If memory serves, Glock uses a 17 lb. spring for the entire full size line up!
Yep, every single one. 9mm and 10mm frame, and longslides. Pretty crazy.
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Glock has a nice product but some help is needed at times. For those who are very picky.
Or those who merely don't like watching their brass bounce off the bottom of a roof, then down a hill and into a lake!
R&J
How does the slide get lighter if you only replace the barrel?
He may have meant lighter compared to a Glock 20. There's a 1.4 oz. difference.
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Interesting. I'd like to give it a try. Is there a particular brand you recommend?
Well, I've been using a Glockmeister tungsten captive recoil spring guide rod (pretty sure those and all other non-Wolff guide rods are manufactured by THE), and an ISMI 22 pound spring. I recommend against buying from Glockmeister, though. They shipped me springs for full-size Glock models
twice, made me pay for return shipping in between, and took several weeks to send the replacement (wrong) springs. It also took several weeks to get any response via e-mail the first time, and no one answered the phone the times I called. My second e-mail, telling them they screwed up
again, was never answered. I ended up selling the springs at a loss rather than deal with that again.
At this point, I recommend buying from
Lone Wolf and avoiding Glockmeister. I've sent e-mails to both places asking about buying a replacement for the screw and washer that got launched into low earth orbit, however, so we'll see if Glockmeister have cleaned up their act. But Lone Wolf has some of the best customer service in the industry. They've always gotten back to me fast whenever I've asked something on their feedback form thing. In fact, the only company (gun or otherwise) that's treated me better is Volquartsen Custom.
Your other option is to use Wolff springs and guide rod. ISMI springs are flat like the OEM springs, and will work on the OEM plastic guide rod as well, if you can pop the retaining thing on and off without damaging it. They do have a slightly larger internal diameter, however. Wolff springs are round, and require a wider guide rod. Lone Wolf claims the guide rod they sell will work fine with Wolff springs, though, if you use a plastic washer. I'm guessing Wolff guide rods are the diameter of the hole in the slide, so they can't have a wider end to retain the spring. I guess to prevent the rod from moving around as much, if that matters at all.
I went with ISMI primarily because of the availability of a captive tungsten guide rod. That extra ounce helps. Wolff only offers steel, non-captive guide rods, and I definitely do
not want to wrestle with a spring like that, every single time I field strip the gun. It is a huge hassle.
I recommend rolling a piece of paper around the spring and taping it together, cutting it to the same length as the guide rod, then trying to find something you can stick in one end, with a hole in it the diameter of the guide rod. Use the paper tube to compress the spring, then put the screw in. I didn't have anything to stick in the end of the tube, though, and was attempting to use my Glock slide, when everything went flying. So you may not want to try that.
I have no advice on getting a non-captive spring in, other than keep trying, and wear face protection (or at least eye protection).