So I was reading a few years ago that replacing the firing pin stop could reduce felt recoil in a 1911 pistol. The source I was reading didn't provide any other information than the only change that was made was a different firing pin stop, and they gushed about how much less the felt recoil was. I remember reading this and thinking to myself "Well that don't make ANY sense."
Recently I was reading a post on a different forum, and the poster said that a square cut firing pin stop will reduce felt recoil compared to a beveled firing pin stop because it removes the mechanical advantage that the beveled firing pin stop offers to the rearward moving slide to overcome the mainspring and cock the hammer back. After reading THAT I thought to myself "OMG, that makes perfect sense. Why didn't I see that before?"
And now I've given it some further consideration. We live in a world where physics works, and many of the laws of physics can be summed up together as "Nothing's for nothing." Felt recoil might be reduced, but all the energy is still right there, it's just moved around a bit.
I'm thinking a square cut firing pin stop would probably redirect some of that recoil energy to the firing pin stop and the face of the hammer. Maybe the hammer pin, and the frame around the hammer pin hole.
Does replacing a beveled firing pin stop with a square cut firing pin stop create any additional wear & tear on the pistol other than the firing pin stop and the hammer? Does the frame around the hammer pin hole need to be checked for wear & cracking more frequently? Does it help alleviate wear & cracking on other parts of the frame or the internals?
For what it's worth, this was all in the context of a 6" 10mm 1911 being fed a steady diet of full Norma & hotter 10mm loads. Shooters were scrambling for heavier & heavier recoil springs to reduce felt recoil, all to no avail. One clever chap advised them to replace their beveled firing pin stop with a square cut one, and replace the main spring with the heaviest mainspring they could find. Shooters came back reporting near-miraculous results in felt recoil reduction. Being the cynical squig that I am I couldn't help thinking "But what's breaking now?"
Bookmarks