I am looking for a reduced weight non captured recoil spring for a gen 4 g19. My wife has difficulty racking the slide on her newly chosen concealed carry.

I disassenbled it after her last lesson / range session and lubed it with qmaxx black diamond. That helped tremendously but I would like to know 100% that she can do it under all conditions.

I have just ordered a handi-racker for her. A reduction from a 18 pound spring to say a 15 pounder is what I am thinking of.

Thank you for reading, I will certainly appreciate any assistance offered.

Maybe this:  Brass Stacker Slide Pull?  

Is your wife using a two finger, 'slingshot' or, 'HOT' (Hand-Over-Top) grip on the slide?  (It can make a difference.)  

Does she push forward with her strong hand, and pull back with her support hand, all, at the same time?  

Have you reminded her to always keep her trigger finger absolutely arrow-straight along the top of the frame?  

Sometimes it helps to (ideally) use an extended barrel, and grasp the FRONT of the slide between fingers and thumb in order to move it backwards, rather than trying to pull the slide back in the usual way from the rear.  


Oh, yeah!  15 lb. is too light to use with any genuinely effective, self-defense, 9 x 19mm cartridge.  (Standard is 18 lb.)  You have to remember recoil management AND reliable cartridge feeding.  You don't want to trade one problem for another.

S

Thanks for the response RavenU. I haven't seen that device, it may be worth checking into. She tries both "slingshot" and "HOT". She is more proficient with "HOT", although she can do both since I lubed it up with an extremely slick oil. She still has difficulty, and it takes her a few seconds. She holds her left hand to her chest hand over top, and pushes forward with her strong hand. Slingshot is a bit more troublesome.

She has very good trigger discipline. I have sent her to two trainers, one is a former leo who trains leo's and governmental employees. The other is a woman competitive shooter who is a IPSA record holder, and attorney. My wife is confined to a wheelchair and I want her to get opinions from various trainers who may have insights that may benefit her and her concerns. Hopefully we can find someone who can give her tips on firing and carrying from a chair as well.  She has been extremely accurate at the distances that she has been working from so far. Both instructors are very impressed by her trigger and sight control. The only issuues I have are her ability to clear a failure, and how long it takes her to follow up with additional shots. This comes from a well intentioned, but very helpful salesman at the Lgs advising her to take a full minute to complete the trigger pull. I was busy drooling over some NFA items at the time. Both her instructors want to see quicker follow ups as well.

To be fair her pistol is new with less than 150 rounds through it. I told the instructor it took us a long time to figure out which pistol worked best for her. She chose the g19, we had her hold and fire probably 20 pistols. The g19 she fired prior to purchasing one was a range pistol. It has 1000's of rounds through it.  She had very little difficulty cycling that pistol. The only difference between that pistol and hers was rounds fired and the serial number, same generation g19. I am sure hers will loosen up a bit with use. I also told her that I was concerned about additional to recoil as the g19 with +P loads are the most she is comfortable with.

I have purchased a tungsten guide rod with a non captured spring to hopefully address the added recoil issue. The next step down in spring weight I could find with a limited search was a 15 pounder. I should mention the advice to drop spring weight came from the competition shooter instructor who uses a hot rod Infinity .40.

I am absolutely against anything that would jeopardize the reliability of her carry pistol. And that is why I seek advice in this forum. I am completely fine with purchasing another pistol if we need to. Who here would have a problem with that, right. She hasn't tried the HK VP9, and I will probably be getting one for myself, so she could always use that one if she prefers it.