Can someone tell me what the nominal mainsping for a 1911 is?  And for those of you running full load 10mms what you are using for poundage...

A friend has a Combat Commander and cocking the hammer it seems very easy compared to some of my guns...

Thanks...Bob

For a .45 1911 the mainspring is 23# for a 10mm you could also go with a square bottom firing pin stop to slow the slide down also.

Have flat bottom firing pin stops in my .45s and 10mms...  The mianspring on the .45 Combat Commander however seems too easy to compress...

25# (current RIA factory) is what I have, along with a Wilson flat bottom FPS. Adding the FPS took about 10' off of the 35-40 feet trajectory of brass with just under full tilt loads.

I have a Remington R1 Long Slide in 10mm and I just put a Wilson Combat 24lb in it this morning. I shot 5 rounds thru it loaded with 12.8grs of 2400 behind a 180gr jacketed HP HST bullet. The brass went about 50 feet. The recoil to the gun was so bad twice it flipped the slide stop up. I've ordered Wolff #1 custom long slide springs this evening. I believe if I wasn't using the Wilson spring buffer in it that it probably would have damaged the gun. I bought a 10mm to shoot 10mm max loads. I have SW40s. If I have to load this thing down to 40SW power, I don't need it. But there has to be a way to get this thing to quit slinging brass to the moon. The factory flat spring wasn't much better than the Wilson. Hopefully the new Wolff springs fix my problem. Otherwise, there will be a Remington R1 for sale. FWIW, that load in that gun shoots under an inch at 25 yds from bags. Outside to outside I could have covered the group with a nickel.

Was just shooting the predecessor to the Remington, the PARA Elite LS Hunher, the other day and my gun slings brass a ways also... I have a friend and his does the same.  Got in Wolf #1 and #2 Lonslide recoil springs and have a mainspring calibration pack coming.

From what I have been reading it is the square bottom firing pin stop and a heavy mainspring not recoil spring that will tame slide velocity. Going to try the 25-30# mainsprings to see if they make a difference.

The Wilson 24# spring...was that for a standard 5" GM or a Longslide?

Bob

As has been said...23# is standard Colt, but a 25# is what I prefer.

Ned Christiansen at Michiguns published some test results a number of years back that indicate slide velocity is close to the same as 45 ACP when using a 25# mainspring with a flat bottom firing pin stop and a 18.5 lb recoil spring.  I tend to run recoil springs a bit heavier than that, though I have used an 18.5 without issue.

So maybe I understand the physics involved here. With a heavier mainspring, the slide doesn't get the fast run down the frame to start with. It will basically have a 25lb spring to push against as the slide starts it's run to the back of the frame where the recoil spring starts to take over. So the initial acceleration of the slide is checked before it comes back at the speed of light. Does that sound reasonable? If that's correct, the factory recoil flat spring may be better than a real stout spring like the Wolff #1. It's a matter of balance and having to play with it. I can assume that if the mainspring takes enough inertia off of the slide and the recoil spring is too heavy, the slide just won't perform function and you'll have fail to feed or fail to eject due to slow slide speed. Am I thinking right or have some of my marbles fallen off of the table again?

I watched a vid on YouTube where a guy changed the main spring. It did not appear to be too difficult. I have the vise, punches, etc to change the firing pin spring on a rifle and this appears to be easier. With the correct tools, this should be a reasonably easy thing to do....right?

Is putting a 25lb mainspring going to effect the trigger geometry? Will it cause the trigger to be harder? Frankly, I haven't the vaguest idea what the mainspring is rated for or how the mainspring effects the trigger, if at all. As an old benchrester, I'm more comfy with light triggers. This R1 is not light but when it moves, it's over.

QuoteThe Wilson 24# spring...was that for a standard 5" GM or a Longslide?

I chatted with one of their "people". The spring is a flat spring, not a round wire. It's rated for the 10mm and 460 Rowland in a 5". Per him, it will work with a long slide due to the flat spring being a variable rate spring. Not that I have a clue about springs but he made it sound like it was the best thing since Viagra. Anyway, I can say I tried it and it didn't work but understanding the mechanism is helping me a lot. I think I have a grasp (maybe) on how it works. And with the help from you guys, I'll get this thing to shoot like I want. Accuracy so far is not as much of a factor as the slide is hammering the heck out of the frame and throwing brass into the next county. If I thought Remington would fix it, I'd send it back but I've read stories about folks that have sent guns back and they're still waiting to get them back. I don't need to send a gun in and have it tied up in a bankruptcy.

And while I'm asking, anybody have an opinion on buffers for the recoil spring? I bought several from Wilson and I'm not sure if they have a benefit. This is the little poly thing that goes between the flat recoil spring and the guide. It acts like a shock absorber, of sorts.

Ned Christiansen used them in his tests as the "indicator".  Number or rounds to damage a buffer was the measure to compare different mainspring, firing pin stop and recoil spring combinations.  Today, a high speed camera that actually measured slide velocity would be a better option, but when Ned did his tests this was about the best option.

This is a complex group of variables.  The low pressure 45 ACP does everything slow, which creates wide operation specification windows.  The 10mm, with double the energy, does everything twice as fast, which means all the parts have half the time to get aligned.

The mainspring and flat bottom firing pin stop help dump a bunch of that initial energy without the penalty of faster slide velocity on return to battery.  This helps move all the velocities back into that slower range with it's benefits.

It's easy to change the spring. Pound a finishing nail into the side of your work bench and use that to compress the main spring while you remove the little retaining pin.

Well it looks like I'll be changing the main spring to a 25#. The gun comes with the flat bottom firing pin stop so that's a good thing. I'm about to have a fist full of recoil springs of various rates so I guess it's a matter of having the main spring in hand. I'm thinking ordering it from Midway mostly due to the fact that I just got an email from Wolff that the springs I ordered a week ago are now shipping. That's a little slow for me. I'd really like to have everything for next weeks run to the range. Should be interesting. I've been told though that yes, the heavier main spring will effect trigger pull but that it can be worked by a good smitty. Love the way this gun is coming around accuracy wise. It was a mess when I first got it. But 12.8grs of 2400 under 2 different 180 bullets equals 4 groups so far of under an inch at 25 yds. That's about as good as I'm capable of anyway.

Like they say, the older I get, the better I was.

Trigger weight will not be changed by a heavier main spring on a SA gun (1911)
Tigger weight will be changed by a heavier main spring  on a SA/DA gun like a Tanfoglio Stock II. It will increase the pull weight , but only the DA pull will be affected.

In my rugers ive heard some say its a 25lb stock on the 45 ive also heard 30lb was stock on the 10mm.  They both feel the same to me.  I changed the 10mm to a 34lb wolff mainspring and the trigger is a few oz heavier but its not very noticeable.  The 34lb spring feels very heavy compared to the stock 10mm mainspring and does a good job of slowing the slide down however.  With a 24lb recoil spring 34lb main spring and a flat bottom FPS cases are flying 7-8ft with a 220gr@1200fps blue dot load.

01deuce, I am gonna add to what you said.

For years the rank and file 1911 owners have been told not to mess with the hammer spring cause it won't affect trigger pull weight.  This is not exactly true.  What is true is that reducing the mainspring weight by cutting coils or using smaller diameter wire will have very small benefits to trigger pull at the expense of reliable ignition and potentially a safe firearm.  Those who focus on spring weights quickly move from the mainspring to the sear spring, which can result in a gun which will double or worse.

A more correct statement is this:  The trigger weight will not be significantly changed by a heavier mainspring.  Trigger pull characteristics are primarily governed by the hammer, sear and disconnector in a 1911 style handgun.  Efforts to reduce the pull weight should be focused in these parts.

However, you cannot increase the friction between parts without a corresponding increase in force to make the parts move in relation to each other.  The degree to which a mainspring will increase pull weight on your 1911 will depend on how well the sear and hammer hooks are cut with relation to each other.  Properly cut, a 2 lb increase will only result in about a 1 ounce change in pull weight.  Most guns will have a standard deviation in pull weight larger than 1 ounce, which means it really isn't perceptible.

The flat bottom firing pin stop is the big, in my mind required, change.

Further, the recoil spring exists only to send the slide back to battery with a new round.  Any poundage above what is needed to accomplish this should not be needed.  If your gun won't run reliably with a 18.5 lb recoil spring, then it has another defect that should be addressed, usually in the way the barrel link is fit to the gun. It can be overcome with a heavier recoil spring in some cases, but this is not a fix, it is a bandaid.  Unfortunately, it is common today for factory guns from well reputed makers to come with poorly fit barrel links.

Some links:

http://dave2.freeshell.org/1911/10mm1/10mm1.htm

And for trigger work:

https://www.brownells.com/aspx/learn/learndetail.aspx?lid=12535

Currently I'm running a 25# Main Spring, with a Flat Bottomed Firing Pin Stop, and a 20# Recoil Spring in my Government sized 10mm.  I really didn't want to go over 20#, as that might cause frame battering.  My empties land about 15 feet away.