1911 recoil spring

[gwh7007]

How can I tell the poundage of a .45 recoils spring? Count the coils and multply by 3.14159? I'm lost. I'm told one can mike the dia. of the wire but then what? Thanks
K Bear.

[Atticus Thraxx]

Got this from Realguns.com:http://www.realguns.com/Commentary/comar16.htm

Welcome to The FiringLine!

Spring Rating lbs @ full compression 15 16 18.5 20 22 22v 26 28
Pistol Type 1911 1911 1911 1911 1911 1911 1911 1911
Spring Manufacturer Colt Wolff Wolff Wolff Wolff Wolff Wolff Wolff
# full coils 31 32 32 32 32 31 29 30
Free Length - uninstalled 6.500 6.750 6.625 7.500 7.120 5.750 5.875 6.125
Set Length - after cycling 6.500 6.500 6.625 6.750 6.750 5.750 5.875 6.125
Wire thickness .0455 .0460 .0475 .0480 .0480 .0470 .0525 .0530
Installed length - slide closed 3.564 3.564 3.564 3.564 3.564 3.564 3.564 3.564
Compressed length - slide open 1.460 1.460 1.460 1.460 1.460 1.460 1.460 1.460
Coil Bind length - coils touching 1.410 1.472 1.520 1.536 1.536 1.457 1.522 1.590
Slide open coil clearance .050 -.012 -.060 -.076 -.076 .003 -.062 -.130
Slide open coil clearance - Kimber .240 .178 .130 .114 .114 .193 .128 .060
6.00" = force required lbs 2.0 2.0 2.5 3.5 3.0 - - 1.0
5.00" = force required lbs 5.0 5.0 6.5 7.0 7.0 3.5 4.5 7.5
4.00" = force required lbs 8.5 9.0 10.0 11.5 11.5 7.7 11.0 12.5
3.00" = force required lbs 12.0 13.0 13.5 15.5 16.0 11.5 17.5 19.0
2.00" = force required lbs 15.0 14.5 17.5 18.2 19.5 16.0 23.0 26.0
1.65" = force required lbs 18.0 17.0 18.0 20.0 22.0 20.5 26.0 28.0
Variance to spring rating +3.0 1 -.5 0 0 -1.5 0 0
15 lb spring was original Colt Gold Cup after 10,000 rounds


Spring free length is pretty much irrelevant. Installed length compresses all springs to the same uniform length and, hopefully uniform loading.

Regardless the starting length, the same rated spring ends up with the same rates, at the same stages of compression.

New springs taken out of the package that measure over 7 inches will take a set closer to 6 ", and remain there after being fully compressed once or twice.

Cycle a spring a half dozen times and it may lose 10% of it's fully compressed resistance. Let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes and it will generally return to its full rating.

Life expectancy of a recoil spring. I have a standard Colt Gold Cup and another standard Colt, both exposed to over 10,000 rounds of ammo. The guns are loose, but the springs have held their correct free length and are above factory compression resistance ratings.

Some replacement Wolff springs come in at 1"+ under free length spec, particularly those in the extra power ranges. This to be meaningless in function and overall resistance.

Wolff does an incredible job of meeting and holding onto specs.

[berkbw]

That was/is the most encyclopediac view of that question that I have ever seen!!

But - c'mon - for what? $7? you can buy a new one from Wolf or IMSI at whatever poundage you want. The ONLY way that you can tell what a spring REALLY is is to compress it to its rated minimum length and TEST it. Used springs DO get tired. NEW springs may vary in tempering, etc.

b-

[ElrodCod]

They're cheap. Throw it away & buy the one you want.