Springfield Champion recoil spring selection
I have a custom (no, really) Springfield Champion slide (4 in. barrel) on a steel Springfield lower. The slide has been fitted with an old school coned, flanged barrel, along with the usual reverse spring plug. When the gun gets dirty, it has difficulty returning fully into battery and depending on how dirty it is, I may have to push the slide forward with my thumb, perhaps a 1/4 inch or so. At this point, the recoil spring feels really weak, totally sacked. It takes practically no effort to push the slide forward, so I believe the issue is likely my spring rate, which is 22 lbs, and is an ISMI spring. I do not run a buffer in the gun. My next step seems to be to replace the 22 lb spring with a 24 lb, which seems strange because I would think the 22 lb spring should be able to do the job. It appears to me that recoil spring weights need to go up as slide length and weight go down. I have a low round count 22 lb ISMI spring in the gun (as mentioned before), and am using Commander length springs that I cut down slightly to fit the shorter barrel. Full length Commander springs will stack in my 4 inch gun, and that of course is likely to damage the gun. I cut Commander springs down 1.2 coil at a time until the slide will lock back with the slide lock/release (whatever). Then I remove one extra coil for safety.
Am I going about this correctly? There are no recoil springs offered specifically for this particular gun. Since I need to re-examine the recoil spring weight, I thought I'd re-examine everything while I'm at it.
Thanks!
Bob
“Detached Reflection Cannot Be Demanded in the Presence of an Uplifted Knife” ~ Brown v. United States (1921)
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