P220 Hammer Spring Data

[Evil_Ed]

Hrmph I must be an idiot, I can't find a way to edit my posts. Wouldn't surprise me if I missed something.

Anyway - I misspoke with my round count in my first post, I just realized...it was after the 500 round mark, not well before that I ran into it. I was pretty happy my first two range trips with it, and had started using it as my carry piece with the 18lb spring. Then I started getting the light strikes.

The 19lb spring change acted up before that round count though. I'm honestly wondering if it was an over-application of grease in the spring or what, maybe it was my fault? But reverting to factory seemed to be the safest thing to do with a 220 in .45.

Maybe I'll have better luck with a 9mm or .40 P229...


Ahh, apparently editing a post is time-sensitive? Makes sense actually...anyway -

I was thinking specifically of the 220 compact I had tried the spring in, which did get light strikes earlier...but that's not really an apples to apples comparison; the hammer strut is much smaller, the angles are different, etc. The full size 220 didn't really start to accumulate light strikes until a couple of sessions at the range.

[Sensei]

Another 50 rounds of 230 grain AE without issue through the P220 with the 18lb spring. Now at roughly 250 rounds.

[Sensei]

Another 50 rounds of 230 grain AE were fired through the W. German P220 with the 18 lb spring. No mechanical failures or ignition problems. I’m now at 300 rounds.

[jwperry]

No experience in a P220, but a bit on the P228/9/6 series.

I found that I could run a lighter than 19lb spring on pistols I'd never polished the internals and still get good primer strikes for a few months (600 rounds/month, who knows how many pulls for dry fire) with no reliability issues. On pistols that I polished the hammer contacts, sear, hammer strut, trigger bar, it was normally a 1-1 light strike to full light off when using 17lb and a couple times a mag for 18lb spring. I got real good at ball-and-dummy drills with my P226 for a while because of this! I now just put a 19lb in, grease the scrap out of the internals and keep everything well lubricated to keep the trigger weights down and smooth. I'll also replace the mainspring when I replace the recoil spring at 5k rounds or annually, because I don't keep track of my dry fire trigger pulls.

[OlongJohnson]

So what it sounds like is you get reliable results from a 19 lb spring, whether you've polished the internals or not.

[Sensei]

50 more rounds of 230 grain AE through the W. German blue gun. Now at about 350 rounds without ignition issues.

[taadski]

If you're looking to vet the 18 lb spring concept for duty or carry, you might steer away from American Eagle, as it's a Federal cartridge and has their lighter/softer primers discussed above. I can go 5000 rounds between mainspring replacements sans ignition issues with an 18 lb mainspring if I'm I'm shooting federal primers. Other primer brands, not so much.

[Sensei]

25 more rounds of 230 grain Fed AE though the W. German P220. That’s about 375 rounds.

[Sensei]

50 Rounds of 230 grain SB FMJ through the W. German P220 (18lb). No ignition issues or failures. Now up to 425 rounds.

[John Hearne]

50 Rounds of 230 grain SB FMJ through the W. German P220 (18lb). No ignition issues or failures. Now up to 425 rounds.

Back when we used the classic Sigs, I installed a bunch of 18 lb springs. Never had any issues with ignition using factory ammo or my reloads.

The most impressive change was a P225 which had to have a German police spec spring. The full set of NRA weights (17 3/4 lbs) was not enough to trip the DA.