The Art and Science of Keeping Your 1911 Running

[NPV]

Here’s an example of an extractor in which it was overpolished probably from using a rotary tool. I had this extractor setup as a backup in a gun that ran great for thousands of rounds. After having this extractor fitted I had two FTEs in 250 rounds. Upon closer inspection the backside of the hook was polished and the edge slightly rounded over. It is imperative that this hook stays at a sharp 90* angle.

Forgive the blurry picture it was best I could get out of my phone camera but it should illustrate the point.

[Elwin]

I've read this entire thread at least once, but still manage to have a potentially stupid question.

I replaced the mainspring, recoil spring, and firing pin spring in my Kimber Team Match II (5" steel .45), since it's had I don't know how many thousands of rounds through it with nothing but a recoil spring replacement a while back. The recoil spring is a 16lb Wilson chrome silicon, and the mainspring is a 21lb of the same type.

I don't know if it's because I have minimal experience shooting full power 230gr. .45, but the standard pressure 230gr. HST I ran through this today seemed to me to recoil way more violently than it should have, and I think the usual 200gr. SWC target load was also (maybe) a little stouter than before. Previous spring set up was a 15lb recoil spring and whatever mainspring Kimber used.

Before I start messing around with alternative combinations based on my own guesswork, any thoughts? Is that a setup that should be just fine and I'm just a commie who doesn't know what real calibers recoil like? Or is it an obvious "no, why would you use that combination?" Thanks in advance.

[spinmove_]

I've read this entire thread at least once, but still manage to have a potentially stupid question.

I replaced the mainspring, recoil spring, and firing pin spring in my Kimber Team Match II (5" steel .45), since it's had I don't know how many thousands of rounds through it with nothing but a recoil spring replacement a while back. The recoil spring is a 16lb Wilson chrome silicon, and the mainspring is a 21lb of the same type.

I don't know if it's because I have minimal experience shooting full power 230gr. .45, but the standard pressure 230gr. HST I ran through this today seemed to me to recoil way more violently than it should have, and I think the usual 200gr. SWC target load was also (maybe) a little stouter than before. Previous spring set up was a 15lb recoil spring and whatever mainspring Kimber used.

Before I start messing around with alternative combinations based on my own guesswork, any thoughts? Is that a setup that should be just fine and I'm just a commie who doesn't know what real calibers recoil like? Or is it an obvious "no, why would you use that combination?" Thanks in advance.

Standard spring weights for a 5” .45Auto is ~18lbs. recoil spring and 23lbs mainspring. The mainspring being light by 2lbs is probably why it feels like it’s recoiling harder than before.

Why did you replace the mainspring?

[Elwin]

Standard spring weights for a 5” .45Auto is ~18lbs. recoil spring and 23lbs mainspring. The mainspring being light by 2lbs is probably why it feels like it’s recoiling harder than before.

Why did you replace the mainspring?

Frankly, because I thought I was supposed to, though I've since seen different takes on whether that should be replaced regularly or not.

[spinmove_]

Frankly, because I thought I was supposed to, though I've since seen different takes on whether that should be replaced regularly or not.

Unless you were getting light strikes or the gun was beating the hell out of itself, the mainspring generally takes a set and doesn’t need to be changed out regularly.

[Elwin]

Unless you were getting light strikes or the gun was beating the hell out of itself, the mainspring generally takes a set and doesn’t need to be changed out regularly.

Noted, that makes sense now. I'll see if the old mainspring and/or a new heavier one does the trick. It seemed to me, subjectively, that the 21lb I put in was heavier than whatever was in it before, but that could be just me.

[Greg]

Put a 23 lb. mainspring back in the gun, and then look into fitting oversized firing pin stops with a minimal radius on the bottom.

[SW CQB 45]

I cracked my WC BP Firing pin stop some time ago. I decided to go with a EGW non radius FP stop.

This might be nothing but hey,

Since I was a kid, I threw a football, baseball, rocks, etc., I wrenched in the oil field, lifted heavy weights and in the early 90s, I was night shift and we found a football while refueling before ending the shift. Another officer said throw him the ball, I threw a "bomb" (I still recall the pain I felt in my elbow)

Fast fwd to 2018/19, I developed right arm- wrist and elbow pain when shooting 230 ball (using the 10-8 recommended 18.5lbs recoil spring) to the point that I switched to G19 for duty carry. After a good while of heeling, I returned to 1911 duty carry (switching to 16 lbs recoil spring and changing it more often). I still have the original 23 lbs mainspring.

I still feel elbow pain but not when shooting big old snappy 230 FMJ/230 GD after I installed the squared FP stop.

I cannot tell you if there is any difference in recoil, but my elbow reminds me every now and then that the pain is still there... but I can go blast 300 or more with my .45 and dont feel any major elbow pain while shooting like I used to in the past.

You can see the FP stop on my upside down slide. YMMV

[Jason M]

I just listened to the Primary and Secondary podcast #239 entitled "Overlooked elements of weapons upkeep" Basically this was a nerd level discussion of lubes and springs from PhD level SMEs.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/primar...-elements-of-w

This is the website of one of the guests. Lots of great info of the science and history of weapons lubricants.

This page from the site is on point for this thread:

https://www.cherrybalmz.com/post/sec...um-performance

Not sure if this has been referenced here yet. I thought this was really good material for ALL firearms owners. I am going to make a return to grease for a while to see if there is a difference....

[M2CattleCo]

Standard spring weights for a 5” .45Auto is ~18lbs. recoil spring and 23lbs mainspring. The mainspring being light by 2lbs is probably why it feels like it’s recoiling harder than before.

Why did you replace the mainspring?

There is no commercial standard for 1911 recoil springs.

The original spec is described by wire type, size, number of coils, free length.

Those original military springs, as well as commercial Colt springs from 1911-now push about 13.5 lbs on a spring tester.


A 23 lb mainspring, a magazine capable of containing and controlling the ammo (not 47Ds), a barrel fit and FPS that keeps the slide velocity in check will render a recoil spring almost non-relevant to a 1911’s function.