Sunday, October 02, 2005
springs
If you've been reading for a while, you've probably figured out that I carry a 1911. I have several revolvers and don't feel "undergunned" with any of them, but if I had to pick one type of handgun to bet my life on it would be a 1911.
Springs are vital to the proper operation of a semi-automatic pistol. The gun rags have done a reasonable job of convincing the general shooting public that recoil springs wear out and need to be changed once in a while. IMHO, a worn out recoil spring in a 1911 will usually still function....it will just beat the hell out of your gun while it does it. For my money, the most important spring in a 1911 is the magazine spring. I've spent a lot of time shooting 1911's and watching other people shoot 1911's at the range. I've never seen a malfunction from a worn out recoil spring. That doesn't mean it can't happen, it just means that I've never seen it happen.
The two most common reasons for the malfunctions I've seen are not enough extractor tension and weak magazine springs. When I see someone at the range that is having trouble with their 1911, the first thing I do is to hand them one of my magazines. That usually fixes the feeding problems. Not every time, but well over 80%. In my guns, the first sign of a weak magazine spring is a failure to feed of the last round in the mag. There are no gimme's....one feeding malfunction and I replace the spring.
I also completely disassemble all of my mags once a year and inspect the springs even if they haven't been causing trouble. Since my birthday was this weekend, it was time to strip everything down. I have a dozen 8 round Chip McCormick mags, six 10 round Chip McCormick mags, and a dozen generic mil-spec 7 round mags. The 7 and 10-rounders are mainly used at the range and not for carry purposes, so their springs don't go bad as often as the 8 rounders. The 8's are my primary mags for carry purposes, so half of them are always loaded. Each month I rotate my carry ammunition (by shooting it, of course) and load the other 6 mags when I'm done. That way each set of 6 mags is loaded for a month, then unloaded for a month. At the end of the year each magazine has been fully loaded for 6 months.
I know a lot of engineers who say that it is the number of compression cycles that determines the wear rate on a coil spring. That's fine. Engineer all you want. With 3 of us in the family shooting the several hundred rounds through the 1911's at least twice a month, all of the mags experience a lot of compression cycles. It's the ones that stay loaded all the time that wear out, thank you very much. The ones that get "cycled" and then put away unloaded don't wear out nearly as fast.
This year's inspection revealed 5 springs that were shorter than spec but weren't causing any feeding problems yet. A few minutes online at Chip McCormick's website and 6 new springs are on their way. At $4 each with free shipping it's cheap insurance. The short springs will go in the tool box for emergency spares.
When was the last time you checked your springs?
_
Mandatory tupperware insult: People who carry, carry Glocks. People who shoot carry 1911's.
Springs are vital to the proper operation of a semi-automatic pistol. The gun rags have done a reasonable job of convincing the general shooting public that recoil springs wear out and need to be changed once in a while. IMHO, a worn out recoil spring in a 1911 will usually still function....it will just beat the hell out of your gun while it does it. For my money, the most important spring in a 1911 is the magazine spring. I've spent a lot of time shooting 1911's and watching other people shoot 1911's at the range. I've never seen a malfunction from a worn out recoil spring. That doesn't mean it can't happen, it just means that I've never seen it happen.
The two most common reasons for the malfunctions I've seen are not enough extractor tension and weak magazine springs. When I see someone at the range that is having trouble with their 1911, the first thing I do is to hand them one of my magazines. That usually fixes the feeding problems. Not every time, but well over 80%. In my guns, the first sign of a weak magazine spring is a failure to feed of the last round in the mag. There are no gimme's....one feeding malfunction and I replace the spring.
I also completely disassemble all of my mags once a year and inspect the springs even if they haven't been causing trouble. Since my birthday was this weekend, it was time to strip everything down. I have a dozen 8 round Chip McCormick mags, six 10 round Chip McCormick mags, and a dozen generic mil-spec 7 round mags. The 7 and 10-rounders are mainly used at the range and not for carry purposes, so their springs don't go bad as often as the 8 rounders. The 8's are my primary mags for carry purposes, so half of them are always loaded. Each month I rotate my carry ammunition (by shooting it, of course) and load the other 6 mags when I'm done. That way each set of 6 mags is loaded for a month, then unloaded for a month. At the end of the year each magazine has been fully loaded for 6 months.
I know a lot of engineers who say that it is the number of compression cycles that determines the wear rate on a coil spring. That's fine. Engineer all you want. With 3 of us in the family shooting the several hundred rounds through the 1911's at least twice a month, all of the mags experience a lot of compression cycles. It's the ones that stay loaded all the time that wear out, thank you very much. The ones that get "cycled" and then put away unloaded don't wear out nearly as fast.
This year's inspection revealed 5 springs that were shorter than spec but weren't causing any feeding problems yet. A few minutes online at Chip McCormick's website and 6 new springs are on their way. At $4 each with free shipping it's cheap insurance. The short springs will go in the tool box for emergency spares.
When was the last time you checked your springs?
_
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Interesting and cogent comments, Len.
I shoot IPSC (see "Cogito Ergo Geek") a LOT. Generally I shoot an STI race gun, which is a double-stack 1911-style competition pistol with a compensator and an electronic 'dot' sight. I put over 15,000 rounds a year through that pistol, plus a few more using a Kimber Custom in .45acp.
My sweetie, "SWMBO", also competes using a similar STI race gun. She participates in as many matches and fires as many rounds.
We would have to agree with you that the magazine spring is the source of most failure-to-feed problems.
We usually replace our springs every six months, although sometimes we find we can go through almost a year (shooting 4 or 5 matches a month, plus practice) without replacing a magspring.
One way to make the springs last longer is to let them 'rest'. You're right, keeping the magazines unloaded helps. What helps even more is to completely remove the spring from the magazine tube so there is no tension imposed on the spring at all.
(I know people who unload their magazines after shooting each stage in a six-stage match, just so the spring isn't under tension for that hour wait.)
Of course, this is easier with the double-stack magazines because they are typically constructed so that the base pad is simple to remove. The newer CMC magazines have this feature, and I highly recommend them for this reason.
We've found that not all magazine springs are equal, which is a point which you did not address. Having tried CMC, STI, Gramms, Arredondo and Wolff springs I would have to choose 'none of the above'. The best springs are made by ISMI, which I have installed in every magazine we have. They're not cheap (ten to fifteen bucks each, depending on a number of factors) but when you really really want the gun to go BOOM! every time you pull the trigger, you get what you pay for.
Thanx for linking to Cogito Ergo Geek. I've included a link to One In A Row in my blog.
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I shoot IPSC (see "Cogito Ergo Geek") a LOT. Generally I shoot an STI race gun, which is a double-stack 1911-style competition pistol with a compensator and an electronic 'dot' sight. I put over 15,000 rounds a year through that pistol, plus a few more using a Kimber Custom in .45acp.
My sweetie, "SWMBO", also competes using a similar STI race gun. She participates in as many matches and fires as many rounds.
We would have to agree with you that the magazine spring is the source of most failure-to-feed problems.
We usually replace our springs every six months, although sometimes we find we can go through almost a year (shooting 4 or 5 matches a month, plus practice) without replacing a magspring.
One way to make the springs last longer is to let them 'rest'. You're right, keeping the magazines unloaded helps. What helps even more is to completely remove the spring from the magazine tube so there is no tension imposed on the spring at all.
(I know people who unload their magazines after shooting each stage in a six-stage match, just so the spring isn't under tension for that hour wait.)
Of course, this is easier with the double-stack magazines because they are typically constructed so that the base pad is simple to remove. The newer CMC magazines have this feature, and I highly recommend them for this reason.
We've found that not all magazine springs are equal, which is a point which you did not address. Having tried CMC, STI, Gramms, Arredondo and Wolff springs I would have to choose 'none of the above'. The best springs are made by ISMI, which I have installed in every magazine we have. They're not cheap (ten to fifteen bucks each, depending on a number of factors) but when you really really want the gun to go BOOM! every time you pull the trigger, you get what you pay for.
Thanx for linking to Cogito Ergo Geek. I've included a link to One In A Row in my blog.
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