1911 mainspring ?.

A

adrians

New member
Hello , Recently I acquired an "Entry Level" 1911 ( made by high standard ) in 45cp in a trade for a really scruffy looking rifle I had, the rifle wasn't worth more than a few bucks but he wanted it so ,,,, anyway the hammer drop on the 45 seems awfully light and because I have no idea how many rounds or how old the gun is I was wondering if changing out the springs would be a good idea, couldn't hurt anyway.
My question is are all mainsprings compatable with all sizes of 1911's, mine is a compact/officer model but all I see is Gov--Commander size springs for sale?.

Thanks and any info regarding this would be appreciated, I'm a complete "newb" when it comes to pistols..

ps,, the gun functions fine , no hang- ups ,,,, yet..:)
 
The short butt "compact" 1911 mutants have a shorter mainspring.

Look at gunsprings.com the Wolff headquarters.

Does it misfire or are you grading the hammer blow based on some notion in your head?

You would do better to replace the recoil spring on a short gun like that.
 
"Does it misfire or are you grading the hammer blow based on some notion in your head"?

I guess it's a notion in my head Jim, no misfires at all .
I think I am comparing it to my revolver hammer drop or something, just seems weak to me.

So as the saying goes " if it ain't broke don't fix it " applies to me huh?,,:D.

Me thinks I need to do a tad more studying up on this pistol stuff.:rolleyes:
 
As long as it dents the primer the correct amount, it's all right. Different gun designs have different spring weights, and different cocking angles, leverage, etc.
 
If you are a handloader, CCI makes the hardest cup primer on the market. If you aren't a handloader, find a handloader, and give him a little dough to size and prime 30 pieces of brass for you and snap them off to see if they all go bang.

However, on second thought... there's a couple of issues with doing this with a 1911.

Firstly, do it outdoors because the fumes are not at all good to breathe in.
Secondly, it's not at all a good idea to make your extractor push over the rim of the cartridge -- which does not happen when cartridges are properly fed from a magazine... but this is outrageously difficult to do with empty, sized cartridge cases with no bullet.

In this case, remove your extractor and single load each piece.
Of course, you'll need a pencil to pop each fired one out. Maybe.

Okay...
This sounds like a ROYAL pain in the butt for someone else to do... :eek::D
This is a test I would conduct.

What you probably ought to do is simply get your favorite ammo and shoot the pistol. :p Then go from there.
 
I have been known to actually load some ammo with CCI primers to test for ignition reserve. Why pop primers when you can shoot bullets?

If you want to really test your lockwork, load some with Wolf brand primers.
I had a misfire with one Sunday.
 
The hammer spring in a 1911 also plays a part in resisting rearward slide movement, which affects slide velocity, and felt recoil.
I'd recommend replacing the spring with a full-power replacement.
 
Sevens, I have been handloading for quite some time and never realized the cci primers were harder than most, I use #300 for my loads .
I quess my thoughts on having a weak mainspring are unfounded because all my loads using #300's went bang.
Having said all that I am still a complete rookie when it comes to the venerable 45 acp,,,, but I'm learning.
Thanks guy's....:D
 
The "pencil test" remains a simple test of the impact of a firing pin.
A full size pencil, eraser first, down the bore. A decent hit with a firing pin will send the pencil up out of the barrel a couple feet. Less than a foot and you have a weak firing pin hit.
Sorry 9mm, too small of a bore.
 
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