I was told Wolff springs for the Witness should work. YMMV, though.

Let us know!

Hey Homey,

Would that be Wolff p/n 497xx for the witness recoil spring(s)? And the xx being the poundage like 14 or 15?

I replied to your email today, and found your post. Actually took a chance and purchased the wolff witness springs as mentioned a couple weeks ago. Hope they're the right ones.

Eagle2x: I think that a standard or older CZ 75 recoil spring is similar to the EAA witness, but the CZ 75 SP01 is more like a glock style. I could be mistaken, but that's what I think anyway..

Yep, just got mine today and they appear to be appropriate replacements. I got the EAA Witness 14 and 15lb units. Also got the hammer springs, but haven't checked that out yet.

BTW.. after all the issues and mods I did to my AR-24 last year, I did get the chance to shoot 50 rounds out of it yesterday. It hadn't been cleaned (properly I should mention) since my last outing a couple months ago, and with a quick strip and lube, it shot those 50 rounds like a friggen target gun! Smooth, accurate, and not a single hiccup. I am so glad I stuck it out and worked with this gun..
There may not be a lot of support for it, but damn it's a good gun! They just don't build'em like this any more..

Super homework on the EAA witness spring compatibility. I noticed when I changed mine out (I bought the 14 and 15 lb full size 9mm) that visually the stock AR 24 was compressed and considerably shorter than the Wolff Witness replacements. after careful measuring coil ID and OD, spring wire diameter and number of coils, that 'my' stock AR-24 s/b (theoretically) a 14 lb stock spring, but due to the seemingly over compression/set, it is more like a 13 lb spring action.

My conclusion is the following:

Homey: that your choice to use the heavier 16 lb spring is based on a well shot broken in gun, possibly smoothed with some hotter loads than standard range ammo.

My gun: some smoothing (with the extensive mods I did to it) but still some friction as it is still breaking in so the healthy new 14 lb Wolff witness spring is working perfectly locking up more solidly into battery, much smoother action of slide movement, and less felt recoil with typical range ammo. No more FTE's or FTF's in 100 more rounds. When my gun breaks in more, or I shoot hotter loads, I may move up to the 15 lb Wolff 9mm Witness, but for now it's working really great with a solid 14 lb'er.

Conclusion: IMHO it seems that there may be some inconsisitency in the factory spring, and I'm not even sure Armalite knows what poundage is in the pistols. I heard directly from an Armalite tech sometime back they experimented with different poundages depending on different issues with potential fit/friction issues with some of the guns. So that being said, I think that the springs are kinda crappy from the factory, and could be (my opinion again) over compressed 13, 14, or even 15 lb springs. Not all guns have the same springs from the factory. Again I think they are to compressed too much and may not last very long.

Homey has done some excellent research, and I believe that the Wolff EAA Witness full size 9mm recoil springs are better than stock. The only issue is you have to determine which poundage will work best with the loads you shoot, and any issues with you gun or in my case the mods I did to smooth it out. Because YMMV, and at about only 7 bucks a piece from Wolff, buy 2-3 different lbs. and find the one that works for you. I think it can make a lot of difference in the guns function, performance, and clear up some issues. It's a cheap fix if it works.

Too bad Armalite cannot get the recoil spring specs/technology figured out, but at least we have an option that has worked out for two of us. I have to believe it's a great improvement over stock.

Thanks to Homey for the heads up!

"

So wayyyy back in the day, when we were debating the FTE issues....... and I said "The spring is too light..." Can I say a big "I TOLD YOU SO" now?




Thanks for posing this, I had lost interest in the gun due to other projects but now I'll pick up some of these springs and get back into it.


Mike

My contention was that the especially light OEM recoil spring was allowing the slide to travel rearward at TOO high of a velocity, causing the extractor to lose it's grip on the round. The idea popped into my head (even though there is no logical relation) because this is an issue that armalite has been fighting with their AR-10's (they have documentation on their site), that continues to occur on my AR-10 (though it has nothing to do with the spring...

Same basic principal..... different cause.

Mike

Theorizing mode on!!:

Using my theroy, on your gun it could be possible that the bearing surfaces where the slide meets the frame, and on the hood of the barrel were rough enough to slow the slide down enough, to not cause the problem. As the gun began to wear, the slide sped up while cycling, and the problems appeared.

Another reason I believe my theroy is true is that when I polished the chamber with flitz and a dremel, it increased my MRBT (but did not fix the problem). I beleive this allowed the shell to keep up with the slide during recoil.... to a point. One could say that the "chamber being too tight is the cause of all these failures", but if that were the case, "feeding issues" would abound.

Still need to order those springs. Post a url to the package you bought if you get a chance.

Thanks,
Mike

Yep...

My advice, get 14 lb (49714) as well. If your gun is not broken in or you aren't shooting anything hot, the standard 14 lb may/should suffice. It is definitely stronger than the stock Armalite 14 lb spring that came in my gun. Remember I substantially modified and reduced metal to metal friction surfaces on my pistol. Thus the 15 lb works best for me. Every gun/load may vary by within these three recoil spring poundages: 14, 15, 16.

Have at it, and post your results!