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Mainspring housing....why I'd need to replace spring?

4K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  SGW Gunsmith 
#1 ·
Was looking at a great sticky by SGW Gunsmith about polishing/cleaning the innards of the mainspring housing.

Folks...tell me this: What is to be gained by replacing my mainspring with a heavier/lighter spring from Wolff or other??? I have 4 Rugers, including one that's 50 yrs old and a couple that are 20+ years old. I understand the intricities of the firing process, but I don't know what, if anything, is to be gained by swapping out the springs for a different strength, or even replacing the old one in my Mark I. I don't know if I'd notice any degradation of that spring vs a new one.

I'd love some info on this. I can't quite mentally picture how reducing or increasing that spring strengh will affect my trigger action. If anyone can opine on this, I thank you.

(This is what happens when you're snowed in, have polished your pistols and start tinkering)

bob
 
#2 ·
Was looking at a great sticky by SGW Gunsmith about polishing/cleaning the innards of the mainspring housing.

Folks...tell me this: What is to be gained by replacing my mainspring with a heavier/lighter spring from Wolff or other??? I have 4 Rugers, including one that's 50 yrs old and a couple that are 20+ years old. I understand the intricities of the firing process, but I don't know what, if anything, is to be gained by swapping out the springs for a different strength, or even replacing the old one in my Mark I. I don't know if I'd notice any degradation of that spring vs a new one.

I'd love some info on this. I can't quite mentally picture how reducing or increasing that spring strengh will affect my trigger action. If anyone can opine on this, I thank you.

(This is what happens when you're snowed in, have polished your pistols and start tinkering)

bob
It's not worth "straining" your gray matter over. I have a Ruger RST4 and a Ruger Mark I that both still are using the 'original' mainspring, and it works just fine as is.

Consider: The Ruger Mark pistol mainspring that drives the hammer forward has been pretty much the same type of spring since 1949. Back in the day, most all of the .22 rimfire ammunition was driven at standard velocity. As .22 rimfire velocity became more volatile and mainly geared toward .22 rifles, there were some .22 rimfire pistols, the early Colt Woodsman comes to mind, whereby the manufacturer wanted the owner to change the mainspring so that .22 high velocity would be more compatible with the operation of those pistols.

I've written this many times before, mainly because it has worked for me many times before, but the mainspring in the Ruger Mark pistols will work just fine for standard and high velocity .22 rimfire ammunition, but it may take a bit of time for those 'new' springs to reach the working length they are designed to work best at. Save the hyper velo stuff for your rifles, it's not worth shooting in your .22 pistols anyway. It's a condition called spring set. And there's really no set number of rounds of high velo .22 rimfire ammunition where that gets done, but when it gets there, you'll be able to shoot standard and high velo .22 rimfire with regularity and interchangeably.

So, to your question about what's to be gained by changing that spring to lighter or heavier? The only thing I can think of is patience getting the spring change done, and then the lesson that comes after the test................not worth the effort just to change the spring. Have the patience to get your pistol to the point of where it will accept both velo .22 rimfire ammunition, and in the meantime enjoy shooting a whole bunch of CCI Mini-Mags through your Ruger.
 
#3 ·
What is to be gained by replacing my mainspring with a heavier/lighter spring from Wolff or other???

I'd love some info on this. I can't quite mentally picture how reducing or increasing that spring strengh will affect my trigger action. If anyone can opine on this, I thank you.

(This is what happens when you're snowed in, have polished your pistols and start tinkering)

bob
The only common alternative spring I'm aware of is the reduced power Wolff spring. Volquartsen and others also sell it. It usually gives a 6 to 8 oz (~1/2 lb) reduction in trigger pull and changes how the bolt cycles. It's commonly used by bullseye shooters using std velocity match ammo who've become tired of having alibis. Now Volquartsen has an excellent "VS3 Recoil Rod Spring and Assembly Kit" that includes reduced, std and extra power springs to allow tuning.

It can create bolt stop (the bolt stop attached to the mainspring housing as Ruger calls 2 parts "bolt stops") battering with hi-velocity ammo. Wolff sells a package that includes an extra power recoil spring to go with the reduced power main spring.
 
#4 ·
Quote: "Ruger calls 2 parts "bolt stops"

To eliminate the confusion involved with the above, false, statement, Ruger does not call two different parts the same thing. :protest_e



The top part is listed as KA-37, Bolt Stop Assembly

The bottom part is listed as A00100, Bolt Stop Pin

Will be very handy when/if you need to order either of these parts, so you don't confuse the person taking your parts order. Trust me, I'm not retired and order parts from Ruger quite often. :D
 
#6 ·
Glad to read about the new spring being a help. I can see absolutely no reason to go to a lighter hammer spring, especially when the factory spring will power the hammer well enough to handle all the Standard and High velo rounds produced these days. Using a lighter spring begs for problems with "light hits".

I have experimented with some springs offered by Wolf that powered the hammer forward more forcefully and those springs sure gave the firing pin enough power to detonate the primer mix in ANY .22 rimfire cartridge tried, without failure.
 
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