I can’t believe I forgot to post this. As many of our readers are aware, Freeze and I are quite fond of the latest HK striker pistol known as the VP9. Well…we shot them so much that very quickly, the subject of the recoil spring change schedule arose. This may come as a surprise to the modern pistolero, but back in the old days, spring change rates were a BIG deal.
This was especially true for 1911s. The spring schedule I used on my 1911’s for YEARS was every 3000 rounds, we pull the recoil spring (RS) and the firing pin spring (FPS). The logic was 3000 was a safe, conservative number for the RS to prevent frame cracking. And 3000 for the FP was extremely conservative, but in a series 70 1911 that doesn’t have a firing pin block, you wanted it to be as fresh as possible to make it drop safe.
With modern flat-wire recoil springs and striker gun technology, things are a little different. But…it is a known fact that if you don’t change springs on a modern polymer gun, the user runs the risk of deforming the pin-holes. Which can cause pins to walk out under fire. I.E. potential catastrophic malfunction.
Which brings me back to the HK. We checked the instructions, no mention. We checked the HK website, no mention. We checked the HK forums, and no mention. The MOST we could find were users who would state, “The HK was tested to 10,000 rounds”.
So what? Dodge can burn up a Viper on the track, but I’m not going to do that. We were forced to reach out to HK.
Hello,
We are running some VP9’s and I have a question.
What is the recoil spring replacement schedule?
Is it typical 3000 rounds?
We can’t seem to find this information in the manual or on the HK forums.
Sincerely,
******
HK Responds:
******, there is no replacement schedule. We do recommend that after 10,000 rounds that you send in the pistol to have our armorer take a look at it.
HK Customer Service Team
5675 Transport Blvd.
Columbus, GA 31907
Tel: (706) 568-1906
Fax: (706) 568-9151
www.hk-usa.com
Our internal response was something along the lines of WTF & That can’t be right? So I personally reached back out for clarification:
Is it the official position of HK customer service that users run the same recoil spring on a VP9 for 10,000 rounds?
My armorer is asking for clarification.
Sincerely,
Mark
They respond:
This is the official position of the HK Service/Repair Department that the VP9 recoil assembly is rated for 10,000 rounds.
HK Customer Service Team
5675 Transport Blvd.
Columbus, GA 31907
Tel: (706) 568-1906
Fax: (706) 568-9151
www.hk-usa.com
So there you have it. Straight from HK USA. The VP9 spring is rated for 10,000 rounds and HK wants you to send the pistols into them for replacements and inspection. Frankly, that seems like a bit much. And at the time of the e-mail, I don’t believe their armorer program was updated for the VP9. Also…at the time of this e-mail (late March 2015), the VP40 wasn’t out. So we have no info to give on that model.
In closing it needs to be noted that HK USA answered our inquires in either same day or next business day. Every time. I’m not so sure the old maxim of “We’re HK and you suck” still applies? Maybe it never did? Before the VP9, I never gave HK a second look.
Sincerely,
Marky
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