Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Wolf Spring Kit

Ordered 2 spring kits from Power Custom.

Vaquero - trigger spring, 14lb hammer spring, base pin latch spring.

Blackhawk Bisley - trigger spring, 17 18 and 19 lb hammer springs and base pin latch spring.

Swap out should be easy but I got to thinking... why the 3 different hammer springs for a Blackhawk? I get they're different sized pistols but the action itself (trigger/hammer etc) seem to be almost exactly the same.

Any idea why the difference? Advice on which lb hammer spring I should use?

Dayum, you don't even have the gun yet and you want to change things? Shoot it stock first. Maybe you got a good one.

I was ordering the Vaquero kit, figured why not - combine both into one shipping charge. They're cheap enough.

Sometimes the lightest spring won't give reliable primer ignition. You might have to test the springs in your pistol to see which one gives best combo of trigger feel, cocking force, and reliability.

If it ain't reliable the "trigger feel and cocking force" really don't matter.

That's the point Dave.

Have done several spring changes.
Sometimes the lightest spring works, sometimes not.

Wolf offers the kits either with the 3 springs, or just one.

An older Blackhawk framed Vaquero? If so, the springs
can be swapped around. Dont know about the newer ones.

Oddly, my then new Vaquero worked great with the lightest spring.
The well worn SBH required the medium. My latest Blackhawk
got leftovers from earlier projects.

What are they chambered for? Are you talking about 2 different sixguns? If you're going to use magnum primers then you don't want lighter main springs, you may not get reliable or consistent ignition, plus lock time is slower, I prefer the 26 or even 28 pound main spring (factory is 23 pounds IIRC) in 44 mag and 45 Colt Rugers. I polish the strut while it's apart too.

In addition to the risk of light strikes, Ruger revolvers have a glacial lock time which a light spring makes even slower. If you want accuracy - go with a heavy spring and a real trigger/action job.

This!^^^^

Aside from that sound advice I’ll offer that unless your base pin latch is giving you fits, don’t take it apart to replace the spring. The nut will not stay tight if you reuse it, then when it rattles off you lose the whole thing.

I agree with you and I understand perfectly. MikeL2's response sounded to me like he was saying that an occasional misfire or even misfires with some primers are acceptable if the "trigger feel and cocking force" are acceptable. By that I guess he is meaning pull weight, creep and the amount of force required to cock the hammer. That I do not agree with. Of course I'd like to have a nice trigger and one that is easy to cock but if the gun doesn't fire those things don't mean diddly, which was my point.

Vaquero is 45 Colt, Blackhawk is 480 Ruger

I've put decent triggers on several new models by resetting the angle of the trigger return spring and reducing the depth of the hammer notch, to remove creep. I can't give you a specific figure on hammer notch depth because one NM might be fitted pretty close and the next one might be loose as a barn door hinge.

The object is to eliminate creep to an acceptable level, or remove it altogether, while avoiding 'push off' of the hammer by applying moderate thumb pressure against it with the hammer cocked and your finger away from the trigger. If that happens, you order a new hammer and start over.

I leave the mainspring alone for reasons already stated.

Exactly what I do as well.

Didn't expect I'd have to discuss it ad nauseam. Don't know why OP ordered replacement springs, didn't ask. Of course reliability is normally most important, but hey, don't know OPs planned use or expectations for the guns. The point is, to answer original question, different springs are provided to let user choose the one that works best - whatever they feel is "best".

20 years ago when I was hot rodding handguns, I called Wolff springs and asked how I could get thier coil and wire diameters. They said that was on their computer, but no way to send it to me.

Randy Ketchum, the late gunsmith, would wind his own coil springs.

My father, the late gun designer, would call Renton Spring and Coil and get free samples built from 4140 closed and ground.

Me, being a consumer putz, just bought the Wolff gunsmithing pak and measured all the springs coil and wire diameters..
https://www.gunsprings.com/GUNSMITH

Spring Index Formula
I = D ÷ d

KEY:
I = Spring Index
D = Mean Diameter
d = Wire Diameter
Douter = Outer Diameter
Dinner = Inner Diameter

I talked to Seecamp about his patent on how to use low spring index to get high force, but somehow with his bushing to get long travel like a high spring index. By the time I read that patent, it was expired and I could see it in my Para Ord P10.

I think the Wolf springs are worth the time/money, but some gunsmiths just modify the factory trigger spring. I hear it is best to leave the hammer spring factory.
Anyway Wolf trigger springs are in all my blackhawks. Huge difference for a 5 minute job.

Any lighter hammer spring will make an already slow Ruger single action lock time even slower. Sure doesn't help accuracy, reliability doesn't even enter into it. Some folks like to add the heavier ones from the Old Army.

The only way I'd go lighter was if it was a dedicated Cowboy Action gun, where ease/speed of cocking was important and accuracy for hitting real big targets up close, wasn't.

Any after market trigger springs (hammer springs for that matter too) I ever tried, I ended up taking out and throwing away.

And I took those photos.^