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Thread: Colt Officer's Recoil Spring Plug OEM

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  1. #1
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    If you are looking for an original Colt Officers ACP recoil spring plug, Colt doesn't have them. They send you to an independent gun shop, Jack First, in Rapid City, SD. They have them custom made and they can take care of you. They are also probably the only source for the correct, dual recoil springs for the Officers ACP.

    http://jackfirstgun.com/
    Hawkmoon
    On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside


  2. #2
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    This is good info to have, if I did acquire an Officers ACP I sure would like a spare recoil spring plug to keep it original.

    FWIW: I had a "Jack First" catalog and he makes replacement parts for various firearms.
    Ken
    "I like Colts and will die that way"
    "It seems to me that I have forgotten more than I remember"

  3. #3
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    There is also a guy on ebay selling them for 20.00 in eather SS or blue. They are new old stock.

  4. #4
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    Of course the real problem with those spring plugs is the tiny stud that holds them in the slide. There is a whole cottage industry of gunsmiths that modify slides and spring plugs to take care of the all to often launch of parts when the stud breaks

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by charlieb8
    Of course the real problem with those spring plugs is the tiny stud that holds them in the slide.
    This is an often-made point, but it may well be a 'secondary' cause for the problem.

    These small guns need new springs much more often than 5" pistols. My money says that the main reason why the tiny stud breaks off, is because people get careless when replacing the spring, and don't check for spring bind. Thus, they end up with a new spring that's too long for the spring tunnel, which means that the plug bears the full brunt of the slide getting all the way to the rear.

    Even a full-flange reverse plug, in a full-size pistol, will eventually break from that.
    Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
    M. Setter

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by rekladan
    These small guns need new springs much more often than 5" pistols. My money says that the main reason why the tiny stud breaks off, is because people get careless when replacing the spring, and don't check for spring bind
    I replaced the recoil spring on my Officer's ACP yesterday with a Wolff single spring replacement and fired about 100 rounds through it. Today I noticed a crack in the recoil spring plug stud which I will now replace with an extra I bought from a guy on eBay. How do you "check for spring bind"?

    Thanks,
    DTW
    Last edited by dtwalters; 11th February 2011 at 10:15.


  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by dtwalters
    I replaced the recoil spring on my Officer's ACP yesterday with a Wolff single spring replacement and fired about 100 rounds through it. Today I noticed a crack in the recoil spring plug stud which I will now replace with an extra I bought from a guy on eBay. How do you "check for spring bind"?
    I think either Rekladan or Rio Vista Slim had a recent post on this (probably in the "Gunsmithing" discussion area) that included photos.

    In a nutshell:

    Begin with the pistol assembled but no recoil spring installed. Retract the slide as far as it will go. Put a small piece of masking tape on the slide, and another on the frame just beneath it. Draw a vertical line straight down, from the tape on the slide across the tape on the frame. This is how far the slide must ba able to move, with no restriction.

    Now assemble the pistol with the recoil spring. Retract the slide as far as it will go, and see if the marks on the two pieces of tape align. If not, or if you have to force the slide the last increment to achieve alignment ... you have spring bind.
    Hawkmoon
    On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside

  8. #8
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    Having field stripped the pistol, I think I have found the problem and I would expect this is what rekladan was talking about. I have a replacement plug and spring. I wonder if the Wolff single spring replacement may have had a part in this problem? The original, double spring system is not bent at all.

    DTW



    Last edited by dtwalters; 11th February 2011 at 11:29.


  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by dtwalters
    Having field stripped the pistol, I think I have found the problem and I would expect this is what rekladan was talking about. I have a replacement plug and spring. I wonder if the Wolff single spring replacement may have had a part in this problem?
    That's a nasty picture...

    If you browse around Wolff's website, you'll see that the same spring may be for 4" and 4.25" 1911s, and/or 3" and 3.5" pistols, too. So the buyer should ALWAYS perform the check that Hawk described above. In a bushing-barrel setup, the part of the bushing that mates with the plug breaks off first, sending the plug downrange. In a bushingless setup, it's the reverse plug. Or, if you're lucky, the spring itself gives up the ghost!
    Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
    M. Setter

  10. #10
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    I purchased two new springs for my Colt Officer's ACP. The parts numbers were from Colt and the springs were purchased from Jack First. (Colt said they no longer stock them.) The smaller spring goes inside the larger. I placed them in the pistol and racked the slide a couple of times. It seemed very tight, so I removed the springs. They were bent as you can see from the picture. The original springs are not bent at all after 25 years. Are these new springs ruined? Could I cut a few coils off these springs to make them fit? I clearly did not read the above posts before I tried these new springs. How do you find springs that actually FIT?

    DTW

    Last edited by dtwalters; 16th February 2011 at 05:41.


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