Ruger KP345 Recoil Buffer Required?

[CommanderCrusty]

I am a fan of traditional double action pistols, party because I'm a bit clumsy. Also, my hands are weak and the slide mounted safety levers, the ones that 1911 fans love to hate, make slide manipulation easier for me. My problem is making my new KP345 more pleasant to shoot and manipulate.

The stock 13 pound recoil spring worked fine, but hurt my hands. The Wolff 17 pound replacement makes recoil much more pleasant, but makes locking back the slide a chore. So, I left the 17 pound recoil spring in place and REMOVED the short, flat-wound Recoil Buffer Spring. (This Recoil Buffer Spring is shown ON the recoil guide rod below.) I haven't been to the range yet, snowed in, but locking back the action is much easier, and loading the pistol is much smoother.

• Has anyone else done this?
• Will removing the buffer damage the plastic frame?
• Thoughts on reliability?

Thanks for your help.

 

[CommanderCrusty]

I appreciate the 80 plus people who have read my question.
Hopefully someone will have an answer.
The pistol sure feels better without the buffer.

 

[ku4hx]

As a hand loader, I went through my phase of playing with springs, but I also was playing with reduced powder charges, different bullet weights, compensators and etc.

Generally, the designer sets guns spring configurations and spring weights to run with a variety of bullet weights and power factors. Playing with those often have pronounced effects on a gun's performance. In my case, that was the intent. In the end though, I just dropped all the playing and now pretty much leave the designer's plan in place.

Can you alter spring weights and such? Most certainly ... many competitors do. But making a gun too easy to operate may cause significant operating problems. The only way you'll know in your particular case is to go shoot the gun. But don't ditch any of the OEM parts, you might need them. As to damaging the gun, any time you go outside the design parameters you run that risk.

 

[CommanderCrusty]

I test fired my PK345 with the 17# Wolff recoil spring and NO flat wound recoil buffer spring. The pistol worked fine with 50 rounds each 200 grain LSWC and 230 grain FMJ. No problems at all.

The recoil felt less than the factory pistol, but more than the pistol with the Wolff spring AND the recoil buffer spring. Compared to my all steel 5" ParaOrdance, the plastic framed 4.2" Ruger certainly had a bit more recoil. With a high thumb grip, the kick did hurt the base of my thumb a bit. However, with a thumb down grip, the kick was fine. No problem.

Since a replacement recoil buffer spring is only $10 shipped, I may try cutting the 1" spring in half and see how that goes. I would then get, perhaps, a bit of cushioning, but still be able to drawback the slide from the slide lock position.

This experiment reminds me a my old S&W 645. The factory recoil system worked fine (single spring), but I wanted to try a Menck Recoil Buffer System with 2 springs. That worked fine too. I finally went back to the factory single spring as it was easier to lock the slide back.