1911 firing pin return spring

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Georgezilla
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1911 firing pin return spring

Post by Georgezilla » Sun Sep 12, 2010 8:52 pm

I notice that there are two types of firing pin return springs: extra power and factory. Also, Wilson Combat has a "factory plus" spring, is this the same as the factory?

My question is what type of spring should be used in a Les Baer Hardball? The pistol's current spring is to fail.

Thanks.

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Post by stork » Mon Sep 13, 2010 10:29 am

George,
Give Les Baer a shout & ask them what they're using.

Are you having problems with yours? If I remember right you haven't been using your LB for that long. It should be good for 10s of thousands of rounds.

I haven't checked my round count lately but I know I have somewhere over 39,000 loaded rounds and at least that many dry firings on my original firing pin and spring in my wad gun. When I had the gun built I had an extra fitted extractor & firing pin included with it and have never had reason to change them out.

Wolf includes a firing pin replacement spring with their replacement recoil springs. I change out my recoil springs every year so I have a few extra firing pin springs lying around. If you want a couple let me know. I couldn't say if they're regular or extra power, they just came with the recoil springs.

FWIW
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” – George Washington

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Georgezilla
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Post by Georgezilla » Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:35 am

Thanks for the info, Stork. The firing pin spring that is currently installed (the factory spring) is starting to shear off into 2 springs. I will check out which type of spring Les Baer uses.

I thought it was a bit early for a part like this to fail. The pistol probably has around rounds through it 7,000 and probably a little more than 7,000 dry-fires.

I will just put the spring on an order that is already being made to Midway, but thank you very much for the offer.

I am glad that you mentioned using Wolf springs. In the past I had always that they Wolf was an inferior brand. I don't know where I got that idea, but it is good to know that Wolf makes a good product.

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Post by bigfatdave » Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:45 am

Wolf ammo is lower-end, Wolff Gunsprings has nothing to do with the Russian ammo manufacturer.

http://www.gunsprings.com/ (Wolff gunsprings)
http://www.wolfammo.com/ (Wolf ammo)

Not to say that Wolf ammo is garbage, I've used quite a bit of it for casual shooting, and I've heard that their rimfire is match-grade stuff or close to it.

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Post by Bullseye » Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:58 pm

There's something wrong with that FP spring, there's no way that type of situation should happen under normal regular use like you've described. I've got far more rounds through some of my pistols and never had to replace a firing pin spring. Are there any burrs evident inside the firing pin cavity that could be rubbing on the spring?

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Post by Georgezilla » Tue Sep 14, 2010 12:42 am

BFD, thanks for the info about the two Wolf brands. I probably did hear someone talking about Wolf ammo and got it mixed up with the spring company.

Bullseye, there appear to be no burrs inside the firing pin cavity. There are no abnormal marks on the spring either.

The spring is just shearing off from itself and turning into two springs. The shearing starts at the tapered end of the spring (end closest to the chamber). I would post a picture but the spring looks normal in the photo.

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Post by Bullseye » Tue Sep 14, 2010 6:25 am

You should be fine with a factory spring or a Wolff replacement.

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