Wolff XP vs RP Springs

Why are you replacing the recoil spring? Is the gun used? A few years ago, many, including myself were going with heavier (higher lb rating) recoil springs. More recently, I have gone back to factory weight springs for the most part because I shoot only standard pressure ammo or my own reloads which are usually a bit lighter.

If you are oing to shoot a lot of +p, then consider going one level up in weight but I would not recommend a steady diet of +p for practice.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is generally good advice.

If you buy a used gun the first thing you should do is replace the recoil spring because you have no idea how long it has been in the gun. Stick with factory spring ratings for the gun. For all magazines buy extra power springs and replace the old ones (unless the mags are new). Don't waste your money on +P ammo. Practice.

Witness has a track record of cracking slides and frames. Apparently the factory does not install the proper recoil spring

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If you are worried about excess recoil cracking things, a stronger hammer spring will do you more good than a stronger recoils spring. While a stronger recoil spring may reduce the impulse of the slide going back it will definitely increase the impact moving forward and could end up making things worse.

My experience with EAA Witness pistols is if you get good mags you will be very happy, if not you'll have lots of misery trying to find ones that work with your pistol -- a stronger recoil spring gives less time for the mag spring to get the next round into feed position, so may trade one issue for another.

Most of my EAA mags have rather quickly needed new springs

First try it as it comes straight from the factory, would be my advice.

Yes but I think the service pack has a standard power hammer spring, so IMHO no point in swapping it out unless you want to delay the unlocking a tad with a stronger hammer spring or are getting failures to fire.


http://www.henningshootsguns.com/ is one of the best places for help with your EAA Witness pistol.

My fear of using the pistol with standard springs is that it will crack and I will then have to deal with EAA's lovely customer service

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You will get much better results from them if it cracks under warranty than if it cracks after you changed out any parts!

My EAA 10mm Compact cracked the slide in the first 200 rounds, they made me pay shipping to send it back and insisted on the whole pistol instead of just the upper which makes it a lot more expensive, but they were fast turning it around.

It's allways trail and error when swapping recoil springs. Guys shooting matchs my go only strong enought to cycle reliabley. Hotter rounds go heavier. Know what your cartidge is and the use helps to deside.

Step over to brian ennos forums and visit the witness section as many shooter there with experience . Also henningshootsguns is a great site for parts upgrades and given time to answer insight as to what works best. AS a factory shooter he up to speed.

Are 9MM Witness pistols that prone to frame cracking?

I guess I didn't clarify this but the EAA Witness has a track record of cracking slides and frames.

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Some slides have been reported as cracked, and far fewer frames -- but then only in certain older .45 and 10mm models (all with the larger frame that is now standard) of a specific design. The design has been changed, and if you're getting a new model, it's likely a non-issue.

Changing recoil springs isn't going to do anything to prevent frame or slide problems, as recoil spring don't protect either the slide or frame -- and heavier recoil springs can lead to slide stop damage in Witness and CZ models.

As someone noted, if you want to reduce felt recoil or keep spent brass nearby -- a heavier hammer spring is a good option. It won't help prevent slide or frame damage, either.

The main function of the recoil spring is to return/close the slide a each shot while chambering the next round.

You will likely NEVER have a problem with slide or frame cracking. They changed the slide design a year or two (maybe longer) ago; the problems were with an older version of the slide. Seeing as how you're only shooting .22s, you would never have a problem, regardless.

Frame issues have always been very rare -- probably caused by some obscure problem during manufacture (i.e., stuff happens.) In all my years of shooting, following (reading about) on the internet, I think I've only heard of one [Tanfoglio/Witness] frame failure -- and that in a recent discussion on this topic. I have heard of a few slide failures, as mentioned previously -- but most of them were in 10mm models. Still -- not a LOT (and certainly not common enough to be called "a track record of...")

The slide issue -- if you're buying NEW conversion kit slide -- shouldn't be an issue, either.

There is no need to change the springs in a new gun -- with a used gun, it can be a good exercise, but even with a used gun, if it's working right, it "ain't broke," so it makes no sense to "fix it." You'd be surprised how many "good guns" go bad after the owner starts preventative maintenance. <grin>