What is the lowest you would go with pound wise ?

The lowest I have ever used was 17# and that was for range use.

Thanks

I've been using an 18# from Wolff in my P220 for over a year without a single issue.

MY DA/SA P226 and P229 .40's now have 18# hammer springs. I used to run 19#, 18 years with the P229 and four years with the P226. Dropped a little lower about 7-8 years ago when I started having hand/finger problems due to arthritis. Have never had a failure to ignite with either pistol.

Some here have had problems with RP hammer springs slowly deteriorating in power. I've never experienced that. Replacement cycles should probably be shortened with RP, compared to factory.

You should be able to reliably use 19#, I think GGI uses that in their action kits. Usually, factory hammer springs in most guns are somewhat overpowered, for obvious reasons.

In summary: (a) With MY guns, I have not had a reliability problem with 18 or 19# springs. The 19# would be the safe choice. Other pistols may be different. (b) I'd avoid 17#. IMO, pushing the envelope. My testing with 17# on both guns resulted in slightly funky feel to trigger, although ignition was fine. Don't forget that reducing the DA pull also results in reducing the SA.

Regardless of what you do, thoroughly test to make sure you get reliable ignition with the intended ammo. Especially for SD.

Thanks

I have a newer P226 (circa 2004) with the plastic base for the trigger spring and my brother has an old W. German P226 (1990) with the original style spring.

Last week, I replaced the trigger springs in both:

the newer P226 went from a factory spring weight of 20lbs down to 19lbs...

the W. German P226 went from a factory spring weight of 24lbs down to 20lbs...

Today I took both pistols to the range to perform a reliability test using the following ammo:

Speer Gold Dot 124 gr Jacketed HP (CCW ammo)

CCI/Blazer 115 gr aluminum cased FMJ (practice/training ammo)

Some left-over Sig frangible (left over from a class at Sig Academy in Epping)


I first shot the old P226 since it had the biggest reduction in spring weight. It shot a couple of magazines worth of the Gold Dots and Sig frangible with nary an issue. I then switched to shooting the CCI Blazer (which is what this particular pistol mostly shoots) and that's when the issues popped up. In two magazines of the Blazer aluminum, there were 3 failures to fire. That right there qualifies that gun as unreliable ----> I will re-install the original factory spring in this pistol later this evening.

The newer P226 ate everything I put through it with no issues (to be expected, as it was only a 1lb reduction in trigger weight).

So....In my experience, I would not venture much below 24lbs in the older style P226's. Note, there is a 22lb spring available from Wolff; however, that is the only weight available between 24 and 20lbs...it will be up to my brother as to whether or not he wants to give that a go).

As to current design P226's, I dropped 1lb and it did not cause any reliability issues. Since the removal/installation of trigger springs on the new P226's is very easy, I see no problem experimenting with the various weights available. I might try an 18 or 17lb spring and see what happens.

One of my favorite lines from walking dead “Just look at the flowers” spoken by my favorite character on Walking Dead

This message has been edited. Last edited by: markstempski,