38 Wadcutter recoil spring 1911

[6string]

Greetings,

I'm sure a few of you shoot a 1911 38 wadcutter such as built by Giles or Clark.
My question is: What weight recoil spring do you use for most reliable functioning?

Thanks,
Jim

[hill987]

If your shooting 2.7 -2.9 of bullseye with 148 wc I thinking 8 lb is where you should be , but it's been a while. I havn't shot mine in some time. I run 11 lb in the 45 with scope on slide > Start with 8 then go up or down to fine tune hope this helps

[6string]

Hi,

Yes, this is very helpful. For both my Clark and Giles I have a few of the original springs which I'm guessing were cut down Colt springs or perhaps something from a team armorer. (Both guns were built in 1959.)
It seems like we have a better selection of quality springs today. So, I'm just looking for advice from anyone with experience.
Thanks,
Jim

[Dr. Jim]

I built a "short heavy" from one of the old 38 special "kit" barrels and had to go through a lot of springs before getting it to consistently work. The gun is still getting broken in with only a few hundred rounds through it and I had to standardize on 3.2 bullseye behind a 148grain H&G #244 wheelweight cast bullet and a 32 coil 7 pound spring. As they say YMMV!

Dr Jim

[bummer7]

I have a 10# spring in my gun now. My current load is a 148gr HBWC in front of 2.5gr of BE or 2.7gr of 700X. So far, no problems with the slide cycling and or with the slide locking back after the last round.

-s

[Isabel1130]

I am sure that I am probably opening up a can of worms here but I would not want a slide mounted scope on a 1911 38. At least two bullseye smiths that I have talked to say that the 38 wadcutter does not have enough energy to action the slide with the weight of a slide mounted dot on a 1911. My guess you are going to end up increasing the load and or dropping the weight of the spring a lot in order to get reliable functioning. This will probably cause enough kick to remove any advantage from shooting a 38. It might be easier and cheaper to go with a 160g SWC in a 45 caliber 1911 and call it good.

[pgfaini]

I am sure that I am probably opening up a can of worms here but I would not want a slide mounted scope on a 1911 38. At least two bullseye smiths that I have talked to say that the 38 wadcutter does not have enough energy to action the slide with the weight of a slide mounted dot on a 1911. My guess you are going to end up increasing the load and or dropping the weight of the spring a lot in order to get reliable functioning. This will probably cause enough kick to remove any advantage from shooting a 38. It might be easier and cheaper to go with a 160g SWC in a 45 caliber 1911 and call it good.

Why mount the scope on the slide? What's wrong with a frame mounted scope, either the drill and tap Les Baer style, or the "no-drill" Aimteck style?

Paul

[hill987]

who said anything about a scoped 38 special spring weight

[bummer7]

I can imagine it would take some work and effort to get a the 38spl to cycle the 1911 slide with a red dot mounted on top. But consider using this pistol in centerfire standard pistol matches instead of the .45acp.

[6string]

Personally, I don't use a red dot on my bullseye pistols anymore. This is especially so with my 38 WC 1911s, since I also use them for international centerfire.
Even without that consideration I find the red dot just hurts the balance and feel of the gun, but maybe my hold is not that strong. After a long period of focusing on free pistol and international air pistol, I found going back to a red dot 1911, or Smith 41 for that matter, to just feel bad. So, off came the red dots!
However, I have tried the Docter sight and found that to be real nice, even though it was expensive and lacked adjustment clicks. I hear that there are now a few other companies making a similar sight. I'm sure that in the future there will be some real improvements. I think the Docter type sight not only improves the balance of the gun, making it feel more like an iron sighted pistol, but makes installation on the slide much easier as the existing dovetail can be used. Combined with the light weight, I'm sure it would function well on a 38 WC 1911.

Best Regards,
Jim

[Dave C.]

Thanks for letting me know that the Clark Long Heavey Slide with an Ultradot4 mounted on the slide that I normally shoot 500 rounds without cleanning or any jams or misfeeds can't work. Maybe it's the hot loaded rounds I use, 2.8 grains of Bullseye and a 148 grain bullet. The 38 spl.,
NOT for the limp wristed.

Dave C.