{"id":15491,"date":"2021-12-22T07:27:56","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T15:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=15491"},"modified":"2023-06-19T14:06:52","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T21:06:52","slug":"compact-1911-spring-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2021\/12\/22\/compact-1911-spring-fatigue\/","title":{"rendered":"Compact 1911 Spring Fatigue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last time I had the Compact 1911 on the range, I shot worse than usual.\u00a0 At 25 yards (with me resting my arms on the bench), I can typically keep my shots in the black with the Rock Compact.\u00a0 This is how I shot last week:<\/p>\n

\"\"
Maybe adequate for defense purposes and probably close enough for government work, but terrible shooting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s pitiful (there\u2019s a few 9mm holes on that target above; ignore those). Then I noticed the slide was not going fully back into battery, which was something new to me.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t jammed, it just needed a slight nudge to finish the trip home.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The slide sitting about a tenth of an inch from returning to battery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another view of the slide not returning to battery. “Battery” means fully forward, ready to fire the next round.I knew that Compact 1911 recoil springs fatigue earlier than the springs in full-sized 1911s, but this one snuck up on me.\u00a0 Armscor (the Rock Island Armory folks who manufactured my Compact 1911) were out of stock, so I ordered a new spring from Wilson Combat.\u00a0 Wilson Combat is a recognized “go to” shop in the 1911 world.\u00a0 I received my new recoil spring a few days later.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A brand-new Wilson Combat 24-pound recoil spring.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Online research said the life of these springs in a Compact 1911 is only about 2000 rounds, tops.\u00a0 That surprised me.\u00a0 The literature from Wilson surprised me even more:<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Wildon Combat bubble-pack literature.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1000 rounds.\u00a0 That’s 10 boxes of ammo.\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 I probably had several times that many rounds through my Rock.\u00a0 Small wonder the slide wasn\u2019t returning to battery.<\/p>\n

When the spring arrived, I was eager to put it in my 1911.\u00a0 I dropped the magazine and cleared the weapon:<\/p>\n

\"\"
The TJ-customized and polished feed ramp and chamber entrance on the Rock Island Armory Compact 1911. Yep, it’s empty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then it was time to turn to my custom, German tool steel, carefully configured to exacting tolerances, Rock Island Armory Compact 1911 disassembly tool.\u00a0 It’s a bent paper clip:<\/p>\n

\"\"
A bent paper clip 1911 disassembly aid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The drill is to lock the slide back, put the paper clip in the guide rod hole, and ease the slide gently forward to engage the paper clip.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The 1911 guide rod hole that accepts the paper clip disassembly aid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
With the slide forward on the guide rod, held in place by the paper clip You bend the paper clip so that the guide rod, recoil plug, and recoil spring can be pushed rearward in the slide to remove these three components as a subassembly).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once I had the slide forward, with the paper clip disassembly aid in place like you see above, I withdrew the slide release from the left side of the pistol.\u00a0 At that point, the entire slide assembly can slide forward off the receiver.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Another view from underneath the slide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next step was to extract the recoil spring, the guide rod, and the recoil plug out of the slide.\u00a0 It’s best to leave the paper clip in the guide rod (i.e., with the recoil spring still compressed), and then slide the entire recoil plug\/recoil spring\/guide rod rearward as a unit out of the slide.\u00a0 After that, I pushed down on the recoil plug, withdrew the paper clip from the guide rod, and released the compression on the spring.\u00a0 I was careful when I did this; parts could go flying if I just let them go.\u00a0 Don’t ask me how I know this.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The recoil plug, the guide rod, and the recoil spring removed from the slide with the paper clip removed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s what the guide rod, the original recoil spring, and the new Wilson Combat recoil spring look like.\u00a0 The new spring is on the bottom:<\/p>\n

\"\"
Quite a difference, huh?\u00a0\u00a0In case you were wondering, both springs have 14 coils.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think the new spring wire diameter is larger than the original spring wire diameter.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think to measure it before I installed it; I will do so the next time I have the gun apart. \u00a0And there\u2019s a huge difference in free length, as you can see in the above photo.<\/p>\n

Installing the new spring on the guide rod with its recoil plug was a challenge.\u00a0 I had make to a tool to compress the spring and the recoil plug enough to get a paper clip on the guide rod to hold everything together so I could install it in the slide.\u00a0 Again, I was super careful.\u00a0 I didn’t want to release these parts, and I always wear eye protection when I do this sort of thing.\u00a0 A lot of people get hurt by being careless with springs.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The reassembled recoil plug, recoil spring, and guide rod, ready for insertion in the slide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At this point, I reinstalled the subassembly in the slide, I slid the slide onto the receiver, and then I reinstalled the slide stop.<\/p>\n

Once the gun was back together, the first time I tried to rack the slide I was shocked.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t pull the slide all the way back.\u00a0 I muscled it and then did so several times, and it seems to be okay now, but wow, it is stiff.\u00a0 \u00a0The 24-pound recoil spring is way stronger than what the Compact 1911 had in it.\u00a0 That’s the bad news.\u00a0 The good news is that the problem with the slide not returning to battery is gone.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Compact with the slide in battery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You know, I was playing around with the Compact 45 when I was cleaning it before the above spring replacement and I noticed that because the slide only went limply into battery there was a lot more play between the receiver and the slide.\u00a0 I thought maybe it was me, but I noticed the accuracy was really falling off the last couple of times I shot it.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll bet when the recoil spring holds the slide firmly in battery keeps the slide in the same spot each time.\u00a0 With a weak spring, it stands to reason that the slide would swim around a bit more and accuracy would suffer.\u00a0 I shook the gun in my hand with the old spring in it, and it rattled just like the 1911s I carried in the Army. I\u2019ll bet they all had worn recoil springs, too.<\/p>\n

When testing a recoil spring to see if it’s the right one, the drill is to load one round in the magazine, fire it, and if the slide locks back after that round (as it is supposed to do), the spring is good.\u00a0 I tried that with seven rounds of factory hardball and the new Wilson Combat 24-pound recoil spring, and it worked each time.\u00a0\u00a0Then I tried my 230-grain cast hardball load with 5.6 grains of Unique (my reloads are less potent but way more accurate than factory ammo), and it worked great.\u00a0 Then I tried my 185-grain cast semi-wadcutter load (with 5.0 grains of Bullseye; my Compact 1911 accuracy load), and it worked great.\u00a0 It\u2019s a little easier to rack the slide now, but it\u2019s still way stiffer than it was before.<\/p>\n

\n

Like 1911 stories?\u00a0 Or maybe other handgun stories?\u00a0 Or good reloading info?\u00a0 Hey, it’s all available on Tales of the Gun<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\n

Help us keep the content coming:\u00a0 Please click on the popup ads!<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n

More stories on the Rock Island Armory Compact?\u00a0 Yes, indeed!<\/p>\n

The 1911<\/a>
\nA Tale of Two 45s<\/a>
\nAn Accurate Compact 1911 Load<\/a>
\nA Gripping 1911 Story<\/a>
\nA Tale of Two More 45s<\/a>
\nRIA Compact:\u00a0 Load versus Point of Impact<\/a>
\nTJ’s Custom Gunworks<\/a>
\nRIA Compact Update<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Never miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n\n

\n

We love it when you click on those pop up ads!\u00a0 It’s what keeps the lights on!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time I had the Compact 1911 on the range, I shot worse than usual.\u00a0 At 25 yards (with me resting my arms on the bench), I can typically keep my shots in the black with the Rock Compact.\u00a0 This is how I shot last week: That’s pitiful (there\u2019s a few 9mm holes on … Continue reading “Compact 1911 Spring Fatigue”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,84],"tags":[2169,85,2485,87,2484,2238,2483,1440],"class_list":["post-15491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-good-stuff","category-guns","tag-45-acp-reloading","tag-85","tag-1911-recoil-spring","tag-45-acp","tag-armsor","tag-compact-1911","tag-ria","tag-rock-island-armory"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/20211215_0001-2-900.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15491"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22781,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15491\/revisions\/22781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}