Recoil spring for RIA 1911... Do I need to change it?

[Animal]

Hey folks,

I'm almost done with the first 500rnds of my new RIA GI 1911 45 acp. I'm new to semiautos, but I've heard a little chat about recoil springs in these guns being a bit weak.

I haven't had any problems with my gun... I love it. But, to make sure I get the most of it's life, I'd like to know if I need to upgrade any springs or perform other services. All I've done with it so far is clean it, shoot it, clean it, shoot it.

I've settled on 5.1gr of Red Dot and a 225 gr boolit for my "duty load" and 3.7 gr of Clays (non-universal) and 225 gr boolit for plinking. My plinker load seems pretty soft on the gun, but my "duty load" is a tad tough.

I don't want to wear the gun out so I've been looking at springs in the 18.5 range by Wilson Combat. Is this needed for the loads that I've listed?

It is a 5'in.

I plan to shoot this gun very often. Thanks guys

[wv109323]

My first answer is no. I am not familiar with the 5.1 gns. of Red Dot load. Standard 230 grain loads are 825 to 875 fps. If your loads are around that a 16 lb. should be fine. If you increase your spring poundage you will need to bump up your plinking load. I may trade out the factory with an aftermarket at 1000 rounds or so. John Browning didn't do much wrong when he designed the 1911. He got the spring right.

[Animal]

WV, I'm glad to hear that. I was wondering if that would hurt my plinking load. My estimation is that it is within the FPS you mentioned so I'll keep what I have.

[Iowa Fox]

Lyman lists 5.3 grains of Red Dot as Max with a 225 grn bullet at 825 FPS and 15,300 CUP pressure for the 45 ACP. Stay with the factory spring, grease your slide rails and you will never wear your RI out. I have a RI and use 4.5 grains of 700X with the 200 grn 452460, pressure and vel are pretty close to yours. I lost track of how many rounds have been through it. I has no signs of wear and I use the factory spring it came it. They are nice 45s for the money.

[acguy45]

that's the beauty of the .45 big bullet slow speed, the 16 LB spring is plenty for the original " hard ball" loading if you put in a heavier spring your liable to beat the slide the other way or cause misfeeds. Like others have posted keep your gun lubed and you should have no worries for a long time. I change my spring when I wear out 5k primer's . nobody said I should or have to I just do. I change the firing pin spring to. The set is cheap so it's no big deal

[Animal]

Will do fellas. I'll keep the spring. I keep the slides and contact surfaces lubed with Miltec-1. It seems to be very happy that way.

[KCSO]

I change out the Rock Island mainsprings after 5000 rounds. Just my personal preference, and I usually use a 18 pound spring as a replacment.

[MtGun44]

Recoil springs will run for 20,000 rounds without problems in stock guns, in my experience. Yes, they
will be slightly shorter than when new, but work just fine. Fortunately for the spring sellers folks are
just crazy about changing springs all the time.

The "mainspring" runs the hammer.

Bill

[Vulcan Bob]

While the quality of the RIA's seems good one place they seem to save a few pennies is the springs. I have replaced all the springs in the three I own. I agree a 16 pound recoil spring should be just the ticket.

[Animal]

I might go ahead and change it to a different 16 pounder. Seems I've been getting some feeding issues lately with ammo that didn't have problems in the past.