Hammerli 215 Recoil Spring

I ordered fresh 208 springs from interarms for my 215 (two stage trigger).  The springs I received do not work - they will not compress enough to allow the slide to be replaced.  The amount I would have to trim off seems quite excessive, maybe a centimeter of the fully compressed length.

My expectation was that most everything was more or less swappable as betwixt the 208 and 215.  Has anyone else run into this?

I'll bet you used their standard spring.. I had heard of issues with that so I ordered their lightweight spring for my 208s. Works fine

You might check with redfeather outfitters to see if they have the recoil spring

Yes the 208 and 215 are the same basic pistol. The 215 is less polished than the 208

I also purchased a couple of standard springs from Interarms, since Red Feather was out of stock, and had no luck with them. 

I waited until Red Feather had springs in stock and all was well again.

These springs were from Red Feather - They are indicated as being from Interarms on the site.  I will reach out to the store.  Thanks for letting me know that my 215 was not some oddball.

The springs I got from Red Feather were from Walther.

I as well purchased a 208S recoil spring. It would not function. Local Gunsmith looked at it and said it was the wrong spring. So I ordered another spring from red feather and I will be trying not.

FWIW, years ago I measured a bunch of original 208 recoil springs, and this is what I came up with:

OAL: 5.400" (give or take .100")

Diameter: .197"

Wire size: .0245"

Black_Talon wrote:FWIW, years ago I measured a bunch of original 208 recoil springs, and this is what I came up with:

OAL: 5.400" (give or take .100")

Diameter: .197"

Wire size: .0245"

Greetings,

How many coils?

Cheers,

Dave

I contacted Jim at Red Feather.  He will be sending me a Walther spring to try.  Hopefully that will work.

On an good note - Jim was very fast to respond and truly came across as wanting to help.

In 2016 I sent an Hammerli spring to Alan as a sample.  The spring was from a Larry's parts kit purchased some time before that.  In return Alan sent me 10 springs that I believe are copies of the Hammerli spring.
I just put one of Alan's springs in a 208s.  It fit and seems to have proper function.  Right now I have the 10 springs from Alan. And 14 more probably from Larry, but I do not know for sure how and why I have that many.  

And FWIW I removed an original spring from another 208s.  Even well used, it s about 3/8 longer than the new springs from Alan and Larry.  Also it is firmly captured on the plunger.  Removal would probably damage the spring.

fc60 wrote:
Greetings,

How many coils?

Cheers,

Dave

Ah! Good question Grasshopper!

54

Next questions:
- weight to fully compress?
- length when fully compressed?

So I have 2 208’s that I have inherited.  I have no idea of the round count.  I have 2 springs from Red Feather, and 2 from interarms.  Neither of these will work. I have bought both on the last month.  They look identical.  They are about 5 1/5 long versus the 5 3/8’s (+/-). The new springs seem to go into spring bind before I can get the slide back far enough to engage the rails. This is in both guns, one is newer with the twist lock retainer, the other is the wedge setup. I’ve read several posts, annd there seems to be debate on cutting springs.  Any suggestions? How can I tell if what I have is worn out?

hamdenman wrote:  Any suggestions? How can I tell if what I have is worn out?

I'm also curious how to tell if the recoil spring is worn out.  My 208s has a new firing pin / spring, but still sometimes gets fail to fire / light hammer strikes - even with a freshly cleaned chamber.  If the recoil spring has become too soft could it prevent the fresh round from seating fully in the chamber?

On my 208s the spring that worked for me was their  light spring not their heavy one.

What ammo are you using. . Mine  eats CCI std perfectly

hamdenman wrote:  They look identical.  They are about 5 1/5 long versus the 5 3/8’s (+/-). 

Did you count the coils on both to compare?

The spring I got from red feather didn't fit my 208 when fully compressed. I just clipped a couple coils off and bada bing it works. YMMV

Just got a 208 recoil spring from Redfeather- Same- coils bind and I am unable to replace the slide. Old style, needs a wedge to get out the spring. I put the old spring back in this morning. Placed a call to Redfeather

Joe

The original had many more coils of a thinner wire.  It also holds the driving rod.  The new springs are fewer coils of a thicker wire and slightly larger internal diameter that will not hold the driving rod.

hamdenman wrote:The original had many more coils of a thinner wire.  It also holds the driving rod.  The new springs are fewer coils of a thicker wire and slightly larger internal diameter that will not hold the driving rod.

Thanks! I won't order any spare springs just yet...

A couple years ago, I tried some from Interarms, and they were a bit heavy and my 208s wouldn't cycle on CCI SV. Then ordered some from Red Feather. The OD was too large and they wouldn't fit in the spring channel. Red Feather took them back, and later sent me some from a different batch and they worked fine.

I wouldn't have thought that it would be that difficult to make (duplicate) springs that fit and worked!

I ordered 2 recoil springs from RFO in Feb this year. They were too large OD to fit in the spring groove. Se t an email and they had replacements out post-haste. Unfortunately, the replacements were too long and I had to trim about 3/8‐1/2" to make it work, so I got a couple from Interarmstx.com and they fit and work with my Aguila SV and Subsonic. Eley Bullseye and Club also work.

Issues I have with CCI SV seem to be failure to eject. The slide goes back far enough to extract and pick up the next round, but the empty doesn't clear the chamber and gets caught by the slide when closing. Happens more on a clean gun than after a few strings.

NukeMMC wrote: so I got a couple from Interarmstx.com and they fit and work with my Aguila SV .

I found that they worked with Aguila SV , but had ejection issues with CCI SV, as you did. 

The issue I had there is that Hammerli 208's like to peen the breech face, so I run the lightest spring that I can with CCI SV to keep that to a minimum. Heavier springs close the slide harder.

At one time interarms had a light version of the 208 spring that worked perfectly. Mine has  run. 100% for a year using CCI.

Greetings,

Confirm my memory.

The 215 is a not fancy 208?

If yes, the 208 recoil spring may fit.

Available from Germany

https://schiesssport-billharz.eu/2742026-2742024-1201261-Vorholfeder

The part number is slightly different than the manual.

1.201.260 in the manual and Billharz catalogs a 1.201.261 ?

Buy lots of stuff as shipping is 30-35 euros.

Cheers,

Dave

I’ll check them out!  I spoke to Red Feather and it’s been a crap shoot as to what they get.  I asked how I could tell if my springs were weak or not and he said that if it still chambers reliably, the spring is ok. 

Another thought though.  Would S&W 41 spring work?  I’ve not tried any, but Wolff has those in different strengths.