Sig p229 enhanced elite 9mm recoil spring

[Formula94]

I just got my enhanced elite 229 9mm and am looking to upgrade the guide rod and recoil spring. The reason I want to upgrade is because I plan on using Ranger T 124gr +P+ ammo for carry.
My question is should I upgrade to the 21lb, 19lb spring or just the 17lb spring? I believe the oem spring is rated at 16lbs, correct?

 

[Dogguy]

I would just stick with the standard spring weight. You're not gonna be shooting a ton of that expensive Ranger ammo anyway--certainly not enough to cause any damage to the P229. The gun will function fine with the standard spring and +P+ ammo.

As for the guide rod, I'm not a fan of the plastic rod that comes standard with SIGs these days although they apparently work fine. You can get an original hollow steel SIG guide rod from many sources online. There's also the solid stainless steel models--I use the Bedair rods in all my SIGs but Bruce Grey sells his own brand as well. They all function the same.

 

[9mmepiphany]

If you are looking at replacement recoil springs, my advice to to stay away from single strand springs that are designed as replacements for SIGs. The factory SIG springs are made up of wound muliti-strand wire for the tension characteristics they imparts, these can't be duplicated by a single strand spring.

If you really want to replace your recoil rod with a metal one, I recommend the Fat Recoil Rods from Gray Guns. They fill the hole on the slide more fully and offer better control/alignment of the recoil spring

 

[Dogguy]

My apologies to Bruce Gray for misspelling his name.

And, while I do believe SIG recoil springs are the best of any OEM springs available, I would also trust Wolff brand springs. They pretty much are the standard for gun springs in the industry. Although I don't have any of them in my SIGs, Wolff recoil springs have worked perfectly in several other brands of firearms I own--in fact, they are currently in every single autoloader I own save the SIGs and a Bersa .380. But I would go with factory standard spring weights even if you do decide to change to an aftermarket brand.

 

[ATLDave]

I'm no expert, but 20+lb springs are what people use for 10mm in other platforms. Unless there's something about Sigs that leads to really high slide velocities, I wouldn't think you'd need that for even hot 9mm. JMHO, and I defer to those more knowledgeable.

 

[9mmepiphany]

They pretty much are the standard for gun springs in the industry.

I agree and recommend/use them in many of my other guns...as does Bruce, but he sees thousands of Sigs every year and I give his advice a lot of weight.

It isn't the spring weight difference, it is about the compression characteristics between the single strand spring and the multi-strand. He recently wrote this in answer to a person who wanted to shoot +P+ ammo in his 229

CAUTION!!!

I'd strongly recommend NOT using an ostensibly uprated single-strand recoil spring for +P+ duty ammo in your 9mm P229. No after-market single-strand recoil spring is better and more durable for the 229 than the multi-strand spring yours came with. A modest amount of +P+ is OK to make sure the stuff zeros, but don't overdo it. There's no point in training with it at all.

I agree, the firing pin spring that came with your Wolff recoil spring is fine, and in fact is probably better than factory based on our testing. But, there's no need to replace it yet.

Be sure to keep the rails greased and replace the recoil spring every 2 to 3 thousand rounds with a new factory part, and you'll be fine.

I hope this helps you.

-Bruce

Oops...I just noticed that the OP of this thread is also the OP on that thread