTERY weight. Most malfunctions/deficiencies will not be a result of the overall "advertised weight" changing. In fact even well worn springs seldom loose that much strenght from their initial "compressed" rating when the overall lenght gets a little bit shorter. But ... the "at battery" (or what I call residual) strength will change considerably when the spring gets "fatigued" and shortens with use. The use of the 1911 Recoil Spring Tester will show these variances from a new spring or a worn out one. Basically, if you have a spring that only has, let's say one and half to two pounds of "residual" pressure at battery you will very likely encounter malfunction problems when the slide refuses to close completely on a live round. (This is just an arbitrary number which will vary with individual guns)

Technically the longer a spring is at the beginning the longer it will last, as the stress is spread/shared among more coils over its usefull life. Some spring brands will retain a higher residual pressure over their life than others, while their compressed weight will basically remain barely changed. I hope this info will help some.