Recoil Springs

[jrwings]

What's the best practice for tuning your 1911 recoil spring to a particular load?

I have a 5" Kimber and have been shooting 230gr JRN. The brass exits the gun headed for the next zip code. Also, the spent brass has a small dent in the middle of the case after firing. The stock spring is 16lbs.

My intention is to begin increasing spring tension to the point of feed failures and then back off to the next lighter spring. Is there a "best practice" for tuning the recoil spring? Thanks.

 

[JDGray]

I like the brass landing 6'-8' away. I had a S&W SC Commander that I bet had a 20lb spring in it, the slide was hard to rack and the brass would only go a few feet, but the gun ran 100% so I left it in.

 

[Oro]

The CW on this is to get it landing 6' away and slightly behind with your preferred load. It will vary based on the load. It does sound like your recoil spring is either:

a) too light
b) worn out
c) defective

Don't rule out options b or c and 16 lbs may be the right answer, just that your current spring is not effective. An extended ejector can help quite a bit with consistency, also, if you find you are still having problems. I do not know what is in your Kimber - many guns come with them standard these days.

 

[Ken Rainey]

Your pistol has an extended ejector and will kick the brass out pretty good but should be around 10 feet, sometimes less. Recommended replacement interval is between 1.5K and 2K rds using standard pressure ammo. Stick with the 16 lb spring with standard factory type ammo, you'll not do your pistol any favors going to a heavier spring as it will slam the slide forward harder thus possibly causing impact damage. If you want to lessen your slide travel speed to the rear, I recommend getting an EGW oversize firing pin stop and fitting it to your slide with a slight break in the edge that hits the hammer...it's easy to do and has a noticeable effect....JMB designed it on the original pistols but the Army wanted it to be easier to rack with the hammer down and thus the FPS we see today....I pretty sure 1911Tuner has a thread on it around here somewhere explaining it in detail....

Edit to inquire if these are factory loads or something stouter, if shooting stouter I'd definetly recommend the EGW FPS.

 

[jrwings]

Great responses. Thanks. I hadn't thought of the firing pins stop. Now on order.
Is there a limit on load lightness with this converted firing pin stop? If I drop to a 185gr SWC, with that kick the slide all the way back?

 

[Ken Rainey]

A normal target loaded 185 SWC should still function the pistol...although it could be loaded too light to function even with a standard FPS and 16 lb recoil spring...if it doesn't function with the target loads after the installation of the slightly rounded edged EGW FPS, then I would either use the regular FPS with those loads and/or use a lighter recoil spring with them, something around 13 lbs should do...just have to try'em out and see. The EGW (JMB's) FPS is (was) designed to be used with the standard 230 or maybe the original 200 grain load, not exactly sure which, so using it with anything lighter is just a try it and see type deal....