Reader Question: How Often to Replace Recoil Spring?
A wonderful reader who didn’t leave their name (but judging from their email address likes “My Little Pony”) has asked “does the spring in my gun ever need to be replaced? If so, when should I replace it?”
Well, I’ve got an answer that is 20% cooler! First, I’m going to assume we’re talking about the recoil spring. Asking how often to change a recoil spring is kind of like asking how often to change your car’s oil: It varies depending on whom you ask. Talk to a mechanic or someone at a Jiffy Lube and they’ll tell you every 3,000 miles. Now, I don’t know about you but for me, every 3,000 miles isn’t exactly possible from a fiscal standpoint as well as from an “I’d much rather spend an hour at the gun range than in a waiting room while they change my oil and try to charge me $100 for a freaking air filter” standpoint.
Talk to a trustworthy mechanic or an automotive manufacturer, however, and they’ll tell you it depends on the car, your driving style, your climate, the type of oil and more. Most cars today have a computer that will figure that out for you and let you know when to change the oil. For example, not once in the Noobmobile has the computer coincided with the little sticker the mechanic puts on my window. I’m averaging 7,000 to 9,000 between changes where the sticker says, you guessed it, 3,000 miles.
This, however, is a gun blog and your question wasn’t about oil.
The recoil spring does a lot more for a gun than most people realize. Of course, there’s the obvious function of returning the slide back to its starting position. It also has the relatively important job of keeping your gun from destroying itself.
Back to cars…
Without the springs and shocks on your car, it would shake itself apart within a year. Every rock, pothole and speed bump would be alarmingly destructive to the car itself, not to mention uncomfortably jarring to the driver. (The shocks also play a big factor in your car’s handling but that doesn’t exactly work with the comparison.)
The recoil spring works in a similar function to a car’s shocks. As the slide is moving backwards, the spring compresses more and more. This slows the slide down more and more as it reaches the rear limits of its travel. It doesn’t stop it completely, mind you, because it’s a delicate balance of slowing the slide down and being able to rack the slide in the first place. Thanks to the spring, the force of the slide hitting the back stop has been greatly reduced.
If that spring wasn’t there, well, first off you’d have to manually return the slide every time. Secondly, the felt recoil would be insane. You’d not only have the force of the bullet firing but you’d also have the full weight of the slide flying back. Thirdly, all that force would wreak havoc on the frame of the pistol. It wouldn’t take long before that gun was a disorganized mass of jagged shards.
So yeah, the spring is very important and keeping it fresh is a good way to prolong the life of a gun…
So if you ask a gun manufacturer, spring manufacturer or gunsmith, most of them will tell you every 5,000 rounds. Sound familiar? Realistically, how often should you change your springs? It depends on the caliber, really. The nastier, higher recoiling calibers (like the .40) are going to put a lot more stress on a spring than something like a 9mm or .380. From what I’ve been able to piece together, you can get away with changing every 10,000 to 12,000 rounds for most guns but I’d figure 7,000 for those beefy bullets. Side note: dry fire practice should be factored into those numbers, depending on how you do it.
Keep an eye on the spring, the guide rod as well as how the gun feels and functions. Constant failures to feed on an older gun is oftentimes a sign of a worn spring. Also, if you’re not feeling much resistance as of late whenever you rack the slide, it means you’re either getting stronger or the spring might be wearing out.
You’ll encounter some people who might say something like “well, I’ve put 50,000 rounds through my Glock with no problems and I’ve never replaced the spring” and so on. Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal, however and not to be confused with fact or even decent advice. You wouldn’t listen to someone who says “I’ve put 50,000 miles on this car with no oil change and everything works fine” would you? Only you can really gauge how your gun is performing.
Personally, I just replaced the spring in one of my guns (9mm) at about the 10,000 mark. It was feeling a bit too squishy when the slide was pulled back. One $30 spring later and the gun felt like it was brand new.
All in all, you’ve spent a not-insignificant sum of money on your gun. A little more money every now and then will make sure that it lasts you for the rest of your life as well as the lives of those it gets passed on to for generations to come.
Thanks for the question!
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