Recoil Spring for 4.0 Clays 230 gr FMJ

[Lumpy McSoo]

Hello,

I am just getting back to my love affair with 5 inch 1911's after having some Glock mistresses for this past IDPA season. I was going to try 230 gr FMJ/CMJ with the following:

230 gr FMJ or CMJ or plated (I have some of all 3)

Bullet brands are Montana Gold CMJ, Winchester FMJ, Frontier plated, Precision Delta FMJ

4.0 grs Clays

Remington 2 1/2 Large Pistol Primer

1.250 COL

What crimp should I use? 0.468? 0.470? 0.472?

Also, I have 15 lb and 18 lb recoil springs and I wasn't sure which one to try first. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

From the searches I think this should be a good load. If not, what else would be suggested?

Thanks, Lumpy

[bkeeler]

I use a 13lb variable recoil spring.

BK

[HighVelocity]

I use a 14.5' variable and a taper crimp.

[Matt Cheely]

13lb here.

[LPatterson]

For the plated Frontier .472 for the others .470

[AustinMike]

I'm running this same load, which runs almost 170PF in my Kimber. Are you guys with the light springs running a recoil buffer or anything? When I tried a 14# I started noticing some peening in the slide where I guess it was whacking the frame. I went to a 16#. I'd like to go lighter, but a buffer won't allow the slide to go into battery.

[Jaxshooter]

13# variable recoil spring. Crimped with a tapered crimp die from Lee.

[Merlin Orr]

I'm running this same load, which runs almost 170PF in my Kimber. Are you guys with the light springs running a recoil buffer or anything? When I tried a 14# I started noticing some peening in the slide where I guess it was whacking the frame. I went to a 16#. I'd like to go lighter, but a buffer won't allow the slide to go into battery.

Sounds like your spring is going solid to me...?

[AustinMike]

Not sure, Merlin. It's seemed fine with the 16# spring and I haven't tried to troubleshoot it any further. It would be nice to be able to drop down. So, you think the 14# was too long?

[HSMITH]

If the dustcover and recoil face aren't flat and/or the guide rod head isn't fitted correctly and flat you will get some peening, the heavier spring is just delaying the same result. The same damage is occurring, just at a slower rate. If the spring goes solid the bushing won't last 100 rounds before it breaks, if it is a bull barrel gun or a bushing gun with a reverse plug really expensive things will break with a spring going solid. Usually cracks the slide....

I run a 14# ISMI spring in a 5" bushing barrel 45 with a typical factory-ish weight slide.

Crimp is determined by the following formula: case mouth thickness x 2, plus the bullet diameter. If the case mouth thickness is .011" x 2 = .022" + .451" the proper 'crimp' will be .473". Any bigger and you can affect reliability, any smaller and you risk setback of the bullet during feeding and degraded accuracy.

[Merlin Orr]

Not sure, Merlin. It's seemed fine with the 16# spring and I haven't tried to troubleshoot it any further. It would be nice to be able to drop down. So, you think the 14# was too long?

Based on what Howard says I don't know if that was a good observation or not. I had an untrimmed ISMI in my 6" for a long time and then while tinkering with it noticed that the slide would not do a full stroke because the spring was to long. I don't know how many rounds I put through it before I finally saw this but it was more than a few....

The 14# spring may or may not be too long but IMO is is not to light.

[bkeeler]

I'm running this same load, which runs almost 170PF in my Kimber. Are you guys with the light springs running a recoil buffer or anything? When I tried a 14# I started noticing some peening in the slide where I guess it was whacking the frame. I went to a 16#. I'd like to go lighter, but a buffer won't allow the slide to go into battery.

No buffer. 13lb variable recoil spring. No problems.

BK

[SingleStacker45]

I have not confirmed this but I have read that different brands of recoil springs may have different weights even though they are rated the same. I think there are too many variables just to say a given weight works with a given load. Things like hammer spring weight can have a huge impact on the recoil effect of a given load. Also, It seems to me that different pistols have differing amounts of space for the recoil spring which as mentioned before might allow the spring to competely compress before the slide can hit the frame.

Mule

[zhunter]

12.5# here

[Joe D]

14# - no buff. Think about the 1911 platform a minute. It was designed to run at a 190 PF with a 16# spring. A 14# spring with a 168-170 PF is not an issue. Don't forget to factor in the main spring weight.

[lmccrock]

Also, I have 15 lb and 18 lb recoil springs and I wasn't sure which one to try first.

Of those, try 15. I have run 14 and 15. I probably have about 15K rounds thru the gun, almost all major PF, and there is some peening. No buffs, except for some experiments which did not show improvement. For me, buffs seem like one more thing to go wrong.

If the loads make power factor, try all the bullets. With a Zero 230 FMJ, 4.0gr of Clays is a little light for my gun. I need about 4.2gr. Plated would probably need a little less.

Interesting that some are running a 12.5-13lb spring for a 45. That is lower than I recall, with major loads.

Lee

[Harmon]

i use a 14 and i dont know what the crimp is set at...i know its not much.

[HHjr]

I too run a 14# no buff ..... I always check for a too long a spring by locking the slide back, then pull the slide back to see if it will move rearward enough to push the slide catch lever down. If not I trim off a coil until it will. I do this for my guns w/ buffs as well.

This 45 for some reason is hell on buffers even with 18# springs .... I mean 200 rounds and they are cut up ....so I tossed it on this one (a fullhouse custom Bilby built on a Caspian frame/slide). my other 1911's (9mm, 10mm and another 45) go thousands of rounds on same buffer.

My 2cents worth.

Harold H.