what lb recoil spring for 1911 in 9mm ?

Too heavy a spring can cause ejection issues or failure to feed with light range ammo.
Additionally a heavier spring causes more muzzle dip as slide goes to battery.
A lighter springs downside is beating up gun, with hotter ammo.

It’s a balance. If you’re shooting lighter range ammo exclusively, use lighter RS.
If you’re shooting both range and SD ammo, I’d use a heavier RS.

And to answer your question; I use a light recoil spring with wimp range ammo for the “softest shooting gun”. Subjectively.

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Originally Posted by Steve_in_Allentown

My suggestion is not to get hung up on identifying a specific spring combination. Each pistol is different. Each shooter is different. Springs are cheap.

Get a range of recoil and hammer springs in 2lb increments and experiment until you find what's right for you, the pistol, and the ammo. Keep in mind that you're not going to hurt the pistol. For example, you could get 10, 12, and 14lb recoil springs as well as 17, 19, and 21lb hammer springs. That'll cost somewhere around $36 and give you spring combinations that will probably work for any ammo you want to put through the pistol.

Go to the Wolff Gunsprings website that I linked to in my post above to view all the available spring weights.

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Both of your replies in this thread were spot on.

It takes less than a mag or two worth of ammo and less than 5 minutes to spring tune most any 1911 to the particular ammo providing one has a selection of the different weights.

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Originally Posted by Pappabear

Is the goal to use the heaviest spring possible that it will cycle resulting in softest shooting gun????

PB

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I generally start with a spring weight that I know will not cycle the gun at all (slide not moving or barely moving at all) and work down in 2lb increments until it will move enough to feed the next rounds in the mag. Then (if not locking back on an empty mag) I move down in 1lb increments until it does lock back on empty, drop one more lb off the spring weight and call it done.

Those things are too inexpensive not to have a kit that contains an assortment of the different weights. ESPECIALLY if you frequently shoot a lot of different loadings...

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Originally Posted by Pappabear

Is the goal to use the heaviest spring possible that it will cycle resulting in softest shooting gun????

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I agree with @gaijin and @DG23.

My philosophy is to use the lightest recoil spring consistent with 100% reliability. I will use a flat bottom firing pin stop and/or a heavier than standard mainspring to allow for the use of a lighter recoil spring. What I'm looking for is the combination that results in the flatest shooting pistol i.e. the front sight ends up back on target by itself. Reliability is the prerequisite. Flat shooting is the goal. I will sacrifice flat shooting to maintain reliability, if needed.

Ditto FBFPS.
A favorite 5”, 9mm range gun I run the Flat Bottom Stop, 21# MS and 8 or 9 lb. recoil spring.
It’s a treat to shoot.

Thanks guys, a wealth of knowledge here.

PB

My Colt .38 super with 9mm conversion barrel had ejection issues with a #13 recoil spring. I use a full power main. Replaced with a #9-10 recoil spring for full function.