Wolff Extra Power Firing Pin Spring Needed?

I have about a two year old Springfield Range Officer 9mm 1911.

I replaced the factory 9# (I think) recoil spring with a Wolff 14# variable spring. The Wolff spring is accompanied by a Wolff extra power firing pin spring.

Wolff says this is for Colts but any model can benefit.

https://www.gunsprings.com/cID1/mID1/dID1

The Springfield to my understanding has a Ti firing pin to reduce mass. I don’t see any primer indentations shooting it with the Wolff recoil spring. The Wolff firing pin spring is shorter than the stock Springfield spring.

So, do I need to replace the stock firing pin spring?

I think I found the information:

“the Range Officer has a lightweight, titanium firing pin and an extra-power firing pin spring that the company explains makes the pistol “drop safe.” “

https://www.personaldefenseworld.com...range-officer/

I believe the Wolff firing pin spring is unnecessary as the RO comes from the factory with a heavy firing pin spring installed already.

I agree that you need not replace the firing pin spring with the existing factory set up. The main reason for using the lighter titanium firing pin is to reduce probability of firing if the weapon is dropped. In such cases the lighter firing pin would have less inertia and would not move forward rapidly enough with enough energy to set off a primer. Of course the lighter pin and firing pin spring should be matched. Many over the years resisted Colt Series 80 firing pin safeties. 1911's with these safeties have a much lower probability of accidental(negligent?)discharge than the other Colts without them and not using a titanium firing pin--if and when the weapon might be dropped. It's a matter of physics. Some might say that it's not a big deal. It is, though, if it's your weapon that discharged when dropped.

Untold millions of 1911's have been made. Many of these have been bubba tweaked. The firing pins are the inertia type retracted by a spring. Their length must be within certain limits, and their springs must have a certain spec. Otherwise the arrangement becomes less safe. And then there are Star and Ilama 1911 style pistols. I've seen these that had protruding firing pins. Why? No fitting.

There's something to be said for keeping an old style 1911 in condition 3 if kept for a house gun.

The Springfield Range Officer uses the non series 80 design and as such relies on the firing pin spring and a lightweight Ti firing pin to make it drop safe.

I went ahead and ran the question past Springfield tech department. The did not feel that changing the recoil spring to a 14# from a 9# would affect anything or require the Wolff Extra power firing pin spring. 45 ACP Range Officers run a 16# spring without difficulty. In addition they felt their factory firing pin spring was even stronger than the Wolff spring included with the Wolff recoil unit.

This has been an interesting education on 1911 design.

I can just tell you what can happen on a non-firing pin safety 1911 when you combine a weak FPS and a several foot drop to concrete, muzzle down...a blown up set of IR opening doors and a one day suspension.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wayne Dobbs

I can just tell you what can happen on a non-firing pin safety 1911 when you combine a weak FPS and a several foot drop to concrete, muzzle down...a blown up set of IR opening doors and a one day suspension.

---

I bought my first Colt 1911 in 1970. The brief less than one page instruction sheet pointed out that the pistol could fire if dropped from a certain height. Because so many of these weapons have had out of spec parts installed, I advise friends to replace firing pins with lighter Ti versions and also put in heavier fps's. Let me quickly reiterate that these wonderful handguns(without the fps)can fire when dropped even when equipped with traditional spec parts.

The older S&W Model 39's and the various Walther, Star and Ilama semi-autos also lacked a fps and posed the same hazard. Certainly other brands did also. Old Model Ruger revolvers and some other single actions likewise were prone to fire if dropped or bumped. I knew two men who were shot with theirs through mishandling. One died. We live in an age of consumerism. Sometimes the uninformed or the incompetent purchase chain saws, motorcycles, boats, guns, and other toys. Sometimes trained and knowledgeable firearm users like guys here are subject to equipment failures or even nd's. That includes me.

Do you have a 1911 recoil spring calibration pack? You may want to try a 12#. That seems to be a sweet spot on my SA RO 1911 5 inch 9mm plus several other 1911 9mm's around my group.