Ah yes , I see that you found the “ Omega Man “ link …. The uppers were totally manufactured by Germany’s Peter’s Stahl and then Springfield final fitted them to the lowers in Illinois .
As you can see from the attached link that “ Swifty “ found , the design is a modified Browning link ( open cam ) that was born from the Hi – Power … It has more in common with the Sig’s and Glocks ( link-less ) than the Browning 1911 design . However , the lower can be used as a standard issue 1911 if so desired ..
Yes , a recoil spring change by design , however in the 30 years’ experience I have with the Springfield Omega , nowhere in any of my literature / users manual does it spec out the spring rate / poundage , only that the 10mm and the 45 ACP use the same spring ( which I have from the original 10mm chambering from the factory ) . The 38 Super barrel was to be swapped out with its own spring .
This is a very robust and stout design .. My 10mm barrel and spring combo requires ( at least ) a 180 grain jacketed bullet at 1300 fps ( chrony’d ) just to get it to cycle 100% with absolutely no battering of the slide / frame . … This was designed and marketed when Norma’s spicy factory loads of 200 grains @ 1200 fps and 180 grains @ 1400 fps were battering all other 10mm platforms to pieces . This gun ate those loads for brunch .
The 6 inch slide is massive compared to a standard 5 or 6 inch 1911 with added material throughout the slide and the inherent design of the modified Browning open cam , the gun stays locked long after the bullet has left the muzzle and pressure drops before coming out of battery , hence the reason it needs much higher pressures to operate reliably .
I have made some head way since I posted last : I contacted Wolff with the original spring dimensions that came from the factory 10mm spring , and they stated that “ its awfully close to 1911 springs “ . So I trimmed a 11 lb spring to 5 1/4 “ long and using a 147 Speer TMJ FP with 8.6 grains of Blue Dot got the gun to run with only one jam per magazine ( prior best was 3 jams per magazine with this load ) .
I’ve trimmed a 9 lb spring to 5 ¼” and will try the loads this afternoon .
We are almost there .
Thanks Gents for the 38 Super reloading insights ( oh by the way , I've decided to use small pistol magnum primers ) .
Yes, this seems to be heading in the right direction. I would have suggested swapping out for a lighter slide spring. I would have bought 3 in the weight range I thought appropriate, used the one that ran the best. Then I would have played with loads to try to get full functionality. I've used small pistol primers in loads that run well into the mid-40K psi range. They handle the pressure just fine, all else being in good shape.
