Changing main spring in Mark II

[Bullseye]

Right on Bullseye. This is so typical on these forums. Somebody asks for help and all the "know-it-alls" jump ugly. It's the main reason why most people don't bother to help... too bad.

That can happen but I don't think anyone really intended to go off on a tangent, or be mean. These are all really good folks here and I've known many of them for a bunch of years. I like to think that sometimes people just get caught up in a conversation and forget that there's a real person on the other end genuinely seeking some knowledge and expertise for a problem they are wrestling with on their own. In this one, I just played the conscience, as others have done for me on occasion when I've rambled off in the wrong direction. The innate ability of our membership to be humble when necessary is what I feel separates this firearms forum from most of the rest. One thing that does happen here at Guntalk-Online, is folks helping folks, and this is one thing that I am personally proud of with this outstanding group of members.

I just did my part as the Forum Administrator to tweak the thread a little and keep everything on track.

R,
Bullseye

[Bullseye]

How many coils are on the factory spring in relation to the reduced spring offered by Wolff? Has anyone cut the coils to match and what was the results? How many coils were removed? Thanks to all.

Cutting the coils of the mainspring is not a good idea. A relatively small amount of change can have a huge impact. I've repaired plenty of guns where the owner decided to trim the mainspring to lighten the trigger pull, and the end result was a firearm with an inconsistent detonation rate due to light strikes. But to be fair, most of them had outstanding trigger pulls but they didn't fire consistently.

I haven't said this much but a few fractions of an inch on the mainspring can significantly lighten the trigger pull. Volquartsen knows this and that is why their target hammer has the hook a few milimeters farther out than the factory hammer. Another gunsmith I know actually takes a little off of the mainspring housing's release latch to relax the mainspring tension a little to lower trigger weight. But this can result in inconsistent detonations and that's unacceptable performance for a firearm. The truth is just by using a sear that has as little as one degree less engagement angle can make a trigger pull much lighter and not sacrifice reliability. This is one reason why I usually tell folks to use a VQ target sear, because as a drop-in part the quality is very good and the results are very favorable for reliability - Plus they have outstanding customer support.

R,
Bullseye

[ruger22]

Duncan Long's book gives a simple tip for changing the mainspring. Once it's out of the housing, you drill a very small hole through the housing, right through the center of the mainspring well, near the latch. Then you put a small nail through the hole, and you can "screw" the mainspring in with needle nosed pliers. The nail holds all the tension until reassembly is complete. Then just remove the nail. The hole doesn't cause harm, even gives a good access for a drop of oil on the spring.

[HisSoldier]

How many coils are on the factory spring in relation to the reduced spring offered by Wolff? Has anyone cut the coils to match and what was the results? How many coils were removed?

I did that last night, cut two coils off. Got a reduction of 1/2 lb with many other things done too.
Looking at the photo of the Marvel tool and reading all that was said, and after my own trials and tribulations getting the assembly back together last night I came to the conclusion that the better solution would be as follows;
After taking the pin, ball and spring out drill a small .055" diameter hole into the housing about 1/8" below the start of the bore and perpendicular to it. The hole would best be from side to side the same direction as the pins holes.

Then it would be simple to clamp the body to the bench, as I did last night with a "Cantwist" clamp, push the ball and spring down below that and push a .050" Allen key into the hole to hold it. Then the rest is easy.

Haven't done it yet though! Had to do it the hard way first.