1911 spring help

[ORNGXTC]

I picked up some 18 lb main springs for 2 of my Springfields. I tried one in my Trophy Match on Sunday. To my surprise it actually made the trigger pull worse and also made the hammer feel like the spring was coil binding just as the hammer was latching. The spring I installed was the Wolff 26218. To add a little info. The factory spring removed was 1.875" long and the Wolff was 2.140". They were .265 " different in length. The pistol is only used for punching paper so I am looking to have the trigger as clean feeling as I can get it. I have already polished the hammer hook and the sear and that in it self made a very noticeable difference in the feel. As soon as my trigger pull gauge shows up I can tell you where it is at.
Thanks for any insight.

[MosinVirus]

I picked up some 18 lb main springs for 2 of my Springfields. I tried one in my Trophy Match on Sunday. To my surprise it actually made the trigger pull worse and also made the hammer feel like the spring was coil binding just as the hammer was latching. The spring I installed was the Wolff 26218. To add a little info. The factory spring removed was 1.875" long and the Wolff was 2.140". They were .265 " different in length. The pistol is only used for punching paper so I am looking to have the trigger as clean feeling as I can get it. I have already polished the hammer hook and the sear and that in it self made a very noticeable difference in the feel. As soon as my trigger pull gauge shows up I can tell you where it is at.
Thanks for any insight.

The SA pistols I believe come with ILS MSH. the caps in those are different. Top one has a longer head and that would mean the spring has to be shorter so there is no coil bind. I don't think you can drop in a different spring into one of those MSH and not replace the caps.

if it was me, I would replace the whole MSH for non-ILS one and get the MSH caps as well as the cap retaining pin to use with your new springs.

Just did a quick search (not having a trophy match myself) and it seems that my assumption is correct.

https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=485666

[pklin1297]

When I had my Springfield milspec, I changed out the entire mainspring housing and inside parts when I installed a new "normal" spring and it worked fine. Like MV said, change everything out...

[ORNGXTC]

Thanks all for the info. I need to figure out what options I have. The Trophy Match had the mag well extension as part of the MS housing. I have looked at Brownells about just buying the pins. The pins themself are pretty reasonable. I have a couple of other Springfields of the older variety that I can swap out the MS housings for as a test.
Thanks again for the info.

[Brown Rock]

When I had my Springfield milspec, I changed out the entire mainspring housing and inside parts when I installed a new "normal" spring and it worked fine. Like MV said, change everything out...

Did the same thing on my milspec. It felt so different from the ILS set up that I thought something was wrong. Cocking the hammer back was way easier and the trigger pull felt lighter.

[Pardini]

Cut the spring shorter.

[MosinVirus]

Cut the spring shorter.

Wouldn't that reduce the power of the spring? As far as I know the power us rated at collapsed state with the particular number of coils providing the OAL. because the spring will no longer have the same number of coils it will be weaker.

[xsefan]

Wait 18lb main spring or recoil spring? Wouldn't an 18lb main spring make the trigger an 18lb trigger?

[tr6guns]

Yah, I think everyone was talking about the Main Spring making the Trigger hard to pull.

[ORNGXTC]

xsefan and tr6guns,
The discussion was about my main spring housing using the factory spring verse a new 18 lb Wolfe. Using a lighter weight main housing spring does have a impact on the trigger pull of a 1911. This spring tensions the hammer, and as you may be aware the sear holds the hammer. The more tension applied via the hammer the harder it is to pull the sear free from it. Stoning the hammer and sear to the appropriate angles and polishing also helps with the trigger pull. I wanted to add this so in case you were unaware of how this works you would now have a better understanding.

On another note I checked Brownells for new main housing pins. They are really inexpensive and I will probably go with replacing them. I just need to steal the pins out of another pistol that is a non ILS housing to be sure they work. I do have a extra 18lb that I may try and cut and see how things work.
John

[SkyHawk]

Just buy this, $9 contains everything you need. http://www.brownells.com/handgun-par...prod27082.aspx

I put those in all my SA 1911s with ILS. Then you can use standard 1911 main springs. The inside dimension of the SA mainspring housing is the same as all other 1911s. You just need the standard size guts. That kit has them. It is mainly the ILS mainspring cap that is different and requires the use of a shorter spring.

[Pardini]

Wouldn't that reduce the power of the spring? As far as I know the power us rated at collapsed state with the particular number of coils providing the OAL. because the spring will no longer have the same number of coils it will be weaker.

That's the idea isn't it?

[MosinVirus]

That's the idea isn't it?

I don't know if the OP wanted to go even lower than 18lb.
I don't remember if it is a .45 pistol or a 9mm. I suspect it is a 9mm since the hammer spring is reduced power.

The hammer spring, along with the FP Stop bevel size can help control timing and slide speed during recoil.

I don't know what the OP is doing this for, so I don't know if cutting the spring is a good way to go.