Springfield and 1 Failure

[Whiteymin]

I have a Springfield ARmory GI 1911-A1 in 45acp. It has ran flawlessly since I have had it. I decided to change the recoil spring and add a Wilson buffer. For the spring I chose a 16lb. spring which was same as OEM. It was about 1/2 inch longer than the one in the gun which I attributed to the current one being worn and being so much smaller. The Current one was 6" long and the new one is 6 1/2" long. Anyway, I installed the new spring and the buffer and manually worked the slide. All was well. You could tell that the action was a little heavier than before, but I just thought it was suppose to be. Anyway, I took it out to shoot and ran through 20 rounds before I had a problem. It was the first problem ever. Upon one round ejecting and another one loading I had a stove pipe. One halfway in and the other not quiet clear of the ejection port. Of course with a tap it was fixed, but still, it was a misshap that I wasn't to thrilled with. Was this caused by the buffer, recoil spring and if so was it to stiff or to light? Thanks
Brian

 

[VARifleman]

Don't put a shock buff in a 1911. It's not a good idea. Try it without the buff at the range next time. Throw the buff in the trash or sell it to someone you hate.

 

[Black Majik]

+1 toss that shock buff.

 

[CWL]

Pardon my buttin' in but if your gun has been running "flawlessly" why are you messing with it?

 

[Ala Dan]

Save Face, And

Get rid of the shock buffer now~!

Your gun was runn'in fine; so why monkey with a good thing~?

 

[bannockburn]

Whiteymin

I, like a few others here, don't think you need a shock buffer for your Springfield. The only guns that I would consider it for might be those that have an aluminum alloy frame, or those chambered for something a bit more powerful than .45ACP; like the 10mm, the .451 Detonics Magnum, or the .45 Super. If everything was working fine before, I think I would go back to the stock configuration for the continued reliability that it provided you before.

 

[Navy joe]

Must. Toss. Shok-Buff. In. Lake.

Please, it's for the children! As for the spring #16 is the std. go to number but don't worry with free length, a used spring will be shorter. Count the number of coils and compare to original, make sure both springs are the same wire diameter. Wire diameter and # of coils will give you the compressed length. Pull your slide all the way to the rear. If the rear of your slide stop is not forward of the beginning of the notch in the slide by just a hair then you have too many coils.

 

[10X]

The shock buffer reduces the distance the slide has to travel. This causes problems for some guns. Yours is one. The shock buffs are a marketing gimmick and not needed.

 

[Conqueror]

Everyone's focusing on the buffer, and they are right, but is there a reason you were replacing the spring? Unless you've noticed a loss of power in your recoil spring (ie, cases being thrown a lot farther, or slide/frame battering, etc.) there's no reason to be replacing the spring, much less with one which will provide SIGNIFICANTLY more force at full recoil (1/2" may not sound like much, but with springs it can make a big difference).

 

[Old Fuff]

Being lazy, I offer the following quote from another post made by 1911 Tuner. Here are the facts, and nothing but.

Shock buffs!

While they do soften slide to frame impact, there are some pistols that won't run satisfactorily with a shock buff in place. They reduce slide travel and runup, and eliminate the rebound effect on impact that helps to get the slide started on the way back to battery...providing more speed and momentum for feeding and chambering the cartridge. For the pistols that function well with a buff...they won't hurt anything, and do offer some protection. For the ones that don't, it's a decision for the individual to make based on how much frustration he or she is willing to put up with. I don't recommend a buff in any carry gun. Murphy's Law is in effect.

I use a buff in two of my high-mileage range beaters. The run fine, though the ejection is a little erratic because of the standard-length ejectors...but I can live with it. These pistols are gettin' long in the tooth, and have seen close to 165,000 rounds each on their clocks.

The buffs are a means to extend their service lives of the slides for a bit, and nothing more. The frame abutments are fine in these guns.

I have one pistol that is boringly reliable as long as there isn't a shock buff in it. Put in a buff, and it goes into spastic fits. Remove it...and reliability returns as though John Browning had waved a magic wand over it...and apparently only the pistol knows why.

If you add a shock buff in combination with a longer recoil spring you may be asking for serious trouble. There is only so much room in the recoil spring tunnel, and Browning never considered the stuff 21st century users would think up.

But then, what did he know???

 

[mainmech48]

I've always followed the late Maj. Nonte's advice to change recoil springs when they show 3 full coils difference in length when compared to a new one. May be outdated now, but I've had no negative effects from doing so. This generally seems to occur at about the 4K round count on my 1911s and happened at about 6K on my full sized Witness 9x19.

I nearly always use replacement recoil springs of the factory standard weight. But then again I seldom use +P loads in any semiauto so YMMV.

 

[Conqueror]

^^^FYI, many mainsprings (at least in my experience) are shipped oversize. I've had them arrive a full inch longer than other "new" springs.

Usually I just remove 1 coil at a time and try a few rounds until I reach the proper ejection force.

 

[2nd 41]

Very interesting. I picked up a brand new SA Loaded Black stainless last Fri. Took it out of the box and fired 100 rounds flawlessly. Took it home...cleaned, oiled... inserted a Shock Buff. SUNDAY..Fire less than 50 rds and had a fail to feed. Got hung up before it chambered. Also the slide had a slight hesitation a few rounds before. BUff is coming out. Good thread. Thanks

 

[1911 guy]

Shock buffers and recol springs.

First of all, pitch the buffer in the trash can. Or mail it to someone you dislike. They are a solution in search of a problem and a bane to reliability, as you have discovered.

Secondly, it's not uncommon at all to have a new spring slightly longer than the old one, for two reasons. First and most obvious, is wear. A spring gradually shortens as it is repeatedly compressed during recoil. I change mine every couple thousand rounds. The second reason is difference in manufacturing process. I'm not an engineer, so I won't pretend to know all the jargon and physics, but a spring is designed to have a certain amount of compression in its static position (pistol in battery) and a certain amount of travel (slide to rear in recoil). If both of these parameters are correct, a bit of difference in length when out of the pistol isn't anything to worry about. It will vary slighty between manufacturers while each manufacturer has a perfectly functional spring.