Can we talk about striker drag?

[charlestheforth]

I got a p365 the other day and I've been researching striker drag.  Most of the threads I've seen on all the big forum sites haven't really gotten into what actually causes it, and what you could do to fix it.

From what I've gathered though, and this could be wrong so If someone knows better please jump in, Striker drag is caused by the striker spring and the recoil spring not being in a good ratio.  The slide is retracting back too fast compared to the speed of the striker retracting.

It seems like this problem could be fixed by either a much stronger recoil spring (which would slow down the speed of the retracting slide and give the striker more time to get out of the way before the barrel starts to drop), OR by a stronger striker spring.

When you think about fixing this problem from the point of view of a corporation, you have to take into account economies of scale.    For instance: I could understand why SIG would not want to fix the striker drag by using a stronger striker spring, because that would put more force on their MIM strikers and possibly cause them to break prematurely.  and from their perspective, Using a steel striker would cause the gun to cost too much to produce (assuming they are set on manufacturing a 500$ gun).   

If you were to buy a fancy Steel striker though, is it correct to assume that if you put a stronger striker spring on it that the striker drag would lessen?


Why hasn't SIG looked at fixing the striker drag with increased power recoil springs though?  This seems like it would be effective.  Could it have anything to do with keeping the slide easy to rack?(which the p365 is very easy to rack)...  Putting a much stronger recoil spring might lower their market share by excluding women or the elderly who would be unable to operate the slide with a heavy spring, or experience a ton of FTF's from not holding it tight enough (stronger recoil springs are known to result in FTF malfunctions if you dont hold the gun tight enough.)




Sorry for the long post, but I haven't seen any threads looking at what causes striker drag and what can fix it. 

[eastman]

the striker spring drives the striker forward, it does not push it back like a firing pin spring on a hammer fired pistol. The striker is reset when the slide moves back far enough (the sear keeps it from coming forward then).

Every polymer frame striker fired pistol that I have shot leaves evidence of striker drag (I can't remember if the Luger also leaves a drag mark on the primer).

[hodge]

I have a 365, producing minimum drag marks. It runs great. Why fix something that isn't a problem?

[charlestheforth]

Mine has slightly more than moderate drag marks, which according to people on the SIG forum suggests that I should get a long life out of the redesigned striker.

I'm more interested in learning about guns and how they work/how to fix them than I am about this particular gun though. I'm curious why my Pm9 doesnt have any striker drag while the p365 does.  The first obvious difference I see between them is that the pm9 has a much stronger recoil spring (the p365 has one of the weakest springs I've ever seen in a 9mm).  I'm curious if that's whats causing it.  The p365 captured recoil spring does not lend itself well to being tinkered with or I would have already started testing. 

the striker spring drives the striker forward, it does not push it back like a firing pin spring on a hammer fired pistol. The striker is reset when the slide moves back far enough (the sear keeps it from coming forward then).

Sorry I should have been more specific.  I meant to say the striker return spring (if that's even what it's called).  On the p365 at least there is a little spring inside the larger spring that compresses as the striker pushes all the way forward.  I imagine that these 2 springs need to be in a specific ratio or else you'd get light primer strikes. So if you increase one you'd have to increase the other. 

the only other striker fired gun I have is a Pm9, and that gun doesnt even have a striker return spring. The striker stays forward all the way such that when you dry fire it and lock the slide back the striker is still sticking out of the hole.  my Pm9 has no visible striker drag though. which makes me think It's due to the really strong recoil spring that it has.