I found the flat wire springs to be a big fail in living up to Wilsons hype. I'm currently using one in the Beretta 92 I use for training and it's been working well thus far. The 1911 springs though, not so much. I found they didn't last any longer than the standard round wire springs. I find the reasoning about bending it upon installation to be a bit less than plausible.
Nearly every production 1911 in 9mm I've handled has been under sprung. I went with a twelve pound spring in the SA 9mm I bought, which now serves as my wifes favorite shooter. With the factory spring, I felt like I was waiting for the gun to catch up and really didn't care for the recoil impulse.
Last edited by Trooper224; 05-16-2018 at 02:04 AM.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
Colt ships their 9mm Government models with either the dual recoil springs or 14# regular springs. Some feel they are a bit over-sprung and they could be right. The Range Officer definitely seems under-sprung and I will be correcting that soon to see if it helps with proper function. I expect it will, but hopefully it won't just mask a more serious issue.
I fired 100 rounds through the gun today, all using Wilson ETM magazines. There were no malfunctions of any kind.
Well actually I had a single stovepipe on the last round of a magazine shooting strong hand only. But I think I probably limp-wristed that one.
So far the only change I made to the gun that could affect function is the recoil spring.
I would check the extractor.
Disassemble, then put a cartridge against the breach face, under the extractor. It should be held snugly.
Then shoot 10 single rounds/with no magazine freestyle, 10 R handed, 10 L handed.
Just remember to load from a magazine, then eject it.
If you put a heavier recoil spring in the gun that also could have slowed the slide down enough to not get a positive ejection since there were no more rounds pushing up.
Another 100 rounds through the gun today, again with WC ETM magazines. I included the test suggested by 03RN, shooting a series of 10 rounds each with strong hand then support hand with no mag inserted. Today there were no failures of any kind, all rounds fed and ejected properly.
Wilson has some pretty good information about springing and maintenance of 9mm 1911s in the three or so blurbs on its FAQs page: https://www.wilsoncombat.com/faqs/