Removing side plate?

[Taffnevy]

Update....

Since I had to take off the side plate anyways, I ordered a Wolf mainspring. The lightest weight one. I performed the surgery yesterday, and it went off without a hitch. Huge improvement over the factory spring. It really is some sort of lawyer thing.

To compare the factory spring with the Wolf spring is revealing. The factory spring is thick and unrefined, and the Wolf spring is thin and nicely machined.

 

[Sport45]

Huge improvement over the factory spring.

Hopefully you can still say that after you've been to the range. Sometimes lighter mainsprings will result in not striking primers hard enough to set them off. Some use only Federal primers in their "tuned" guns because they're easier to set off.

Test for reliability by shooting slow DA. That will give you the least amount of hammer drop when firing.