1911Tuner
Moderator Emeritus
I don't know how controllable it was. I didn't shoot it. I've shot .45s several times without a spring, and it's not a lot different than shooting it with a spring. You can best answer that question by trying it for yourself. Use a full-length guide rod. The standard rod will get cattywampus without the spring, and damage the gun.
The small radius stop is mostly about adding a bit to the slide's delay and giving the bullet more time to exit. It works to bleed momentum from the slide, and thus slows it down a bit...but that wasn't my idea. It was John Browning's...and as I said before...he and the Colt team worked out the spring rates a long time ago.
But, we're digressing a bit. No?
Let's recap the recap.
Eddie stated that he's shot 30,000 rounds on 14 pound springs. No frame damage.
I've got a pair of Colts that have never seen more than 16 pound springs, and I've used 14 pound springs in them at times...for nearly 200,00 rounds per gun. I've shot old, soft USGI pistols with GI-spec hardball...with the GI surplus springs because that's all we had. Figure about 14.5 pounds for those. No frame damage.
Jim Keenan reports 8500 rounds of hardball through a Norinco on the original Chinese spring. No frame damage.
You'd think that with all that shootin' there would be some impact abutment peening, regardless of the spring...because the slide hits the frame every time the gun fires.
Yet...in nearly 5 decades of 1911 shootin'...and there have been many and there's been a lot of ammo burned...I've never seen the "peening" that everybody is so bent outta the hatframe over unless the abutment was badly machined, and those got beaten out within 200 rounds.
So, ask yourself a question.
If the spring doesn't prevent frame damage...what is the other "important function" that you keep alluding to? It only does two things.
But, I'll tell ya what I'll do. I'll do a one-man workshop with Hangingrock at his convenience, and I'll let him shoot one of my pistols without a spring so he can report on how hard it kicks.
What say you HR? You game? Say when. I'm retired and pretty much available any day.
The small radius stop is mostly about adding a bit to the slide's delay and giving the bullet more time to exit. It works to bleed momentum from the slide, and thus slows it down a bit...but that wasn't my idea. It was John Browning's...and as I said before...he and the Colt team worked out the spring rates a long time ago.
But, we're digressing a bit. No?
Let's recap the recap.
Eddie stated that he's shot 30,000 rounds on 14 pound springs. No frame damage.
I've got a pair of Colts that have never seen more than 16 pound springs, and I've used 14 pound springs in them at times...for nearly 200,00 rounds per gun. I've shot old, soft USGI pistols with GI-spec hardball...with the GI surplus springs because that's all we had. Figure about 14.5 pounds for those. No frame damage.
Jim Keenan reports 8500 rounds of hardball through a Norinco on the original Chinese spring. No frame damage.
You'd think that with all that shootin' there would be some impact abutment peening, regardless of the spring...because the slide hits the frame every time the gun fires.
Yet...in nearly 5 decades of 1911 shootin'...and there have been many and there's been a lot of ammo burned...I've never seen the "peening" that everybody is so bent outta the hatframe over unless the abutment was badly machined, and those got beaten out within 200 rounds.
So, ask yourself a question.
If the spring doesn't prevent frame damage...what is the other "important function" that you keep alluding to? It only does two things.
But, I'll tell ya what I'll do. I'll do a one-man workshop with Hangingrock at his convenience, and I'll let him shoot one of my pistols without a spring so he can report on how hard it kicks.
What say you HR? You game? Say when. I'm retired and pretty much available any day.