Weak recoil spring causing failures?

[w_houle]

Full Metal Jacket...To my knowledge and experience that type of jam is caused by a weak recoil spring. Not weak ammunition. I have replaced several recoil springs in my 1911s, M43 and others that had that type of FTE and with the new spring it went away.

Well, rather than hijack a thread:
Glock Gen4 crap out reports already coming in.
How does this cause malfunctions? Is it limited to locking actions, or does it happen to blowbacks as well? Aside from round count: How do I diagnose a weak spring?

 

[parputt]

A weak recoil spring will affect the timing of the gun. When the timing between the slide movement and magazine change all kinds of strange things can start happening.

 

[9mmepiphany]

a weak recoil spring might allow the slide to move faster than a magazine spring could raise a round to be stripped.

it would also increase the recoil impulse and unduly batter the action

 

[Drail]

Replacing a recoil spring with a heavier weight spring is a common "fix" but in reality usually just covers up an actual timing or feed problem. If the rounds are not being lifted fast enough to get them in front of the slide (usually the last one or two) I would try a new mag spring first and check the extractor tension.

 

[The Bushmaster]

You could be right Drail. But, for an example, my Firestar (M43) was purchased new in 1992 and has had thousands of rounds put through it. Then it started to have the jam that was pictured in the fore mentioned thread. I sent it to [what I thought was] a reputable gunsmith. He tinkered with the extractor and other parts and couldn't get it to run a full magazine without jamming. The magazine was a brand new one. When I got it back I decided to change the recoil spring with a Wolf equivalent spring. Problem gone.

 

[rmfnla]

A weak recoil spring can have problems stripping a round out of the magazine, which can allow the round to misalign and jam.

Also, a weak spring can fail close the slide completely so that the gun will not fire because the disconnector is still engaged.

 

[The Bushmaster]

The photo, I believe, is a fired case that did not completely extract and caused the stopage. Not a fresh round jamming going in...The OP can correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[rmfnla]

I didn't even look at the photo, just rattled off a few things that a weak spring can cause, but even so the photo doesn't tell me anything.

Is the top cartridge fired or unfired?

If fired, it does look like an extraction failure which is not usually related to a weak recoil spring.

If unfired the culprit is likely the magazine lips not holding the cartridge properly; also not due to a weak recoil spring.


Trouble-shooting via the Internet is a pain; I need to get my hands on it! :banghead:

 

[VA27]

Just looking at the pic, without actually having seen the gun or fired it myself, I'd say a bad extractor or extractor spring. Looks like the round slipped off the extractor before it cleared the chamber and then tried to feed another round. In other words, the classic 'double feed'.