[lelandray]

When I went out to the mailbox a bit ago, I had a package containing three Wolff heavy recoil springs for the BHP. Of course I came inside and installed two of them, both in Mark III guns.

I tested both guns using the same magazine which is known to be good, and here are the results, starting with some handloads I had here (115-grain Remington JHP over 4.5 grains of Bullseye). The mag started out with 12 rounds so I'd have half and half in each gun.

The black gun is the one I've put the most rounds through, and it functioned fine through six rounds. I switched the magazine and the last round to the satin gun, which I've been carrying.

In six rounds, there were two stovepipes, one failure to feed, and the slide didn't lock back. Needless to say, I was not terribly amused. I tried another full magazine, and things really got seriously bad, with five stovepipes and four failures to feed. The slide didn't lock back then, either.

I switched to S&B 115-grain ball, and things improved drastically. I fired 13 rounds as fast as possible, and all fed and fired just fine.

The slide still didn't lock back. I then switched to a mag carrying half a dozen rounds of Federal 124-grain Hydra Shoks (not +P), and everything worked just fine.

I'll certainly have to test more thoroughly when I have more time, but it looks as if I might have to put up with some failures. I'm going to assume that the black gun will fail some, since the two are pretty much identical other than finish.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. As I'm sure you understand the heavier springs will take the intended "set" and get a tad shorter if they're from Wolff. This is to be expected and the springs are made with that taken into account. Sometimes, until this happens there can be a failure or two considering that the heavier springs require a bit more momentum to correctly cycle the pistol. I've seen newer Hi Powers fitted with 18.5-lb springs experience similar problems intially and particularly in new guns. In my well-used Hi Powers, most all standard pressure ammo works fine as well as with the hotter stuff.

Please keep us updated and good luck.

Best.

 

[abninftr]

Ray, I assume both springs were the same tension, or at least marked to be the same.

Try switching the springs and test firing using a full mag in each gun. Fire an entire mag through each gun.

Let me know how that goes.

 

[lelandray]

I tested a little bit more yesterday.

The Hydra Shok 124-grain standard pressure stuff works great, but my 115-grain reloads jammed so often that I gave up on trying to shoot the stuff. Mostly it looks as if the rounds aren't developing enough "Ooom pa pah" to cycle completely, so I ended up with lots of stovepipes.

Cor Bon 125s also worked 100% and hit pretty close to POA with the new Trijicons. You have no idea how happy I am that the windage on the sights is so close. No more adjusting!

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. The light to light-normal loads frequently do as you related, but I've found that usually something like 115-gr @ 1150 ft/sec or so is reliable as are warmer ones. Your Hi Power is nicely set up in my opinion. I like the two-tone effect.

Best.

 

[lelandray]

Thanks, Stephen. I've dealt with a lot of autoloaders, but I've never modified one for hotter than usual loads, so I'm getting to learn a few things. Since the only time I use 115 ball is for plinking, I'm not terribly worried about reliability with that ammo, only with the stuff I'll be carrying CCW and at work. As I said before, the 124 Federal at 1150 functions perfectly well, and the Cor Bon carrying ammo does, so I don't think I have anything to worry about.

The two tone effect is part accidental and partly by plan. The gun came from Browning with those totally hideous Millett high rise adjustable rear sight and equally hideous front. The Trijicons were added to make the gun good for something, as it had no utility at all as it was originally configured. The safeties and slide release definitely look good, but I'm curious why Browning chose to leave them black; I suppose it was so they could pull parts from one box when building both nickelled and black guns.

I had a set of really nice Spegel grips on there, but they were too pretty to risk on things like seatbelts and car doors, and the Hogues, while ugly, do serve a serious purpose.

All in all, I think I have a nice, functional gun where I started out with something attractive but otherwise useless.

PS: I've ordered a case of 124 grain ball ammo loaded to the Nato standard of 1,250 fps. This is almost identical to the 125 Cor Bons, so I'll now have both high performance expanders and hot ball that should hit in more or less the same spot.

 

[Guest]

Gents,

Willl have to go through my stock of springs. I try to keep 2-3 of various weights for each firearm. Using 18.5 lb springs for the Hi-Power. Came across a 22 lb one yesterday. Don't know what I was thinking when I ordered that one!

Does anyone know what the wire wound factory springs is rated at, for a CZ-75 ,in .40 Short & Weak?

Am going to try the 18.5 pound springs in the CZ and will see how it cycles with my chosen loads.

Bill Laughridge, at Cylinder & Slide, Inc. used to have a short treatise on spring selection and how heavy springs could cause more problems than they solve...

The 18.5 lb spring runs beautifully in my C & S Hi-Power.

Gotta figure out how to post pictures here...

Wes

 

[lelandray]

I tried the gun with two magazines of 115 S&B, and all was well. Functioning was 100%, which was not the case with the "Olympic" brand 124-grain +P ball.

I'll stick to the S&B and white box Winchester for my ball ammo needs from now on, unless, of course, I can find a source of US military ball.

 

[jimhigginbotham]

I really don't trust a new recoil spring until I have fired a couple of hundred rounds through the gun (not necessarilly duty loads, just something to wear the thing in - then test with duty loads).

Jim

 

[lelandray]

I really don't trust a new recoil spring until I have fired a couple of hundred rounds through the gun (not necessarilly duty loads, just something to wear the thing in - then test with duty loads).

Well, I've now fired about that many rounds through the gun, and all the stuff I'd consider carrying is working just fine. I'll load up a couple more mags of 115 ball tomorrow and run them through, but I don't expect any surprises.

The next step is to start the same process on the black Mark III, but there's no real hurry on that one.

I got three of the heavier springs, but I've decided not to use the third right now. It was earmarked for the FEG, but I'm just going to put it in the parts box and leave the FEG as is.