New Toy: 1905 Colt .45

[Karl]

I recently purchased this from a member of my gun club. I have replaced a few damaged internal parts and purchased a spare extractor and firing pin from Numrich. I tried it out last weekend with some very light loads (200 gr. plated RN / 3.5 gr. Red Dot) and it performed perfectly. I would like to replace the recoil spring but I have not found a source. It occurred to me that a 1911 spring might work. The recoil spring is 6" long, outside diameter .420, inside diameter .344. Can anyone provide the dimensions of a 1911 spring?
KFS

[lugerholsterrepair]

Karl..Congratulations on a very fascinating pistol! Why would you change out a recoil spring that works perfectly?

[Edward Tinker]

Karl, have not 'heard' from you in a long time!!

I love it, and boy am I jealous!



Ed

[mrerick]

The people at Wolff have a full page for 1911 springs:

http://www.gunsprings.com/Semi-Auto%...cID1/mID1/dID1

They don't publish dimensions, but do offer a range of compression strengths and two alloy options.

This summary discloses the wire sizes for different compression strengths...

From this post:

Let us revisit the 1911 recoil spring issue.

As a reference The Colt .45 Automatic A Shop Manual Volume 1 by Jerry Kuhnhausen Page Number 90:

“Recoil spring weight in the standard factory Government Model will vary some what, but averages approximately 16 pounds. This spring weight began with the original M1911 production, and is correct for 230 grain ball ammunition at velocities of about 800 FPS.”

As a reference The U.S. M1911/M1911A1 Pistols & Commercial M1911 Pistols Volume 2 by Jerry Kuhnhausen Page Number 146:

“Spring Drawing/ Specifications Total number of coils = 30 – Free length 6.55 (inch) Ref - Solid length 1.375 (inch) Max. Load at 73% compressed length of 1.81 (inch) = 13.55 Lbs. – OD .430 (inch) ± .005 (inch)”

“Figure 135 –Spring data: ordnance std. recoil springs have 30 coils. Fully Compressed spring tension is 17.36 lbs. Although tension is progressive, this equals an average spring rate of approx. 2.65 Lbs/Inch.”

Should Jerry Kuhnhausen be correct it would appear the 16 Lb. is the standard spring as opposed to the 14 Lb. spring for the M1911/M1911A1 Government Model.

[Karl]

Jerry,
You ask a good question. The spring is kind of bent up, seems weak, and is presumably over 100 years old. The beauty of a new 1911 spring is that there are many variations. My goal is to find a spring that barely cycles the action with approximately the original ballistics – 200 gr. Bullet at 900 FPS.

Ed,
Good to hear from you. Never got the chance to meet you in person when your son was at Hunter AAF. The Webley you sold me is a treasure. I sold the 1911 Erfurt police Luger to the person I bought this colt from.

Marc,
Many thanks for the information – that is exactly what I need. It looks like the 1911 spring is close enough to give it a try.
KFS

[lugerholsterrepair]

Karl..I envy your pistol..I have a couple of the ones John Browning designed and Colt made in .38 Auto. The model in .45 is WAY cool though.

Reason I asked about the spring..I have a Luger..1916 that was rusted to heck. I cleaned it up..replaced a broken part or two but the main spring was so rusted at the top 3 coils broke off. I figured why not give it a try anyway? It shoots perfectly and I have run several hundred rounds thru it with no stoppages. I guess most springs are not as fine tuned as we think?

Sweet pistol ya got there.

[padredan]

outstanding example of a early colt, congrats

[John Sabato]

A real Colt Treasure Karl!

[rhuff]

That old Colt is a beauty! Shooting it had to be a true joy. I am sure that you know this already, but Wolff springs offers "calibration packs" of springs in different weights for a very reasonable amount of money. I would bet that you could find one that will work well with your soft loads and others.

I used this pack of springs when I was trying to get reliability out of my 1914 Colt 1911 with some soft loads(200gr plated RN with 3.5-3.7gr of bullseye). It really worked out well for me, and I don't have to worry about over stressing that old warhorse.

[Karl]

Success! The 1911 spring is an exact match - obviously one thing that was not changed when the 1911 was developed. I purchased a Wolff spring from the local gunsmith.
KFS