.40 Super Recoil Spring

[cstarr3]

I have heard that one needs a 22-26 lb. recoil spring for .45 Super.

I was wondering if anybody has any experience with the .40 Super, and which recoil springs weight would be the best for it. Will the same spring strength do for the .40 Super as for it's parent case, the .45 Super? What do you guys recoment? Does anybody know if the Springco Recoil Management System (normal or Corbon model) is worth the extra bucks?

Due to some ambivalence on my part, combined with a long term Glock-that-shoots-any-caliber project I have taken up, I have a few different heavy springs. But I am both too lazy and too busy to go out and break in every spring and send a couple of hundred rounds downrange with each one to test reliability (especially considering the price and availability of .40 Super ammo).

Also: any advice on pretty much anything .40 Super will be welcome, as, apart from knowing the tech-specs and history of this particular caliber, I am pretty much new to the cartridge.

 

[ku4hx]

It's an old post, but some of this still may apply: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=64000

 

[Clark]

I bought a Colt Commander 14 years ago, and it already had a Sprinco in it.

I have added a spring around it from the Wolff Gunsmith kit #14
http://www.gunsprings.com/General P...atic Pistol Recoil Springs/cID4/mID132/dID399

That spring is the .444" coil diameter .049" wire diameter 4.7" relaxed, trimmed to fit on the bushing end and keep the "closed and ground" end on the buffer.
I plotted that spring force yesterday.



That worked for everything above 8,000 psi.
That slide weighs 12 ounces.

So as you can see, a 60 pound spring is just right for 8,000 psi, not 45 Super.

What does it all mean?
You are not going to have enough recoil spring, so get as much as you can, and you will have as little slide hammering the frame as possible.

 

[hentown]

I've actually loaded and fired over 3k .40 Supers through a G21. I was using a threaded, compensated barrel, and the compensator mitigated recoil and muzzle flip.

With the compensator, I used a standard 17# spring; take the comp off and I went to 22#.

Clark's graph and conclusion about psi and recoil spring weight are, predictably, nonsensical and not germane to this thread (or to anything else that I can think of!).

 

[Clark]

hentown
Member


Join Date: May 13, 2012
Posts: 936
I've actually loaded and fired over 3k .40 Supers through a G21. I was using a threaded, compensated barrel, and the compensator mitigated recoil and muzzle flip.

With the compensator, I used a standard 17# spring; take the comp off and I went to 22#.

Clark's graph and conclusion about psi and recoil spring weight are, predictably, nonsensical and not germane to this thread (or to anything else that I can think of!).

1) The OP heard of a spring weight of 22- 26 pounds for 45 Super.
I explain how to understand that rumor and what to do.
2) He asks if the Springco unit is worth the money.
I explain I have one, and I am testing one right now.
3) I explain how wimpy a load is with "8,000 psi" which is way below 45 Super
4) As point of reference I describe the 60 pound recoil spring force in my 1911 that maybe one man in ten have the grip to cycle.

How can I get more common sense and more germane than that?