- Location
- Nova Scotia
I read around 17# spring.
Where's Moe?
Well I bit the bullet and paid for some coaching. Got a guy that holds 4 IPSC Provincial championship titles to fix me at the range. I would say it worked. In the end I shot about 200rds with only one stoppage. That one stoppage was an obvious limp wrist that I knew was crap the second I touched it off and it was weak hand. I call this a success. Thank you all for your help and advice.
Cheers
Moe
Careful here. A lighter spring by itself is not a good solution.
A lighter recoil spring needs to be used in connection with lower power ammo. There's a range of acceptable spring rates for a given ammo power. But if you go to a very light recoil spring while still shooting standard loads the slide will end up hammering the frame badly.
Keep in mind that the first job of the recoil spring is to absorb the recoil impulse so the slide moves back the full stroke while reaching the end of travel ideally at the same time it slows down to a stop. A lighter spring used with regular power ammo won't absorb all the recoil energy and the slide will hammer the rear stop. Over time this can lead to any sort of types of damage.
Not to mention that if the lighter spring is used with regular ammo it won't really reduce the recoil either. And in fact because the recoil will all be felt when the slide hammers the rear stop it can actually make the gun feel like it's kicking around MORE as it has more shock value.
Some folks use soft plastic recoil buffers to aid with this issue and still get away with using a light recoil spring. And that can aid with avoiding the damage. But the sad condition of the buffers just after a few hundred rounds is a powerful statement to the amount of hammering resulting from the choice of too light a recoil spring.
A better and more overall approach to reducing the recoil energy and still shoot in matches is to first of all switch to ammo with a heavier bullet. Then power it with just enough powder to reach the power factor. That's why folks pick 147grain bullets for 9mm match ammo and push it out the muzzle at just over 900 FPS. The resulting recoil is very soft yet the round makes the minor power factor.
If shooting 40S&W go for a 180 or 200gn bullet and load the rounds down to around 800fps And in fact a 200gn bullet only needs to be traveling at 750fps and easily meet minor PF for any rules. With a suitable softer recoil spring that recipe would make for a really nice easy to shoot gun with a soft recoil without a lot of additions to the gun.
Realistically if your grip is going to be an ongoing issue I'd say that your days of shooting major power factor are likely over. Or perhaps soon will be over. Sorry if that hurts but it is just part of getting old and all the things that come along with that. Reducing the recoil with heavier bullets pushed by soft charges that still just meet minor PF for whatever events you enjoy will be one way of extending your enjoyment of the sports for some time to come.