What pound rating recoil spring for Gen 3 Glock 19..?

Have a Gen 3 Glock 19 and I’d like to swap out the plastic guide rod + spring for a steel rod and floating recoil spring.

I did that with a G26 when I was young and it ran SO well. Trouble is now, time has passed and I can’t remember how strong or weak that spring was... :(

The Wolff recoil springs for Glock 19 come in different pound ratings: 15#, 17-20#, and 22#

Which one of these should I choose?

Most of my ammunition is standard pressure, factory-made, new production 115 gr FMJ, although for carry I also have Winchester Ranger SXT 127 gr +P.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks much for reading and any advice.

Wolff says 18 is stock.

I switch out just about everything there is to be upgraded, but a recoil spring on a Glock is one of those things where its not only unnecessary, but often performance will actually suffer. What will you actually gain from the swap?

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Originally Posted by Wake27

I switch out just about everything there is to be upgraded, but a recoil spring on a Glock is one of those things where its not only unnecessary, but often performance will actually suffer. What will you actually gain from the swap?

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YMMV! You might gain reduced felt recoil and the chance of longer component life. And you might lose reliability.

I have a Wolff steel guide rod and stock-weight recoil spring in my G17, which I use entirely for competition and not for self-defense. Despite being rated as stock weight the spring seems much stiffer than the OEM assembly and has reduced both recoil and ejection distance noticeably. For strictly range/competition use I am happy with this. It has been 100% reliable so far in various range and USPSA conditions. Originally the ejected cartridges fell at my feet, but the spring seems to wear-in within the first 100 rds and now ejection distance is closer to normal while felt recoil still seems reduced. So far, so good. But I'm not sure I would buy the parts again given the very small gain.

My G19 that is primarily defensive has the OEM setup and will continue to have that for reliability and simply not worrying about whether I might have messed something up with an aftermarket spring. Gen 3 OEM recoil springs are dirt cheap and you could easily replace them at 20% of their service life if you want to. It would be a rounding error compared to the ammo cost.

My 2 cents: Gen 3 Glocks in 9mm are correctly sprung, but the same Gen in .40 S&W or 357 SIG would benefit from a stronger spring. I don't currently own a Gen 4 but did briefly (G17) and a friend has a Gen 4 G19 and it seems to be properly sprung. I don't know if the heavier caliber Gen 4s are sufficiently sprung or not. From what I know, I would only experiment with springs on Gen 3 (and probably Gen 2) and only for competition use or in the .40/357 chamberings.

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Originally Posted by Wake27

What will you actually gain from the swap?

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Mostly I want to avoid using a plastic guide rod. If seen those chip at the edge/break.

As a general rule, I would suggest keeping stick unless there is an issue.

Replace parts with stick parts for PMs

I run a lone wolf stainless rod and a #15 spring for IDPA and USPSA. I do put the stock set up in for carry.