recoil master

[mcattack]

I have a fellow shooter that shoots limited with a recoil master but it keeps breaking. He has heard that you can mill the barrel flat just before the lugs and it will stop the RM from breaking. Anyone have any suggestions about this and what has to be done. It seems to me the lugs need to be flat right where the lugs connect to the barrel also. I would appreciate any help. I am going to try and help him solve his problem. He loves the RM and does not want to go back to regular guide rod.

Edited December 23, 2007 by mcattack

[JThompson]

I have a fellow shooter that shoots limited with a recoil master but it keeps breaking. He has heard that you can mill the barrel flat just before the lugs and it will stop the RM from breaking. Anyone have any suggestions about this and what has to be done. It seems to me the lugs need to be flat right where the lugs connect to the barrel also. I would appreciate any help. I am going to try and help him solve his problem. He loves the RM and does not want to go back to regular guide rod.

Step one... take the broken one and throw it away.

Step two... get a solid one and put it back in.

Step three... forget about it.

[dajarrel]

I'm not a gunsmith.

I was told by one that milling (or filing) a flat 50 thou from the radius (most material removed is at highest part of arc) would reduce the breakage on the recoil masters. I understand but haven't seen, that STI sends their barrels already milled with the recoil master. Find a newer STI with a recoil master and look at it.

Don't do the work based on what I have written but check with a "real" gunsmith. Better yet, let him do it.

Good Luck

dj

ps

I have one gun with a recoil master and one with a tungsten full lenght guide rod. If I had to pick between the two, I'd go with the tungsten.

fwiw

dj

[G-ManBart]

I'm not a gunsmith either, but I do know the new STI's that come with a bull barrel and a RM have a flat section on the bottom of the barrel.

With that said, mine started going south after maybe 5K through the gun....it was pretty beat up on one end and it seemed to be rough on the reverse plug as well. No matter what your buddy does, he's going to always have the possibility of it breaking....anything that can, will, and just when you really don't want it to!

I talked with a big name 'smith about them not long ago and he spoke reasonably positively about them. I asked him if he ran one in his gun and he said "no way!"....that told me a lot I've taken them out of both the guns I had them in and I like the feel even better after I tried one or two different recoil springs and found the ones I like.

[John Dunn]

Friends don't let friends use recoil masters. After breaking two I decided it was a Twinkie part, and cast it into the outer darkness.

[SLM]

So whose full length guide rods are you folks using and what weight recoil spring for 9 major?

[trevoro]

I guess I just wont believe the negatives about the RM until it happens to me. I have about 15k on mine with no problem.

[G-ManBart]

So whose full length guide rods are you folks using and what weight recoil spring for 9 major?

I have a standard STI one-piece in a couple of guns and they work fine. The recoil spring will vary on the weight of your slide, the weight of the barrel/comp and the ammo you use. Most Open guns out there are probably using something between 7 and 10lbs....easy enough to buy a couple and see which works and feels the best.

[basman]

2-9 major guns one set up with a light RM and the other with standard guide rod and 10 lb spring. the RM has 12K on it, the standad about 6K. there is not much difference in feel between the two. If the RM every breaks i'll go to a standard guide rod.

[RH45]

I have recoilmasters in two pistols and have spares for both because of Murphy's law that says anything that can go wrong, will.

Maybe I'm missing something, but, I thought the recoilmasters had a lifetime warranty, and STI would replace them. So, why would I want to replace them at my own cost with something else if they were to break?

[DougCarden]

Because they will always break at a critical time......at a match when you are doing well.....I have seen too many RMs in pieces to have any faith in them, and My GS told me not in his guns too.......

DougC

[scirocco38s]

I have been shooting with RM's since late 2003. They work good and do what an open gun needs, But they break and break often. STI does stand behind them and that is good. I have 4 that I keep in rotation and when 1 breaks I send it to sti and install a new one. When the next one breaks I start the process all over again.I can usually get about 20k thru one before it is toast. I have never yet had 1 break in a limited gun, only open. There is a local gunsmith that will take your broken recoilmaster and using the springs reverse engineer you a new one that will not break. What I dont understand is why doesnt sti spend 2 dollars more and redesign the thing where it wouldnt break, I am sending them 2 a year minimum and after a while it has got to start costing them.(Although they probably dont have 5 bucks in the thing in the first place) Last year I changed over to springco's and have them working the same way as the recoilmaster without the breakage issue but you cant run them or RM;s in the new SVI imm open guns as they are to long.

[G-ManBart]

Because they will always break at a critical time......at a match when you are doing well.....I have seen too many RMs in pieces to have any faith in them, and My GS told me not in his guns too.......

DougC

+1

I think it comes down to a risk/reward sort of deal. Is the possible benefit available in a guide rod design worth more than it's chances of breaking and taking you entirely out of the match standings? For some folks I'm sure they've done the comparison on a timer and found they can shoot faster with a RM in their gun. I'd be willing to bet that most folks are going only on feel and we know that feel and what the timer reveals are often two different things. Even if they can shoot faster with that RM...how much faster can it be?

I'm certainly no world champion, but I know that I've beaten a lot of people because their equipment failed them. Anything that I can do to remove those sorts of failures is worth lots of time on the clock. One jam is going to cost more than all the faster splits in a match combined and a guide rod failure will cost exponentially more than a jam.

[Brazos Custom]

I have not seen any break lately. The head was redesigned a few years back and made thicker to allow for more threads. The frame and slide impact surfaces both need to be square (no ledges). If they are not it will torque the head and strip the threads or break the rod. This is true on tungsten guide rods also. I have seen recoilmasters come unscrewed. What I tell customers is to check the head every time you clean the gun - if you can unscrew the head even a little return it for another one. On all of the ones that came unscrewed the guide rod flew out the front of the gun and the gun still ran fine (it is just a pain to take apart.) Most people notice it because the gun recoils a little different - you are running on one spring.

[Flexmoney]

Bob,

Do you use them in the guns you build?

[al503]

Bob,

Do you use them in the guns you build?

Bob uses them in his open guns but goes with a standard guiderod in his limited guns.

[Brazos Custom]

I use them in the Pro Sx open gun (have been for 4-5 years now) because I like the dual spring rate for that set up . In the limited guns I use a regular guide rod because I feel like the Heavy 5 inch model spring rate is just about the same as a 13lb variable spring, I prefer the 12 lb variable spring. The 5 inch light version is too light for a limited gun.

Edited December 24, 2007 by Brazos Custom