Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Do I need to switch the firing pin spring?

I have a Glock 20 and a Springfield 1911 that I am going to be shooting light, match ammo out of for a qualification. When I first got the Glock, I was shooting Underwood Ammo and Double Tap. Both brands tend toward the "warm" side. I dropped a 24 lb recoil Spring in the Glock and the corresponding striker spring I guess to keep the striker from firing under inertial force. I loaded the 1911 with 45 Super so I did basically the same thing with it. Now that I'm shooting match ammo I'm going back to the factory recoil springs; in the Glock 20 it's a 17 lb recoil spring, in the Springfield it's a 16 lb recoil spring. Do I need to lighten the striker/firing pin spring in each? It doesn't seem logical that I should. The striker works fine in the Glock with the heavier striker spring, and the inertial force will be less with the lighter recoil spring. Same with the 1911. What am I missing?

The spring you have in there now should work fine for the 1911. For the Glock, I have no idea. If your using Wolf, try these. You did not mention the main spring in your 1911. Stock will work fine.

https://bhspringsolutions.com/


Higher quality I have found.

Thanks Gibby!

I would switch the striker spring. The heavier the striker spring compared to the recoil spring, the more of a chance of firing out of battery. It's not uncommon for a Glock with a very worn recoil spring to have the slide start to retract as the trigger is pulled. When the striker releases it's a matter of what happens first - the slide returns to battery or the striker reaches the primer. That might not ever cause a problem and whatever reputation Glock has for FOB might be unjustified, but I wouldn't risk it over a striker spring - especially in 10mm.

I have a pack of new striker springs: 2#, 4# & 6#. Which one should I use? I have heavier striker spring in it now because I put a 24# recoil spring in to help control the recoil of the Underwood & Double Tap ammunition. I'm going back to the 17# recoil spring (a new one) so the match grade ammo firing will have enough recoil to cycle the slide.

I've been shooting a G20 since 1996. I've tried all sorts of "upgrades" on the springs, triggers, barrels, sights, and even magazines. I've shot reloads from 200 grains at 1250+fps (depends the barrel) to target loads at 1000fps. The only upgrade I'd recommend is the barrel, and the only reason being that velocity increases 50+fps in an aftermarket barrel, all other things being equal. I've actually had issues with stiffer springs in the G20's. All mine are 100% stock in terms of springs, except for the trigger group. I would leave your G20 stock, and shoot away with it. Don't over think it. One of Glock's best features to me is that the work with almost any ammo, 100% of the time. Hot or cold, they just shoot. On top of that, they are accurate.

Here's another thing to think about, they cost $600. You can easily spend that on upgrades (I have) and still not be much better off. Why spend hundreds of dollars to save the gun from being beat up or trying to outsmart the German engineers when you can just buy another one for almost the same price? We're not talking about a $6000 family heirloom you want to keep for the grandkids.

A stock striker spring is 5.5#. I would go with the 4# unless there were ignition problems, then I would buy a stock 5.5.

As a follow-up to my earlier post, the only thing holding the slide in battery is a mostly extended recoil spring - a few pounds of pressure at best. When the trigger compresses the partially cocked striker spring in the slide that force is subtracted from the recoil spring and progressively less weight holds the slide in battery. The recoil and striker springs are opposing forces. You can test the theory by removing the recoil spring and dry firing the pistol.

In a perfect world the disconnector will prevent the pistol from firing out of battery.

Thank you both for the input. My Glock is actually a Glock 40 now. It has a Bar-Sto custom fitted barrel in it and is a lot more accurate than it was with an OEM barrel. I've given up trying to reign in my spending on it. The good thing is I don't believe all the upgrades I tried made any difference until I bought a long slide and had a custom barrel installed. I had to fire 500 full house loads before the slide would return to battery without me nudging it forward with my thumb. Once I fired round 506 the slide recoiled and went back into battery. My groups tightened up considerably.

Thanks again.

Magnumdood, I think you're mixed up about what the striker spring in a Glock does vs a firing pin spring in a 1911. The striker spring in a Glock does zero for preventing inertial firing, that spring pushes the striker forward. It's the striker fired equivalent of a hammer spring in a 1911. There is no reason to use a heavier one for heavy loads; all that does is make the trigger pull heavier and the striker hit the primers harder.

The 1911 firing pin spring is the opposite, it holds the firing pin to the rear to prevent inertial firing. What you did makes sense for the 1911, but not for the Glock. Go back to the stock striker spring for all of your loads in that gun. I don't recommend the lightweight springs either; they usually result in marginal ignition and occasional misfires in most Glocks I've tried them in. I won't use them in mine any more.

Yondering,

Thank you sir, that makes sense. The stock striker spring is 5.5 lbs. I usually don’t label the springs when I switch things out and as a result I buy a whole new round of springs every year. I have a Wolff striker spring kit that has a 2 lb, 4 lb and 6 lb striker spring. Should I put the 6 lb one in or order a a stock spring? Don’t the manufacterers recommend changing the recoil spring out at 1000 rounds?

Thanks again!

M’dood

Just order a stock striker spring or use your old one. No reason to use anything heavier unless you're having light primer strike issues.

It's easy to see which Glock springs are stock compared to aftermarket - the stock springs have a silver colored plating on them; aftermarket springs are usually shiny and bright steel or slightly darker colored.

Sure you should change the recoil spring occasionally, but a Glock doesn't need a new spring every 1000 rounds. I change my 9mm and 45 Glock springs about once a year, or 10,000-15,000 rounds for the 9, I don't shoot the 45 as much. My 10mm Glocks use heavy aftermarket springs though, even for light 40 S&W equivalent loads. No much need to use anything but the heavy spring in the 10, unless you're shooting really light loads.

When working on a Glock, throw out most of what you know about a 1911; it just doesn't apply.

Thanks again! I appreciate the info!

A good skill to acquire is the ability to contrast the ejection pattern over time and replace the recoil spring when needed, and not based on some arbitrary round count.

The extractor can weaken also. Generally with much more than 2-3k though the gun. Especially spring loaded extractors like on a few models.

But yea, knowing your gun and loads makes life better if you shoot a lot.

4ft to 8ft is my personnel ejection restrictions. Sometimes the Delta Elite will go past that with some loads. Even with all the trick parts. But that is the nature of the combination.