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Gold Cup recoil spring lbs and ammo

skychaser53
Does the Gold Cup have the regular recoil spring ? I haven't changed it. I have the GC in for a new safety and was wondering if it had a light spring, would that cause the safety to break?
I had shot a couple boxes of hardball ammo at my first IDPA shoot and when I got home I noticed the safety was broke and the pin out of the Eliason sight was missing.
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Hawk Carse
    Gold Cups have typically come with a light recoil spring for midrange target ammunition. I have read that some have included both target and hardball springs.

    Any road, I do not think a difference in recoil springs caused the breakage of your thumb safety. Your sight pin might have broken or it might just have lacked the curve that is supposed to retain it. Nothing to do with the recoil spring there, either.

    I think you had a defective thumb safety and a loose or brittle sight pin.

    I would get a 16 lb spring for the full or 90% loads used in IDPA CDP, though.
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  • perry shooter
    Hello There is much confusion about the springs and their use in the colt Gold Cups Before the series 70 some but not all Gold cups had metal removed from the inside of the slide in the extractor area "light slide" and they also came from colt with a recoil spring best suited for 185 grain SEMI-WADCUTTER target loads . These guns would batter them-self with 230 grain BALL loads . Then the series 70 when back to a standard weight slide. How ever many shooters put in after market springs to allow the gun to function with light target loads. My suggestion is to buy a Wilson recoil spring Pack from Brownells or Wilson. decide on what load you are going to shoot and then take ten rounds of ammo start with say a 18 pound spring load a magazine with ONE round fire this one round and if the slide locks back then install a 19 pound spring and repeat ETC ETC ETC once you reach a point that the slide does not lock open you need to go back to the last spring that WORKED what you are looking for is a spring to match the load. IE You want the slide to cycle all the way back and slide to lock open but not to slam the slide to frame at the end of the slides travel"DO NOT USE RECOIL BUFFERS" they cause other problems. Remember if you change loads you may need to change springs. The pin on the rear sight is the weak link on an otherwise very good site. try to get a replacement pin from good metal like either piano wire or a wire size drill bit and use the shank of this drill for replacement pin. Remember Shoot the ammo you want but in match shooting you will score higher with reduced loads +P are not needed. "PRAISE THE HARD-BALL GUN"

    [:0][:0]EDIT I have over 300,000 round count on my series 70 Match pistol . I found out when I first started shooting Bulls-eye matches that as I got fatigued toward the end of a match the empty cases were not hardly clearing the gun . The best choice of recoil spring for a tall skinny guy"ME" might not be the best choice for a 5'8" 240 pound body builder[:)] I have used springs as light as 10 pounds on a 1911 38super converted to 38 special with a heavy big Red Dot mounted on the slide. Just use the heaviest that will work 100 % of the time with your load.
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  • Emmett Dunham
    The Gold Cup Series 80 I have came with two springs. If you forget to chance the light spring out and shoot high pressure loads there is a good chance the slide could get locked back and require gunsmithing to unlock it. I just wonder if any of .45 pisols have blown up because of an old or weak spring and high pressure ammo?


    Emmett
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  • skychaser53
    OOPS forgot to say, it's a 70 GC..
    I just checked all my ammo. It's all 230 grain, most of it Ball, some ball, some Match Grade ball , some new FMJ.

    Thanks for the excellent suggestion on ordering a spring kit. I never would have thought of that.. on how to determine the correct spring.

    I see now that a target load would be better for IDPA shooting, less recoil, less muzzle climb. therefore a lighter spring is needed..
    I saw several IDPA shooters have to clear the round because they didn't have a FIRM grip and the slide didn't cycle. If for instance I was shooting a target load I a 17 lb spring cycled and an 18 did, then a 19 didn't the correct choice would be the 18.. Would a 17 lb spring be OK to use in case I inadvertently limp -wristed ? I don't want to damage the gun in any way. so if a firm grip is the only solution then that's what I would do. I just remeber telling my friend (Glock)at the shoot, if he was shooting a Colt he wouldn't have re-cylcle problems lol

    thanks everyone. I know 10 times as much about my Colt as I did a month ag0
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  • Hawk Carse
    quote:I see now that a target load would be better for IDPA shooting,

    Only to a certain extent. Have you read the rules? IDPA CDP, the natural home of a 1911 derivative .45 ACP, requires Power Factor 165,000 corresponding to a 200 grain bullet at 825 fps or a 230 grain bullet at 718 fps minimum. That is right about what a reloading handbook "starting load" 10% below maximum will do. The midrange target load Perry Shooter is familiar with, a 185 at 750 fps will not qualify.

    The US Army got by for a long time with a 16 lb recoil spring. That is what I use in MY IDPA CDP gun.
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  • skychaser53
    Hawk,
    No, I haven't read the rules yet. I was at an introductory shoot , not a real shoot. I plan on joining this week, there's a qualifier shoot in 2 weeks.
    I was going to ask a question but I figured out how the numbers multiply to get the power factor. lol

    So any ammo I buy will have the feet per sec on it? I just looked in the safe and my Blazer doesn't. How do you know if your ammo qualifies in that situation?

    Perry Shooter... I know the army ball qualifies, but what kind of FPS does it have ?
    My Camp Perry Match ammo is 230 grains at 820 FPS..
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  • perry shooter
    Most 230 grain military type ball ammo is 820-850 fps the TZZ and IMI are some of the hottest. Shooting Camp Perry match ammo at less then 50 yards[:(][:(!][V] Is like drinking cool aid from a cut crystal wine glass [:o)] Sell it to a BULLS-EYE shooter.
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  • Hawk Carse
    Hardball of any brand or armory will be specified at or near 850 fps, power factor 195500. Chronograph readings of actual ammunition run from about 780 to 880 so you will be fine with any factory load.

    I know what my handloaded ammunition is doing because I chronograph it.

    Don't learn the rules one procedural penalty at a time.
    An introduction clearer than the rule book is at:
    http://idpaforum.com/images/Welcome_to_IDPA_Shooting.pdf
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  • skychaser53
    Perry Shooter,
    thanks for the info. I quit shooting the CP Match ammo last year, when I realized what I had. My uncle used to Shoot in the Matches at CP 1963 I think. Probably earlier too.

    Hawk,

    Thanks for the link and help. I'll read the link you posted, no since getting extra penalties lol.
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  • rsnyder55
    Originally posted by perry shooter
    My suggestion is to buy a Wilson recoil spring Pack from Brownells or Wilson. decide on what load you are going to shoot and then take ten rounds of ammo start with say a 18 pound spring load a magazine with ONE round fire this one round and if the slide locks back then install a 19 pound spring and repeat ETC ETC ETC once you reach a point that the slide does not lock open you need to go back to the last spring that WORKED what you are looking for is a spring to match the load.

    To avoid the pounding of the slide and the frame, wouldn't it make sense to start with the heaviest spring and work down until it locks back?
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