Tuner's Old Posts

[ken grant]

Looking back at some of your old posts,I found one about recoil springs.
In it you said a too heavy spring can cause magazine follower to overide slide stop and hang up in the pistol.
How does this happen?
THANKS

 

[1911Tuner]

Old Post

Howdy Ken,

It's not a cause, but it can be a contributor...at least from what I've seen.
The follower shelf tries to push upward on the stop, and the slide returns to battery so fast that the notch gets past the stop before it can engage.
The other player is a slight misadjustment of the angle and amount of
engagement interface between the shelf and the stop lug. If the slide
moves a little slower, it doesn't seem to happen...or at least not as often
with the same magazine. The last factor is a slidestop that doesn't move smoothly into position. Different recoil dynamics with the heavier spring
may also have an effect. (Everything means something)

Tha'ts about as near as I can figure it, since I can't seem to come up with
a different explanation. Whenever I noticed the occurrence, switching to a standard spring stopped it. What I'd really like to do is to watch it on
a slow-motion, stop action video.

Cheers!

Tuner