Sphinx SDP Compact owners...

[Cyanide971]

Walt Sherrill and WVSig, y'all are the first two that come to mind; I have a quick question for you both, as well as others with one of these:

When you purchased yours, did it come with two or three magazines?

Going to start saving so that I can (hopefully) get one within the next month or so myself. May also spring -no pun intended- for whichever mainspring and/or kit I need to slightly lower the DA pull, as dry firing makes it seem a tad heavy for my liking, but to me the SA is fine as is.

Suggestions, input, etc.? Thanks!

[WVsig]

2 mags were included with the pistol.

The Wolf #17 or #18 work for many.

The Cajun Gun Works kit is also very good.

I have used both. The Wolf springs caused light strikes with my reloads using CCI primers & Tula which are known to be hard. They went away after switching to the CGWs kit.

Tula primers are very hard and are a good test of hammer spring changes. If they will light off Tula they will light off anything. IMHO

[Walt Sherrill]

I've only used the 16 & 17 lb. CZ compact springs. I couldn't tell much difference in the feel of the trigger, but the 16 lb. had some problems igniting primers. I've got the CGW kit, too, but keep finding other things to do, so haven't installed it yet.

[jimbear]

It comes with 2 mags. Replacements are currently sold out unless you want 10 rounders. I went ahead and ordered a 17# Wolff spring but I don't know if I'll end up dropping it in. I switched back down to the medium blackstrap even though I have large hands and it helps me get that first knuckle joint on the trigger and made the double action pull feel much much better. I also ordered the CGW non captive stainless guide rod and spring which is probably sitting on my doorstep right now. I'll report back on that one after I go to the range this weekend.

[Walt Sherrill]

Jimbear:

Go ahead and install the 17lb. spring. It (unlike a CZ) only takes a few minutes to do it. And you will notice a BIG difference.

[bigmatt]

I have the CGW Sphinx spring kit in mine, and it has never had a light strike. The kit took an 11 pound DA trigger pull down to a little over 8 pounds. SA went from 5.5 to 4.5 pounds.

If everyone is saying two mags that makes me even happier with mine. I bought my SDP Compact used and it had three mags.

[Cyanide971]

Originally Posted by WVsig

The Cajun Gun Works kit is also very good.

Originally Posted by bigmatt

I have the CGW Sphinx spring kit in mine, and it has never had a light strike. The kit took an 11 pound DA trigger pull down to a little over 8 pounds. SA went from 5.5 to 4.5 pounds.

Seems the CGW kit is a winner. That'd be about perfect right there Matt, and right in line with the trigger weights on my old Walther P99 AS.

Originally Posted by jimbear

It comes with 2 mags. Replacements are currently sold out unless you want 10 rounders.

A couple of those might not be a bad idea for me Jim, especially since I occasionally travel to states that have a 10-round mag limit.

Originally Posted by Walt Sherrill

I've got the CGW kit, too, but keep finding other things to do, so haven't installed it yet.

Looking forward to your report once ya get it installed Walt.

[chrisp51]

Mine came with 2 mags but I modified a couple of cz 75 which work great.

[Worc]

Mine came with two magazines and then I picked up 3 additional more. Seems like the early models came with 3 magazines. Magazine availability seems to be sporadic. When you see them, buy them.

I have the CJW spring kit and it helped the DA pull a little, still on the heavy side though.

[rt11002003]

Mine came with two mags. Most of the time I've been shooting it at the same range session with a CZ75 TS and a SIG X-5 L1. Both of those guns have a light trigger pull, so it makes the Sphinx trigger pull seem even heavier.

I like the trigger on the Sphinx. It is so smooth I've gotten so I ignore the heavy pull, most of the time. It's very accurate until I get tired, then the heavy pull bothers me. I'm sure I'll do some work on it soon. Been getting good advice here.

It still fails to lock the slide much too often with an empty mag. More work to do.

[jimbear]

Go ahead and install the 17lb. spring. It (unlike a CZ) only takes a few minutes to do it. And you will notice a BIG difference.

You were not joking. The DA trigger feels ridiculously light now. Probably in the 8 or 9 lb range. The SA has a barely-there wall before breaking. Feels almost as light as my Smith Performance Center 1911 with 3.5 lb trigger. I noticed the spring was a good deal shorter than the stock one. Will have to put it through its paces at the range and make sure its reliable. I have doubts that an action this light will be 100% but am hoping to be proven wrong. As an aside, the CGW stainless non-captive guide rod and reduced power recoil spring feel a good deal lighter than the stock system. I don't think I'll be using that with factory 115gr just yet.

[TunnelRat]

As an aside, the CGW stainless non-captive guide rod and reduced power recoil spring feel a good deal lighter than the stock system. I don't think I'll be using that with factory 115gr just yet.

I wouldn't worry about it honestly. Even with Fiocchi 115 gr ammo, which is on the hotter side for 115 gr ammo in my experience, I still get the occasional failure to lock back on the slide. With underpowered ammo like Perfecta 115 gr I have had numerous stove pipes (failures to eject) as well as failures to feed. That same ammo, by the way, functions just fine in a CZ P-01. I think the stock recoil spring is overly stiff and could stand to be lighter.

[Walt Sherrill]

Originally Posted by jimbear

...I have doubts that an action this light will be 100% but am hoping to be proven wrong. As an aside, the CGW stainless non-captive guide rod and reduced power recoil spring feel a good deal lighter than the stock system. I don't think I'll be using that with factory 115gr just yet.

Unless you're shooting HOT handloads, there's arguably no reason to NOT use a lighter recoil spring. But even then, using a heavier spring isn't to protect the gun or to protect you. It's there to store enough energy to cycle the slide and chamber the next round, and to keep your spent rounds from being sent into orbit!! The heavier recoil spring, as long as it stores enough force to cycle the slide, just changes the DURATION of the recoil impulse. It feels differently, but the gun is still arguably handling almost the same amount of recoil force.

[jimbear]

Good info. Thanks guys. I'll give them both a shot then. At the very worst I'll have a combo of light strikes from the hammer spring and FTE from the recoil spring and I'll have to switch to my P226 SAO . If they do work out, I see a stainless SDP Compact in my future. This is the first gun I've liked enough to care to buy a second. Truly amazing gun.

[TunnelRat]

At the very worst I'll have a combo of light strikes from the hammer spring and FTE from the recoil spring

The CGW spring is a lighter recoil spring. Worst case is the gun will beat itself up slightly and maybe you'll notice more felt recoil. You should actually get stronger ejection. Stock CZs have relatively lighter recoil springs IMO and they kick the brass a good 20 ft for me.



Edit: Unless you meant worst case with the lighter hammer spring and stock recoil spring both causing failures. Then I'm just too slow.

[jimbear]

Nope you understood correctly. My assumption of what would go wrong with too light of a recoil spring is wrong.

[Cyanide971]

Well, it's a done deal, short of getting back home and being able to pick it up, snagged an Alpha off of GB with 4 mags for $925 shipped. I figured it wasn't a bad deal. I will get some pictures posted after I return home to get it, whenever that is.....

[jimbear]

Nice. You'll love it. There's a sweet video of it on the Military Arms Channel posted last week. You might as well go ahead and order a lighter hammer spring.

[Cyanide971]

Thanks Jim! I watched that video the same day it was released, as well as just about every other one for Sphinx lol.

After I pick it up within the next week or two and get it to the range, thinking that I will just run it stock for a while to see how much it smooths up (namely DA). Both P-07's and the P-01 I had smoothed out nicely after lots of firing and even more dry firing, and I don't see this being any different. Unless of course, this doesn't have any roughness throughout the trigger pull. I know the ones I handled at my LGS are frigging sweet and smooth! Pardon the FNX that snuck into the first picture hahaha.

[TunnelRat]

Both P-07's and the P-01 I had smoothed out nicely after lots of firing and even more dry firing, and I don't see this being any different. Unless of course, this doesn't have any roughness throughout the trigger pull.

From what I can tell the interacting surfaces are already fairly polished. I have owned mine for a bit now and it hasn't lightened up like a CZ, at least not yet. If you want to run it stock go ahead, just might be worth spending the $20 from CGW to have it sitting when you do decide to try it out. Honestly I don't see any downside with the CGW kit.

[Cyanide971]

Thanks TunnelRat!

[jimbear]

I had a bunch of light strikes with the new hammer spring so I switched back. Also didn't like the lighter recoil spring. Switched everything back to stock for now.

[TunnelRat]

I had a bunch of light strikes with the new hammer spring so I switched back.

Was it blue (paint) or grey in color?

Edit: Did you also swap the firing pin spring?

[jimbear]

Gray, non-colored spring. Shorter than the factory. Ran great with federal but choked on the WWB. This was a Wolff hammer spring not the CGW which is actually longer than the factory spring. I ended up picking up a full FDE glock 19 gen 4 that the range had in stock and am carrying that instead. My attempt at finding a hybrid holster for the Sphinx failed and I decided I liked it too much to get it scratched up. It's going to take nightstand duty now. I was pleasantly surprised at how much better the G19 conceals for me and I have no qualms about beating that thing up. The Sphinx unsurprisingly had a good deal less muzzle rise, feels better in the hand, and is much more accurate, but the G19 works better for me for CC.

[TunnelRat]

So the CGW kit is different and should work fine with the hammer spring it comes with, assuming you also install the lighter firing pin spring that is included. A lighter firing pin spring means there is less resistance as the firing pin is moving forward after being hit with the hammer (in a hammer fired gun the purpose of the firing pin spring isn't to push the firing pin forward like in a striker fired pistol but actually rearward so that at rest it won't impact the primer on a cartridge). This allows you to use lighter hammer springs that impart less energy on the firing pin and still hit the firing pin with the same amount (or very close to) of force and ending penetration as the original setup. With the CGW spring I get pretty decent craters in primers. Now removing the firing pin from the Sphinx isn't complicated in terms of steps but the retaining pin Sphinx uses is machined to ludicrous tolerances that require a mallet with a decent weight to move (and a decent set of punches).

I'm going to throw something else out there and you're free to totally ignore it. I'd honestly not suggest carrying a striker fired safe-action type pistol like a Glock and using a DA/SA pistol for the night stand. They're two rather different trigger systems with notably different pull weights and manual of arms (not to mention these two pistols also have notably different points of aim). DA/SA requires a significant amount of practice to master in both DA and SA as well as learning the transition (people can have a tendency to flinch). You also need to remember to decock. I have taken multiple courses now where instructors have had to remind people to decock because they simply forget. At night when you're woken up from bed and you're not used to decocking your carry pistol after doing a chamber check or general handling it could be easily forgotten and you don't want a negligent discharge. The slide releases are also in slightly different locations which could be an issue depending on how you reload. I carried DA/SA for years and I obviously have no opposition to it, but I literally practiced to the point where decocking is an ingrained behavior. A Glock in this regard, while potentially less forgiving of trigger finger placement, is much simpler. I actually carry and use a Glock 19 as my night stand gun.

My point is they are two rather different sets of muscle memory. If you do decide to use both, make sure you are dry firing and practicing operating the controls on both pistols daily. I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life; this is a free country. Just understand that your current choice will involve a certain amount of complexity and a lot of practice.