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JTE Performance Power Mainspring for All Saiga and AK variants


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Since this will work in ALL AK variants I thought it would be best to post it in the main forum.

 

 

I asked about this a long thread about my S-12 but no one seemed to address it.

 

Will the JTE Performance Power Mainspring really help with cycling issues?

 

My hammer does sit pretty high so I want to re-profile it and use this spring.

 

If you have or had this spring in your gun please post your opinion of it below.

 

Thanks

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I've never had any cycle issues with my S-12, but I installed one with my conversion, and it's sweet. The trigger has that nice wine glass snap to it and it's consistent. My buddy helped with the conversion then went out and got a 7.62 and put one in. He loves it too. From a quality standpoint silicon spring steel is superior to braded cable wire in every way: better spring properties, no friction from brades, more resistant to corrosion, and it's a U.S. part.

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The JTE mainspring did not work in my .308 conversion. There wasn't enough force in the firing pin to fire the majority of the time. Probably had 50% misfires. I then reverted back to the original spring, and properly fired 100% of the time. Might be a .308 specific problem, not sure.

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I tried one of the "full-power" JTE springs in my SGL21... and it resulted in light primer strikes and what looked like accelerated wear to the rear trunnion. So, I went back to the factory mainspring, which works flawlessly. I also use the factory mainspring in my S-12, since there are no issues with it and with the work I've had done by Lone Star, cycling problems, (with any ammo), are truly a thing of the past.

 

My dad does have one of the "reduced power" JTE springs in his S-12, and it seems to improve cycling with low-brass a bit.. though I think the main reason he went with the JTE spring was to resolve an issue he had with his gun's factory spring legs creeping inward and interfering with the trigger.

 

So, it may help ya some, Boba, but the bigger problem is your hammer profile, as you know. Getting that fixed will have a much greater effect on how your gun cycles than replacing the mainspring will.

Edited by post-apocalyptic
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Don't know about cycling issues in an s-12, but i had one in my x39, and had a problem with light strikes. I probably could have adjusted it, but i just went back to the factory mil spec spring and no problems since.

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I dropped a JTE spring in both my 5.56 restoration, as well as my brother's x39, and it is AMAZING... Our gunsmith is even endorsing it now. Double taps are flawless with either (probably augmented by Vortex flash hiders and buffers). YMMV, but I love mine in either rifle.

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The answer to your question is; Yes, it can help with cycling issues. It is one of many areas that can be improved upon.

 

The early JTE Main Spring was a 6 coil spring that could cause light strikes in some firearms. Not all, but some had an interferance fit to start with and the spring can not overcome this.

 

The new JT Engineering Main/Hammer spring is a 5 coil spring which has more power, but significantly less than the original tri-wound spring. There have been Zero instances of light primer strike with the new spring and it does reduce the force necessary to depress the hammer during the cycling of the firearm.

 

I can guarantee, if you have a properly fit FCG, it will reduce the trigger pull, and the effort to cycle the gun without misfires.

 

Regards,

 

Jack Travers

JT Engineering

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Since this will work in ALL AK variants I thought it would be best to post it in the main forum.

 

 

I asked about this a long thread about my S-12 but no one seemed to address it.

 

Will the JTE Performance Power Mainspring really help with cycling issues?

 

My hammer does sit pretty high so I want to re-profile it and use this spring.

 

If you have or had this spring in your gun please post your opinion of it below.

 

Thanks

 

i put one in on my 7.62&39 when i did my conversion recently since i was in there.seems well made,crisp trigger pull;plus it`s a u.s. part(better than the russian braided one)!hopes this helps!

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I received my JTEngineering hammer spring today and installed it in my total screwed up S-12. It reduced the trigger pull considerable.

 

I test fired the gun and out of 36 shots of #8 bulk pack I had 2 FTE in the last magazine

 

It looks like the hammer was causing 95% of my problems.

 

I'm going to get some more ammo and do some extensive testing but I think my gun is for the most part, fixed.

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...I test fired the gun and out of 36 shots of #8 bulk pack I had 2 FTE in the last magazine...

 

What, exactly, is "bulk pack"? It should at the minimum be Federal "value pack" if you expect it to reliably cycle. Federal "Game Load" is both better and actually, less expensive. I recommend that as a reliability test load.

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I tried one of the "full-power" JTE springs in my SGL21... and it resulted in light primer strikes and what looked like accelerated wear to the rear trunnion.

Can explain the accelerated wear to the trunion you are talking about?

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...I test fired the gun and out of 36 shots of #8 bulk pack I had 2 FTE in the last magazine...

 

What, exactly, is "bulk pack"? It should at the minimum be Federal "value pack" if you expect it to reliably cycle. Federal "Game Load" is both better and actually, less expensive. I recommend that as a reliability test load.

I've been wondering that also...

Why do people even buy the bulk pack #8 shot, when the #6 shot is cheaper?

They see the word "value" & think that makes it more valuable?. :unsure:

The only reason I have ever spent the extra money on it, was just so I could test to make sure my gun runs the shittiest loads well.

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What store has #6 cheaper then the Federal Value Pack?

 

I pay $22.97 for 100 rounds of #8 and the #6 costs either $5.97 or $7.97 for 25 rounds.

 

Both are more expensive then the #8 Value Pack.

 

Wish I knew too. At all my local shops the Value Pack is the best buy.

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What store has #6 cheaper then the Federal Value Pack?

 

I pay $22.97 for 100 rounds of #8 and the #6 costs either $5.97 or $7.97 for 25 rounds.

 

Both are more expensive then the #8 Value Pack.

 

Yep, same here. I don't have any stores near me stocking anything cheaper than the Federal value packs at Walmart.

And it's not for lack of stores.... very large suburban area.

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  • 2 months later...

Yep, having problems also with light strikes since installing the JTE on the .223/5.56 platform. Ammo = lake city mil surp m855/ss109. Light strikes are not acceptable in a firefight situation. Lol. Going back to the reliability of the factory mainspring.

Edited by gothchick
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Yep, having problems also with light strikes since installing the JTE on the .223/5.56 platform. Ammo = lake city mil surp m855/ss109. Light strikes are not acceptable in a firefight situation. Lol. Going back to the reliability of the factory mainspring.

 

Welcome back gothchick. You been on a sabbatical?

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I have one of these in my S-12, no light strikes. One in my 7.62x39, no light strikes, one in m S-20 no light strikes, one in my 5.45x39, light strikes, took it out. So yes, it does reduce trigger pull and will make it easier for the gun to cycle but in some cases (mostly rifle) you MAY encounter light strikes. All these are Older 6 loop designs, not the newer 5 loop.

 

~SN

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The JTE mainspring did not work in my .308 conversion. There wasn't enough force in the firing pin to fire the majority of the time. Probably had 50% misfires. I then reverted back to the original spring, and properly fired 100% of the time. Might be a .308 specific problem, not sure.

 

Have one in my 308 and had no problems. Probably have close to 400 rounds through it. That spring and the Dinzag FCG makes for a very crisp

trigger pull/break.

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  • 2 months later...

I've got several questions about the JTE Performance Power Mainspring and HOW it affects an S-12's function that I have not found answers to. First off I guess I don't really understand how this spring can effect trigger-pull, cycling, or much of anything else.

 

My S-12 is fully disassembled right now as I am in the middle of converting it and still have not got my Bolt-Carrier back yet, so I can't play with the FCG to get a better idea for what the mainspring works with, but I thought all it did was propel the hammer forward? In the product description from CSS it says it: "Dramatically smoothes and improves trigger pull while maintaining the same factory level striking force.".

 

Several people here have said that it can cause light primer strikes, though there seems to be different versions of the JTE mainsprings, such as a "reduced power" JTE spring and versions with 5 or 6 coils? Does the current "performance power" mainspring still cause light strikes?

 

The early JTE Main Spring was a 6 coil spring that could cause light strikes in some firearms. Not all, but some had an interferance fit to start with and the spring can not overcome this.

 

The new JT Engineering Main/Hammer spring is a 5 coil spring which has more power, but significantly less than the original tri-wound spring. There have been Zero instances of light primer strike with the new spring and it does reduce the force necessary to depress the hammer during the cycling of the firearm.

 

So is the "original tri-wound spring" a JTE product or does that refer to the factory mainspring? If that refers to the factory spring, then there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy with the CSS description where it says "maintaining the same factory level striking force".

 

I got a carefully custom tuned & polished short-reset FCG from Cobra's Custom, so my trigger pull should be very smooth, crisp and light as it is; and I'm wondering how a JTE Performance Power Mainspring would affect it?

 

I also don't understand how this spring could possibly affect cycling? As I mentioned I obviously don't fully understand exactly how this spring interacts with the other parts, but I am fairly certain that it just works with the FCG and really don't see how that could have any impact on how the gun cycles. The only impact that the FCG has on cycling that I'm aware of is the friction between the hammer and the bolt-carrier. This is a bigger issue with most conversions since the hammer on a G2 or any other FCG for an S12 conversion sits higher than the factory hammer. However Cobra polishes and re-profiles the hammer so that it sits as low as the factory hammer. I also smoothed the part of the bolt-carrier that impacts the hammer, and sent it off to Selph Arms to have the Micro-Slick coating applied to it. So my hammer and bolt-carrier should have quite a smooth interaction. So anyways, how could this spring have any effect on cycling?! How exactly is that supposed to work?

 

I'd really appreciate some more info about this part, especially an explanation of how it interacts with the other parts to alter performance, a little cause & effect description.

 

PS - Does JT Engineering have a website? I have been unable to find one.

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GuyFoX: my advice is to put the factory mainspring back in when you're reassembling your S-12. Assuming it works well post-conversion restoration, (as it should, and does in the vast majority of restored S-12's), there is no reason at all to replace it with an aftermarket part.

 

Personally, I'm not a fan of the JTE springs. Briefly using a "Full-Power", (advertised and sold that way, though it obviously wasn't), JTE mainspring in my SGL21 resulted in some accelerated wear to that rifle's rear trunnion that wouldn't be there if I'd stuck with the factory mainspring. The firing pin strikes were also noticably lighter than those produced by the OEM part.

 

Don't "fix" what ain't broke... I wish I'd remembered that old axiom before I tried the JTE spring.

 

ymmv.

Edited by post-apocalyptic
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The mainspring has two directions of force.... the hammer in one direction and the trigger in the other.

 

Take the mainspring legs off of the trigger assembly.... you'll see that the trigger just kind of flops around with no spring tension on it. It's the spring tension that forces the trigger to reset. If that tension is high, it will take a harder trigger pull to overcome the higher drag on the two mating surfaces of the trigger and hammer. Tie a string around a book and drag it across your carpet.... now stack more books on top and try to drag it again... same as more spring tension.

 

I also suspect that the JTE spring is a little smoother and more consistent than the wound spring since the wound spring probably binds on itself to a small degree.

 

And as far as the mainspring affecting cycling.... how could it not?

 

The carrier has to overcome the mainspring to push the hammer back (after the round is fired). When you push the hammer back, you are pushing against the mainspring. Then the recoil springs push the carrier back towards the battery position and it encounters the hammer again. The second pass is easier since it's just nudging the cocked hammer (to a widely variable degree depending on the hammer profile as well as spring tension), but its still going to push against the carrier due to the mainspring pushing on the hammer.

 

The recoil springs and the mainspring essentially fight each other. All of the springs cause drag on the recoil stroke (most of that drag on purpose to slow down the carrier recoil). The mainspring causes some drag on the battery stroke.

 

Hopefully that helps explain the interaction a bit. Once you understand what's happening, you'll realize it's more simple than what you imagined it was. :)

Edited by Spartacus
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OK, I think I understand, at least as much as I ever will(my brain is NOT wired for all this technical shit). I just got the(awesome!) new custom FCG, but have not attempted to install it yet since I am STILL without my bolt-carrier >:( , and I have not ordered the necessary TG & PG combo yet. So I can't look at the spring+FCG to see how they interact with cycling, etc since they are currently sitting in a box. But thanks for explaining it, that makes sense now.

 

I am just trying to decide on all the parts to order for the 1st stage of my conversion restoration transfiguration and was wondering if this spring would be useful. I'm thinking not so much. With all of the custom parts and work I've done/will do on my S12, it should cycle very smooth with the factory spring.

 

Plus it may be made of somewhat higher quality materials, but I'm just too cheap to pay $15 for a spring(!), especially if it is known to cause light-primer strike issues. That's kind of a deal-breaker for me(the light strikes), definitely outweighs the lighter trigger pull, etc. My trigger is going to be super light and crisp as it is, and the action butter-smooth, so I'll stick with the full power hammer. Thanks for the input, -V

Edited by GuyFoX
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  • 3 months later...

Just gotta throw in my 2 cents.... Using the JT spring I have flawless performance from 2 S12s and 2 Arsenal AK-47s. I've modified/converted several AK-47s and .223 AKs and never noticed an issue. Never heard of light strikes with it until I saw this thread. I'd buy more if they were in stock. Carolina Shooter's Supply is out. Just my 2 cents...

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What store has #6 cheaper then the Federal Value Pack?

 

I pay $22.97 for 100 rounds of #8 and the #6 costs either $5.97 or $7.97 for 25 rounds.

 

Both are more expensive then the #8 Value Pack.

Sorry....

I never looked at this thread again.

 

When I posted that, the Federal & Winchester "value" packs were 22 & change for 100 rounds.

Then & I believe still, the Federal # 6 shot has been $4.65 for 25 rounds.

 

Maybe Wally World charges different prices in different areas of the USA depending on what sells better?

 

In the Portland area, I have never seen the 100 rd "value" pack cost less than 4 25rd boxes of #6 federal low brass & I have bought it from 3 wally-worlds.

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There is some confusion on this spring. There were 2 versions available.

The first one was a 25% reduced power spring. It was designed to be tuned for competition shooters to the ammo you were using to give you the lightest trigger pull possible. It did cause light strikes on hard rifle primers if you did not increase the tension on it. This spring has been discontinued due to lack of sales.

The power performance main spring we have now does not cause light strikes on current production primers. The tension on this can also be increased if you want. They will be back in stock soon.

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What is the recommended method to increase spring tension? If Jack doesn't have an exchange policy, what is the best way to correct/increase spring tension (link?). Back on subject, the reduced power mainspring gives a very crisp trigger pull and should offer some benefit in terms of hammer to carrier drag.

 

Edit-removed some content due to possible inaccuracy of statement made.

Edited by 6500rpm
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What is the recommended method to increase spring tension? That has to be my one and only complaint with Jack as I don't ever recall an offer to replace early springs with a new style once the light primer strike issue started showing with some frequency? Same go's for the multiple magwell design changes. If thereisn't an exchange policy, what is the best way to correct (link?). On the positive side, the product(s) seem to be well made and in my few attempts to contact, Jack has always been very accessable and willing to talk to me as a customer so I have to give him props for that. Back on subject, the reduced power mainspring gives a very crisp trigger pull and should offer some benefit in terms of hammer to carrier drag.

The performance power spring was not a design change replacing the first, they were both offered at the same time to give people a choice for about a year.

The center saddle that the hammer sits in can be bent slightly down to grab the hammer at a lower spot when you wind it creating more tension.

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