Wolff Reduced Power springs for N-frame

[Sam1911]

Hi!

So for Christmas I got both the "standard" and "reduced" power Wolff springs kits for my 629.

I thought the "standard" mainspring with the 13-lb rebound spring felt GREAT!

Then I tried the "reduced" power mainspring. Wow. That's light. Not that I use SA for much, but the SA pull is now lighter than any of my rifles or my 1911. I'm guessing it has to be less than 2 lbs.

All my competition loads are now fired with Fed 150 primers, which are as soft as you can get, from what I've been told. What should I expect? Does the Wolff reduced mainspring still light them off, or can I expect to have to swap it back out for the standard?

Thanks!

-Sam

 

[Jim Watson]

I think you will be ok. I have to use a full power spring in my M25-2 because of the flexibility of the moon clips, but your .44 will hold headspace off the rim and get an adequate whack with the soft spring.

Depending on how fast you shoot, the soft rebound spring may or may not return the trigger quick enough.

Naturally you will test all this on paper, not on angry bears or bank robbers.

 

[Sam1911]

Thanks for the analysis! Sounds good to me. I'm planning to hit the range for a serious practice session on Sunday and I'll take the "standard" springs with me. First FTF and in they go.

Shame, though. Now what am I going to do with all these angry bears?

 

[Jim Watson]

Hope you meet the bears on the way back with a tested gun.

 

[PRM]

Only experience I have had with the reduced power main springs was on an 1851 Navy, 2nd Generation Colt BP. One trip to the range and I changed it out. Not enough "ummph" to pop the caps 2 out of 5 shots.

 

[altitude_19]

Never even wasted the money. My 325 came with a THIRTEEN POUND DA pull. Talked to my gunsmith (not quite up to working on my own rig yet) and he said he could have it fixed in about 45 min. Just clipped a couple coils off the rebound spring and BLAMMO: 7 lb DA trigger pull. The lesson? It's NOT the hammer spring. It's the rebound spring. For some reason S&W builds revolvers with OBSCENELY heavy rebound springs.

 

[Sam1911]

The lesson? It's NOT the hammer spring. It's the rebound spring. For some reason S&W builds revolvers with OBSCENELY heavy rebound springs.

It's actually, and quite noticeably, both. The Wolff kits come with a main spring (either a standard or a reduced power) AND each kit comes with three rebound springs - 13 lb., 14 lb., and 15 lbs.

Right now I have in the reduced power main spring and the 13 lb. rebound spring. The trigger pull is VERY light.

The reason you can't do it all with the rebound spring in every case is just as Jim said in his post: A fast wheel-gunner can overrun a soft rebound spring, meaning he can get his trigger finger going fast enough that the rebound spring isn't keeping the trigger moving fast enough to keep up. You start to get "short-stroked" trigger pulls and other foul-ups. From what I've read, Jerry Miculek (just as one, very well known, example) uses a much HEAVIER than stock rebound spring because he's driving the gun so fast.

I'm not that fast, by a long shot, and I'll have to play with the springs (including stock parts, I count 12 possible combinations) to see where my balance is between soft pull and smooth, sure action.

Oh, and the primers have to light. That's big.

-Sam

 

[snowtigger]

I have reduced power springs in my Ruger SRH 454 Casull. They don't want to light CCI primers consistently, but I use either Federal or Winchester primers without problems.
If I decide to carry this for bear protection, I will probably go back to
full power springs. If I have to use it for that , I want to know it's going to go "bang" every time.
The only sound louder than "Bang", when it's supposed to go "Click" is when it goes "Click' when it's supposed to go "Bang".

 

[altitude_19]

Sam,
Guess you're right. I could have phrased this much better. I meant I found the "balance" your referring to. MY problem was that the pull was TOO heavy for the purpose of the gun. The 325 is a fighting revolver and my cold-weather EDC. Being a fighting gun, I'm simply not comfortable in the least sacrificing the amount of WHACK the hammer can lay down on a primer. So, for a fighting N-frame, one can get away with clipping a few coils off the rebound spring without sacrificing ignition. As far as setting it up for competition, I'm afraid I'd be a bit out of my league.

 

[Stainz]

I have 'fixed' two gunsmith-induced trigger faults - both from clipped coils on the rebound spring and re-curved hammer leafs. The symptons were scratchy feeling and a sudden large increase in effort before the DA break. The fault? A coil spring has a start coil and a stop coil, it's linear obeyance to Hooke's law occurs when the spring is compressed beyond it's required pre-load - and you've changed that by changing it's length and removing that start/stop turn, also likely resulting in a drag from the clipped wire's burr rubbing the inside of the rebound slide. The cure? Leave the OEM spring alone - save it - replace it with a reduced power. Jerry Miculek likes a stiff rebound spring so he won't over-run it - I aint him!

Re-curving, ie, bending, the leaf spring is hard to do in such a manner that the spring will not flex in the same plane - and may produce an increasing drag in DA. The cure is a new lighter spring. Wolff's, with their open back, may have a problem reaching their proper pre-load with stock strain screws that have been filed/ground in a factory 'tuned action', like my 625JM and 627 Pro came with. The screw's end needs to bear on the flat part of the leaf, not intrude into the 'tunnel', lessening the DA pull as well as that pre-load. Get full-length strain screws - if, as some still will, they intrude into that tunnel, use only the 'full power' Wolff leaf. That screw is not an adjustment - it must 'bottom-out' to stay tight! I have that ful power spring in my 6" 629 in case I want to shoot up some of the 'factory' .44 Magnums I seem to inherit (All of my homebrew ammo uses Fed primers - and my .44 Magnums can best be described as 'wimpy'!). My 4" 629 is a fun shooter - and has the reduced power Wolff. My CCWs have OEM springs.

Don't forget - S&W simply wants your revolver to pop anyone's primers - even when dirty - and return that trigger efficiently, too. That is the reason for the strong springs. Save them - if you ever send your revolver in for some 'work', it will come back with OEM springs anyway!

Stainz

PS I have found - from someone else's suggestion - how to make an 'adjustable strain screw' - a hardened SS #8-32 x .5" socket-headed set screw, 2/$.56 at 'Home Depot', and some blue Loctite.

 

[Racinbob]

My 6" 1982 vintage 66 is really just a range gun for me. I put in a Wolff Type 2 (reduced) main and a 14# rebound along with a bit of polishing. So far never a failure and the action is incredible. One of the range masters tried it out. He didn't want to give it back. Now that my older 60 is no longer my ccw I put a 15# rebound and 8# main along with the polishing. No failures single or double and the s/a is almost too light. I may go to a 16#. No problems on trigger return in either case.

 

[Sam1911]

A little too good

Hey all!

So I had a big practice session today and learned a few things.

First off, for me, for now, in this gun, the 13 lb rebound spring works great.

The reduced power mainspring didn't do so well. I got 3 failures to fire out of the cylinder of .44 mag I ran through (with CCI mag primers) as a test. I got through several cyls. of my .44 Spcs. (with Fed 150s) but then got a failure to fire or two even with those. So I stopped and swapped back in the "standard" mainspring.

Everything, including the CCI magnums, lit off just fine after that. Very smooth. I'm happy with it for now.

-Sam