Wife's SP101: Spring upgrade.

[mewachee]

My wife wants a spring upgrade on her sp101 hammerless 357 mag. She can pull the double action, but accuracy is suffering because of the heavy spring.

I want to get a new spring for her, cost is the last criterion.

1. What are the companies that make the best springs for this gun?

2. What is a good balance between safety and ease of pull?

 

[icecorps]

Wolff springs are the gold standard. As far as spring weight, it will depend on the type of ammo she is using. Magnum primers require a heavier strike.

 

[mewachee]

I don't reload .38 or 357 yet, but will start soon. Generally when loading everything else (mine), I use standard primers, unless I find a necessary reason to use magnum primers. She doesn't like .357 out of this gun, but I do plan to work up a load. Are mag primers necessary for 357s?

Magnum primers require a heavier strike.

Any suggestion on the weight with the mag/nonemag consideration in mind?

 

[rcmodel]

On a SD gun, 101% reliable ignition always trumps a softer trigger pull & better accuracy.

All the accuracy in the world will not save you if the gun goes click instead of bang when you need it.

rcmodel

 

[mewachee]

On a SD gun, 101% reliable ignition always trumps a softer trigger pull & better accuracy.

I get that.

Wolf has springs going down to 9 lbs and states that factory is 14 lbs. Should I buy one of each, and see what happens.

Her self defense loads are gold dot .38s.

 

[rcmodel]

You can do that.

Start with the lightest and test throughly with Gold-Dots.
Keep going up until you get no misfires, then go up at least one more spring weight to make up for a dirty gun, hard primer, etc.

(Or, letting Mr. Murphy's Law get a foothold when you need the gun to work without fail)

rcmodel

 

[mewachee]

While using the lightest spring, should I expect to get misfires. Are we talking 1 in 5, 1 in 50 or just the possibility someday.

Have you experienced this, using to light of a spring? I am not speaking of misfires in general, but specifically due to light spring? If so, give me the example.

This my first mod of this kind and would like to understand what real world problems occur.

 

[rcmodel]

Yes, I have experienced them.

Match game guns are often un-sprung to the point they will only work with one brand of primer or ammo.

Others, such as some of the small frame Taurus & Charter Arms guns, barely work DA with their very strong factory springs.

And every individual gun is different.

What works fine in my S&W or Ruger may not work in your S&W or Ruger.
That's why Wolf makes so many different weights of the same springs.

rcmodel

 

[highlander 5]

Send the pistol to a qualified gunsmith and have him do an action job. Shouldn't cost more than $100 and it will be done right the first time.

 

[mewachee]

rcmodel, thanks for sticking around. That makes sense.

Highlander, thanks.

 

[rj112275]

I think I finally settled on the 10# spring from wolff. i the sp101 is also an easy gun to disassemble and polish up the trigger parts... and dry fire some too. all said and done, the trigger will be much, much better.

 

[mewachee]

I think I will buy them all, had no idea that they were so cheap. Then she can decide.

One last thing, wolf is the way to go? There are no competitors equal or better?

 

[PzGren]

Yes, Wolff springs are the way to go. They come in a set of all three weights for the hammer and the trigger return spring.

Change them around and see which one works best while maintaining reliable ignition.

My advice is to also get the information from one of the Ruger websites on how to polish the internals properly. It is found in the members only section in the from of the IBOK.

You can get lighter springs to work as reliable as heavier springs if you can decrease the unnecessary friction.

 

[Virginian]

I have Wolff springs in everything I own. If they offer it I usually get the 3 spring kit. The only gun that suffered any misfires with the lightest weight spring is a Taurus 431 44 Special, and on that I had to go to the medium spring. Everything else has been 100% reliable with the lightest spring over a 20 year span, regardless of primers. I use factory self defense loads but hand load everything else, and those are what I shoot 99.99% of the time. But, always check your gun reliability for yourself. It is easy to spend a lot more money, because it is tough to get a better feeling gun with the same effort as using Wolff springs. While I have the gun apart I also usually take a stone to anything that looks the least bit rough.

 

[machinisttx]

I just swapped in some Wolff springs in my SP101. I also polished the trigger return spring cups(inside and out), along with the bore of the trigger housing where they ride. I also found two spots in the trigger housing where the trigger was rubbing, so I removed the high spots.

I put the 9 pound mainspring in my gun, and so far it hasn't failed to fire with factory remington 125 grain SJHP magnum loads. The single action doesn't feel much different, but the DA pull is a lot smoother and a little lighter now. I haven't put a scale on it, but I know it's lighter than the 11.5 pound trigger in my mom's 642.

 

[Elvishead]

I have the 9lbs hammer spring in my SP101 nice fairly easy trigger pull, and shoots every time for the 300-400 rounds put through it, .357 or 38s.

 

[Nise]

wifes new 101, misfires

my wife just got a 101 hammerless and we went to the range today, 1st outting. I was disgusted, about 1 out of every cylinder was a misfire. Mostly I use CCI, some Win and Fed, but believe all these were CCI. We fired a couple cylinders of 'factory' and no problems, one of the factories looked to be remington, bronze colored. Any suggestions, it already has a pretty stout pull for her, da only. I suppose Ill just get federals seeing how they seem the easiest to ignite. Suggestions?

 

[Matt-J2]

Ouch. The SP-101 hammerless already has a heavier pull than the standard models, wouldn't want to up it much.

It could have been a bad batch of ammo, especially if all the misfires were from one brand.

 

[mewachee]

Haven't done the spring upgrade yet, but with factory have not had one misfire out of probably 700-800 shots. We have shot only factory in both .38s and .357s. Though, 100 of those were very cheap factory reloads.

I like this gun so much, I have considered buying myself a "Pink Lady" by Charter Arms and asking if she wants to trade. She originally wanted the Charter Arms with original naming on it.

Hey, back to the spring thing. Does anyone have pics showing the areas they polished? I would like to do this, but feel a little cautious about starting starting such a project.