spring guage….

Anybody…..Id be interested to know what you or anyone prefers….. 8-)

@jtdaltonsr wrote:

This question is for the pros, what is a good starting point for liner rear and front springs? as well as shader? i know its by preferance, but for a standard liner, what is a good starting point when deciding which guage of springs? for standard packer? standard shader? any info will be greatly apreciated. I got lucky and have springs that work fine, but have NO clue as to what guage i have, and will be replacing with new springs soon. also, have a buddy that is building from scratch, and needs starting point for spring guages in those three catagories. Charles, ur advice would be greatly apreciated. THANKS for any info, guys.

Since your machines are going to need to fit your preferences, there isn’t going to be a magic number to start with. What I did when I replaced springs is go middle of the road…which was 18g…and bought Baltimore irons shader and liner sets. (inexpensive from element)

I also bought 20g front and rear, and 15g front and rear.

Then I opened up the book that landed me on this site and read about spring gauge about 20 times to get an idea of what direction to go.

I then starting using different combinations on practice skin to see how it felt, sounded, reacted, etc.

Turned out I liked the 18g front and rear on both machines. The other I liked, but not as much, is a 15 rear and a “liner” front spring that was 20g. This one seemed to be good for running a faster machine while the 18g front and rear worked better going slower and softer. On my 18g f/r I also put a smaller bend in the front spring than you usually see. What I found is I could shorten the stroke and soften the hit…so even though the machine isn’t running real fast I can put color in quickly and with minimal damage to the skin.

I’m not a pro…but I like to tinker. Your results may vary. Hope this helps you out.

Mark