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Ok you guys, I tried to order two EGW firing pin stops from Brownells this weekend and they're out! Must be you folks bought them all, thanks to this thread and Tuner. Now I have to wait.
I got my FPS in a while back and had time today to fit it. Took about an hour to file down the sides (same amount off of each side based on the previous stop). I made it a tad tighter than the old one. I rounded the radius using a 5/32" drill bit as a guide like Tuner said then polished off with 320 and 600 sandpaper making sure that the shoulder stayed even all the way across. Reblued using cold blue and installed in gun. Function tested fine and wasn't nearly as difficult to rack the slide as I had been led to believe. Took it to the range and test fired with no issues. I cannot really tell if the recoil is reduced or not. Won't really know till I get on a clock with it.
You may not have noticed much difference if you're using a lighter than standard mainspring. That's part of the whole enchilada, and it doesn't really start showing up until the mainspring load gets up above 21 pounds.
I am using a standard mainspring...whatever that # might be. I toyed with the idea of lightening it but I didn't based on your recommendation a while back. On a side note though, I have really got this gun tweaked out now and I LOVE shooting it now.
How much does the firing pin stop modification increase recycle time? Is the increase in time offset by greater control? I know this is picky, just wonderin'.
Well, I can detect no perceivable delay over what I had. I CAN tell you that during double-tap drills yesterday, it seemed like I was back on target a tad faster than before. 'course that could be because that was what I was expecting. Like I said, I really won't know if this is a definite improvement until I get on the clock at the next match.
You won't have any perception of a delay. The difference is what you noticed. Since a little more of the slide's momentum is absorbed at the beginning by the mainspring, it doesn't hit the frame as hard...and the muzzle flip is reduced when it does hit. The stronger the mainspring, the more difference you'll notice. Standard is 23 pounds. It's a different "feel" than just using a stiffer recoil spring to soften the impact, since the recoil psring tends to push against you as the slide moves. The small radius/stiff mainspring soaks it up right at the beginning and over just a tiny amount of slide travel. Once the hammer is cocked, its effect is over...except that the slide's speed and momentum is reduced before the recoil spring really has an effect.
Interesting dynamics when really study the whole effect...and more noticeable when you swap FP stops and try'em back-to-back.
Your Springer's stop has the 7/32nd inch radius at the bottom. The one we're using is the EGW square-bottomed stop with a smaller .078-inch (nominal) radius that has to be hand-cut, and was the standard radius in the original design before the Army asked for the one like yours. It was requested in order to make the pistol easier to hand-cycle with the hammer down.
Okay, here is a somewhat blurry pic of what the before and after looks like. The FPS in the foreground is the one that came on my Kimber (current design) and the one in the background is the original JMB design.
Good pictures Tarpley. Thanks! It may be the lighting, but the finished
radius looks a bit larger than .078 inch...and is larger than I use. If that's
a correct assessment, that may be why you don't feel a lot of difference
in the recoil. Hard to tell from here, though...
I used a 5/32" drill bit to gauge mine. That was based on a PM from you 'Tuner. Is that the right size? And, yes, it is the same size as that _5/32"_ bit.
edit to add: I think I have discovered the error...5/32" is .16" and 5/64" is .08". I think I was supposed to use a 5/64" bit.
edit again: 'Tuner, I see you corrected the spec for the drill bit. Cool, I was going to suggest that you do. I had originally questioned how we got to .078" using a 5/32" anyway. Now I know what happened. I will leave it as is...seems to be a good compromise.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WANTING TO DO THIS, MAKE SURE YOU USE A 5/64" BIT.
5/64 = .078
It's the 5/64ths bit...My apologies Greg. I had my head screwed on backward that day...and made the same mistake here on the thread. I was thinkin' in half diameters and didn't catch it before gamachinist did.
Your radius will slow things down quite a bit...just not as much as the .078 radius will. I'm gonna call Brownells today and order a few things. I'll have'em toss in a new EGW stop and send it...or...if they're still out of stock on the pre-80 Series type, you can order one from EGW and I'll pay for it in exchange for the stop you have pictured. I can always find a use for it.
let me know how you want to do it.
Again...My apologies to all for my brainfart on this project.
After reading this thread yesterday I went home planning on working on the FPS on both of my 1911s, but when I looked at them they both have the FPS like the blurry one in TarpleyG's picture. One is a Kimber TLE II and the other is a Springfield Mil Spec.
So the question is am I already getting the lower felt recoil or should I replace the FPS with one modified like 1911Tuner suggests?
Greg...I'm already on it. Brownells still outta stock. I'll call EGW and order direct. I'll be ordering 5, and will hold one back for you. I'll go ahead and put the radius on all of'em, so all you'll need to do is fit it to the slide...
Let me know when you're ready. My mistake...My responsibility.
Tallgrass...You'll get the reduction over the now standard stop...but it won't
provide quite as much difference as the .078 radius. Looks like somebody caught on to the return to original mindset...thought that the .078 radius
looked a bit too brutal...and split the difference. Interesting.
FWIW...One of the top guns in the custom industry tinkered around with that radius in a 10mm pistol and found that he could get the same frame protection
with the EGW stop and an 18 pound recoil spring as with the 7/32nd radius and a 22-pound recoil spring...with reduced muzzle flip to boot. IIRC, it
was Ned Christiansen...but I may be mistaken on that, so don't hold me to it.
You have to but a new firing pin stop. A company called EGW makes one that is both oversized and that has a square corner where that radius is. You have to first fit it into the channel like a normal FPS then you have to radius the bottom edge to a 5/64" (.078") corner.
Go back and reread the thread and you'll understand better what is going on.
I have made no scientific measurements. My Delta Elite with an 18 pound recoil spring, and an unknown, but definitely 23+ mainspring, (probably 25, it came with the gun), plus the small radius firing pin stop, flings ejected brass about 2 feet further than a stock Gov't model firing factory hardball.
This is with a heavy load of Power Pistol, and 180 grain bullets.
If Colt had used this setup, I think that they would still be manufacturing Delta Elites.
No voo-doo, no black magic. Just simple physics in action.
Before the addition of the small radius fring pin stop, the same loads in that gun would send brass halfway into the next county, even with a 20 pound spring.
I am sold on the concept. I am thinking about using the reverse side of that concept in a 9mm Gov't model. Works both ways.
Any available in stainless? OTOH, I've had a blue extractor in my electroless nickel Colt for years until I found one in stainless and it never bothered me. I'm not running out and replacing any on a working gun, but I'll also replace the slide stop with one of these EGW ones next time an extractor breaks as the quality of extractors seems suspect these days.
Good thread. Someone should send this to Kel-Tec, I bet this is the basic problem with the P3AT extraction issues -- too rounded at the bottom of the slide to make up for the heavy recoil springs on the little gun.
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