Way back in nineteen-ought ten, John Browning unknowingly planted a seed that sparked many a heated debate when he named his action spring the re-action spring...not reaction...re-action. Somebody took note and thought: "Re-action? Reaction! Action and reaction! Recoil! It's a recoil spring!"
And hilarity ensued when Bill Wilson saw an opportunity to sell more springs by offering kits containing several different springs so that we could" tune" our pistols to a given ammunition level. More than that, it became accepted by one and all that the standard "recoil" spring for 5-inch pistols is 16 pounds, which also isn't based on anything other than Wilson's directives.
First, Browning's spring wasn't specified in "pounds" but rather in dimensions. To wit: 32 and 3/4ths turns of .043 diameter music wire. Toward the end of WW1, in response to complaints of the spring being too "squiggly" and difficult to control when field stripping and reassembling, that was changed to 30 turns of .044 diameter wire.
2nd, the packages that we order are specified in pounds because it's easy for the layman to understand, but it only provides part of the story, and not the most important part. The spring's rate...the loading per inch of compression means far more than the total loading of the spring.
The "pound" loading of the spring is determined by compressing the spring to a given length...I forget the exact number...and measuring it with a scale. That compressed length changes when the spring is installed in a pistol, and the loading at full slide travel is generally a pound or so lower than the tested loading. Thus, that "16 pound" spring actually provides about 15 when installed.
The rate of the spring is determined by the wire diameter and the center to center distance between coils, and it has more to do with the spring unloading its stored energy in returning the slide than anything else it does. You can take a given wire diameter and by winding it differently...by increasing or decreasing the distance between coils...and markedly alter its operating characteristics. Witness the Colt Commander's spring. The same wire diameter with fewer coils and a noticeably larger spacing between coils. More on the Commander vs Government Model later.
The spring's function is acceleration...not deceleration. That it does provide a bit of deceleration is by virtue of having to be compressed in order to store that energy is incidental and essentially irrelevant. The spring's function is returning the slide to battery.
It's also been stated...and widely accepted...that different rate springs have an effect on the slide's timing. This is absolutely false and it comes from most people confusing timing with time. Timing is mechanically fixed and isn't dependent on speed. The timed event will occur at the same point in the cycle, regardless of the speed of the cycle. The slide times at its two terminal points. Everything that comes between those two points is a function of speed and distance...time. The other timed events in operation are the barrel's rise and fall as it moves into and out of battery.
The spring can affect time, but not timing, and it actually has little effect on the total time of the cycle. A stronger spring means that the slide moves more slowly backward, but faster forward, and vice versa. so the total time changes little, if any.
Neither is the spring's purpose in buffering shock...often referred to as slide to frame impact...which seems to concern a good many people. As my Scottish kinfolk are fond of saying: Dinna fash y'self. Tis naught but in yer own mind.
The slide just doesn't hit the frame all that hard, and the pistol isn't that fragile.
Calculations have shown that without considering any outside resistive forces from the "recoil" spring, mainspring, hammer inertial mass, and friction...and assuming 230 grains/830 fps...the slide impacts the frame with just under 9 foot pounds of energy. Not exactly the Hammer of Thor. Factor in all the outside forces acting against the slide, and you can probably figure on around 7.5-8 fpe, depending on the springs' rates. So...Dinna fash, laddie. The pistol can actually be fired repeatedly without a "recoil" spring at all without ill effects. The only thing that changes is having to return the slide manually. I've been demonstrating that with various pistols for over 40 years. I have a video available for those who haven't seen it yet. Ask, and you shall receive.
Part 2...coming soon to a theater near you...Why is the Commander's "recoil" spring stiffer than the Government Model's?
Stay tuned! (Pun intended)
And hilarity ensued when Bill Wilson saw an opportunity to sell more springs by offering kits containing several different springs so that we could" tune" our pistols to a given ammunition level. More than that, it became accepted by one and all that the standard "recoil" spring for 5-inch pistols is 16 pounds, which also isn't based on anything other than Wilson's directives.
First, Browning's spring wasn't specified in "pounds" but rather in dimensions. To wit: 32 and 3/4ths turns of .043 diameter music wire. Toward the end of WW1, in response to complaints of the spring being too "squiggly" and difficult to control when field stripping and reassembling, that was changed to 30 turns of .044 diameter wire.
2nd, the packages that we order are specified in pounds because it's easy for the layman to understand, but it only provides part of the story, and not the most important part. The spring's rate...the loading per inch of compression means far more than the total loading of the spring.
The "pound" loading of the spring is determined by compressing the spring to a given length...I forget the exact number...and measuring it with a scale. That compressed length changes when the spring is installed in a pistol, and the loading at full slide travel is generally a pound or so lower than the tested loading. Thus, that "16 pound" spring actually provides about 15 when installed.
The rate of the spring is determined by the wire diameter and the center to center distance between coils, and it has more to do with the spring unloading its stored energy in returning the slide than anything else it does. You can take a given wire diameter and by winding it differently...by increasing or decreasing the distance between coils...and markedly alter its operating characteristics. Witness the Colt Commander's spring. The same wire diameter with fewer coils and a noticeably larger spacing between coils. More on the Commander vs Government Model later.
The spring's function is acceleration...not deceleration. That it does provide a bit of deceleration is by virtue of having to be compressed in order to store that energy is incidental and essentially irrelevant. The spring's function is returning the slide to battery.
It's also been stated...and widely accepted...that different rate springs have an effect on the slide's timing. This is absolutely false and it comes from most people confusing timing with time. Timing is mechanically fixed and isn't dependent on speed. The timed event will occur at the same point in the cycle, regardless of the speed of the cycle. The slide times at its two terminal points. Everything that comes between those two points is a function of speed and distance...time. The other timed events in operation are the barrel's rise and fall as it moves into and out of battery.
The spring can affect time, but not timing, and it actually has little effect on the total time of the cycle. A stronger spring means that the slide moves more slowly backward, but faster forward, and vice versa. so the total time changes little, if any.
Neither is the spring's purpose in buffering shock...often referred to as slide to frame impact...which seems to concern a good many people. As my Scottish kinfolk are fond of saying: Dinna fash y'self. Tis naught but in yer own mind.
The slide just doesn't hit the frame all that hard, and the pistol isn't that fragile.
Calculations have shown that without considering any outside resistive forces from the "recoil" spring, mainspring, hammer inertial mass, and friction...and assuming 230 grains/830 fps...the slide impacts the frame with just under 9 foot pounds of energy. Not exactly the Hammer of Thor. Factor in all the outside forces acting against the slide, and you can probably figure on around 7.5-8 fpe, depending on the springs' rates. So...Dinna fash, laddie. The pistol can actually be fired repeatedly without a "recoil" spring at all without ill effects. The only thing that changes is having to return the slide manually. I've been demonstrating that with various pistols for over 40 years. I have a video available for those who haven't seen it yet. Ask, and you shall receive.
Part 2...coming soon to a theater near you...Why is the Commander's "recoil" spring stiffer than the Government Model's?
Stay tuned! (Pun intended)
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