Stupid question of the week: what's this spring?

[1KPerDay]

what are these extra little springs in a Wolff glock guide rod and spring kit? Striker springs? If so why?

 

[1KPerDay]

Pic

 

[M1key]

Yes, striker spring. Probably a bit stronger than OEM for harder primers. I don't usually install them, but help yourself.

M

 

[9mmepiphany]

Yup, striker springs

 

[Walt Sherrill]

what are these extra little springs in a Wolff glock guide rod and spring kit? Striker springs? If so why?

It may depend on the gun for which the recoil spring is purchased. I've seen explanations (from Wolff) about why a firing pin spring is included with a recoil spring -- especially a heavier recoil spring -- but never saw an explanation when a recoil spring for a striker-fired gun is replaced and a second small spring is included in the pack. (Most striker fired guns I've owned have recoil spring assemblies, and they are replaced as units -- spring and guide rod as a single, captured unit -- so you don't see many recoil springs for striker-fired guns.

For most of the recoil springs I've ordered, the small springs are firing pin springs -- and they \are designed to prevent inertial movement of the firing pin if the weapon is dropped and, more importantly, to return the firing pin to a position where a hammer can strike it with a following shot. Most hammer-fired guns now come equipped with firing pin safeties, so drops that might cause an accidental discharge are less of a concern. I guess Wolff and other spring suppliers figure if one spring is losing it's resilience, the other is, too. (They might also think that a firing pin, in a gun without a firing pin block might cause a different type of inertial discharge if the slide slams closed with extra force -- in which case, a stronger firing pin spring MIGHT make sense.)

The striker spring, on the other hand, drives the firing pin (striker) forward, and with an FNS or FN-509, a striker return spring sends the striker back away from the primer after the striker has been released. The striker return spring does what the firing pin spring (in a hammer-fired gun) -- repositions the striker after a round has been fired -- but the striker in most guns is typically so light there's no concern about inertial discharges.

Those two types of springs (hammer spring and striker spring) look a lot alike by have different functions.

 

[zaitcev]

The striker spring is compressed when slide goes forward with the force of the recoil spring. This is opposite of a hammer-fired gun, where a hammer is cocked with the force of recoil. So, theoretically speaking, a lighter recoil spring might need a lighter striker spring. The opposite is not the case: if your existing striker spring is already strong enough to fire reliably, a stronger recoil spring will only work better against it. Well, something like that. In practice, I never bother with installing the complementary striker springs.

Once upon a time, I installed the recoil spring and started getting misfires. It was on Kahr. Ah-ha, I thought, that's why the striker springs are included! Installed it too, and was still getting the misfires. It took me some serious head-scratching to realize that a metal speck got into the striker channel. I managed to get it out with piece of wire eventually. By a coincidence, it shifted right when I was installing the recoil spring and started blocking the striker. So, it turned out that the complementary striker springs weren't necessary after all

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Deleted. See following post.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

...So, theoretically speaking, a lighter recoil spring might need a lighter striker spring. The opposite is not the case: if your existing striker spring is already strong enough to fire reliably, a stronger recoil spring will only work better against it. Well, something like that. In practice, I never bother with installing the complementary striker springs..

I tried addressing some of this in an earlier response, above, and when rereading it I saw that I screwed it all up. I have since tried correcting my errors above. If this seems redundant, forgive me...

Some of the following repeats part of my earlier post, but I think this presents it in a clearer manner.

With older hammer-fired guns, the firing pin spring is there to 1) prevent an inertial discharge (caused by the firing pin slamming forward through inertia if the gun is dropped on it's muzzle, and 2) to return the firing pin to a position where the hammer can hit it with the next hammer drop. With those older hammer-fired guns, when a heavier recoil spring was used, there was also concern that the force of the slide slamming forward might cause a different type of inertial discharge (as with a drop, but caused by faster/more forceful slide movement). To prevent that, a heavier firing pin spring was used to minimize that possibility. Nearly all new guns have firing pin safeties or firing pin blocks, so that type of unintended discharge is less of a concern with the newer guns. It MIGHT still be a concern with an older weapon.

All modern striker-fired guns seem to have striker-safety mechanisms/safeties that should prevent inertial discharges (from drops or slide movement). As long as the slide returns to battery, I don't understand the need for a different striker spring when a new (lighter or heavier) recoil spring is used in a striker-fired gun.

If the slide isn't going into battery, the striker spring might not be properly charged or reset -- but that's arguably less important than the fact that the slide isn't going into battery! If a heavier recoil spring is so strong that it prevents the slide from moving back far enough to strip the next round from the mag, that's not a striker-issue. A lighter recoil spring that doesn't store enough force to chamber the next round is a different problem, too. The fact that in either case, the slide doesn't return to battery is the big issue. If it returns to battery, the striker should be ready to fire.

I was looking at a parts diagram for my FNS-40 (from Midwest Gun Works) -- which ws the only place I've found one -- one doesn't come in the owner's manual . IF a different striker spring is installed (whether lighter or heavier), it seems you MIGHT need a different striker return spring for an FNS gun. I will admit, however, that I never even noticed that a striker return spring even existed in the FNS design until a few days ago. (Shows how closely I've paid attention to some of this.)

 

[1911 guy]

Wolff includes the firing pin or striker spring with their recoil springs for the reasons already stated. Many (most) stock springs are on the anemic side and they are selling a top shelf product and the necessary related spring to take advantage of theirs. Having said that, I do not replace my firing pin spring every time I change recoil springs. In my own 1911's, about every third time has kept me from any possible problems. Might be able to go a lot longer, but there's no point, I have plenty of firing pin springs.