The "other" spring folks don't talk about much

[longfellow]

That's the hammer or "main" spring.

Background; Many years ago, not wanting to spend time dialing in a load, I loaded up the 185 and 200 SWC's with 4.1 gr bullseye for my45 acp wadcutter. I got two and a quarter inch groups off a rest at fifty yards and called it good enough. No culling out imperfect bullets, mixed brass,...
For whatever reason I recently loaded up 3.5 grains. I shot offhand and found I needed/could go from a 14 to a 12 pound recoil spring (the main spring was and still is 19 pounds).
WOW!!!
The reduction in recoil was amazing. This felt exponential rather than the expected twenty percent "lighter" feel. Velocities for similar ambient conditions went from 740 f/s to 660 f/s. And to my surprise, though I no longer do five groups of ten shots to conserve primers, my three groups of five were 2.0, 2.0, 1.38 at 50 yds off a RR. Talk about having my cake and eating it too. Now I know why, in some old literature which described some favorite loads of the masters, 3.5 grains of BE was very popular.
Now my question is academic since I have no need to go back to a heavier charge. But I'd like to know anyway.
Since my gun reliably chambers rounds with the 12 lb recoil spring, I'd like to leave it alone. But in an attempt to retain some of the soft shooting feel of my 1911 with some heavier load, say 3.8 up to my (now) old standard of 4.1, do you go up in main spring weight? I know about FP stops with smaller than ordinance spec radii and how this can also slow down the slide's energy. I am specifically asking about the feel of the recoil if I try to fine tune (soften) the slide's rearward movement with my older load, paying close attention to extraction in the process. I've ordered the next three heavier springs to swap in to see what happens. I'm just asking for 1) validation that this is indeed an acceptable approach to softening recoil, and 2) other than ensuring reliable extraction with the heavier main springs, is there anything else that is a byproduct of this that I should be aware of. Thanks for the input. Ed

[jglenn]

I routinely run 10-11 l recoil springs in my wad guns with no ill affects.. i run 3.9 BE at the LL but change to WST for.all my short line loads. WST has a very different recoil impulse..much softer than BE. Try it you'll like it.

Typically WST requires around 3 more grains that BE for a similar load..

[cmysix]

this is my rule of thumb, for what it's worth, stock 1911 16 pound recoil and 23 pound main/hammer spring. my IDPA/USPSA 1911 15 and a 21 and my bullseye gun 14 and a 19. works well!

[brent375hh]

I routinely run 10-11 l recoil springs in my wad guns with no ill affects.. i run 3.9 BE at the LL but change to WST for.all my short line loads. WST has a very different recoil impulse..much softer than BE. Try it you'll like it.

Typically WST requires around 3 more grains that BE for a similar load..

THE ABOVE IS WRONG!
WST Might need a slight increase over BE, but 3 GRAINS MORE would be a dangerous overload.

I use 3.6 WST 185 in a long slide with a #12 spring. It shoots fine even at 50 yards. A 3 grain increase would very likely blow out the brass at the feed ramp.

[jglenn]

Thanks for the catch..brian dead I guess.. 3 tenths of a grain difference.

[High Left]

I think most of that have loaded 45 BE ammo knew what you meant ...

Unless you're using 4895 in it ...