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Cocked and locked time limit
- Thread starter charliek
- Start date
357 Python
New member
I left my 1911 cocked and locked for about 5 years. When I tested it the sear spring needed to be replaced. The sear spring also works the grip safety. It was weak and allowed to hammer to drop by tapping the trigger with hitting the grip safety. Check the spring at least once every six months to be safe. To check it (make sure it is unloaded) take the pistol by the grips so you hand is not on the grip safety. With the hammer cocked (no thumb safety) take your trigger finger and tap the trigger. If the hammer stays put it is safe. If it drops the sear spring is weak and needs replacing.
Walt Sherrill
New member
FITASC said:
The article you cite talks about how springs work, but doesn't address what really causes them to fail.
We've had a number of engineers involved in this discussion over the years on this forum, a Metallurgist (an engineer specializing in metal applications) or two among them. The ones who work with springs and their design seem to agree that working a spring can damage/wear a spring, but so will compressing (or stretching) a spring to its design limit and keeping it at that limit. In that case, just keeping a spring still (i.e., compressed or stretched) under load will damage it as (or more) quickly than working it.
The folks familiar with spring design or spring applications tell us that if the normal use of the spring doesn't compress or stretch the spring too far (i.e., near or beyond it's design limits), the spring will degrade so slowly that it'll never be a functional problem. One of the staff members here has done tests using recoil springs and has test results that confirm these assertions. Here's a link to his tests -- springs weakened but they weren't worked (i.e., cycled) -- just kept compressed: https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6005156#post6005156
A common spring application is valve springs in internal combustion engines. Because the auto engineers design the springs they use so that they are not over-stressed, failed valve springs are very, very rare despite the fact that they may cycle MANY millions of times over a car engine's working life.
A recoil spring made of the best steel, manufactured properly, and made to fit in a very small gun (as is the case with some of the smallest pocket 9mm guns) might give up the ghost after only several hundred cycles, not the thousands of cycle seen in full-size weapons.
This was the case with the Rohrbaugh R9, for a whle, the smallest 9mm in general production. (I think Remington bought them out and now offer a .380 version of that design.) When first introduced, Rohrbaugh recommended replacing the 9mm recoil spring after 300 rounds, but later changed that to 250 rounds/cycles. (The spring would work longer, but reliability because a concern.)
That was a very small spring made with less steel designed to fit in a much smaller area in a very small gun. That spring had to do more work than usual, and was worked more intensely during its intended functional life. In this case, spring life was sacrificed so that a gun could be made smaller. Most gun designers don't use springs as renewable resources -- at least NOT intentionally.
That was a very small spring made with less steel designed to fit in a much smaller area in a very small gun. That spring had to do more work than usual, and was worked more intensely during its intended functional life. In this case, spring life was sacrificed so that a gun could be made smaller. Most gun designers don't use springs as renewable resources -- at least NOT intentionally.
MORE than just cycling affects spring life -- when even the best materials, production techniques, and designs are used.
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