Jim in Texas Posted January 25 Report Share Posted January 25 (edited) I am trying to figure out why the nose of some recoil spring guides (the original hollow guides, not the solid replacement guides) get damaged while others go unscathed. I suspect one factor might be the length of the main body of the recoil spring guide (from the front of the flange to the tip of the nose). I have seen one that is 3.75” long with a damaged nose, and a couple that are 3.73” long with no damage. I would like to get some more data points. How long is the main body of your recoil spring guide and are there any signs of damage to the hollow nose? The red arrow in the photo below shows the dimension at issue. Edited March 3 by Jim in Texas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekraps Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Both of mine show some impact damage, although I don't know if it is from the bolt or maybe someone dropped them when cleaning. In either case, it's clearly a weak point of the gun, so I had solid billet spring guides made. The OEM guides are made of several pieces that seem overly complicated considering the idea of the gun was to simplify the design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Texas Posted January 27 Author Report Share Posted January 27 Thanks for the input. I agree that it is a weak point in the design. I assume the 3-piece design was adopted for a couple of reasons: Economy – To make a 1-piece guide, you need to start with stock that is 1-1/8” in diameter, and then turn the vast majority of it down to 1/2" or less in diameter. That converts a lot of stock into chips and involves additional machine time to do all that turning. Reduced weight – The hollow 3-piece design weighs less than a solid 1-piece design. How does the old saying go? If you watch the ounces, the pounds take care of themselves. At any rate, I am hoping we can use that weak design to provide us with useful data about how the various components behave during firing: Does the recoil spring oscillate and get pinched between the back of the bolt and the nose of the recoil spring guide – damaging the nose of the recoil spring guide? Does a shorter recoil spring guide give that oscillation more time to dampen – leaving the nose of the recoil spring guide undamaged? Or does a shorter recoil spring guide make the problem worse? If we can figure out the optimum length for the recoil spring guide, it may help to further improve the reliability of this gun. How long are your two damaged recoil spring guides? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillinBama Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 FWIW, Navgunner is making a one piece recoil spring guide, I plan to get one the next time I place an order with him. I'll get my guide out for my 76 and take a look at it when I get a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeRanger Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 Another note: the majority of the Burgess guns had a spring loaded buffer built into the guide rod (page 214 in Frank Iannamico's book.) I have read that the last few guns that Burgess produced lacked this feature. It is a known weak point of the 76 design that the impact of the bolt on the guide rod leads to elongation of the holes in the receiver for the end cap retaining pin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekraps Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 23 hours ago, Jim in Texas said: Thanks for the input. I agree that it is a weak point in the design. I assume the 3-piece design was adopted for a couple of reasons: Economy – To make a 1-piece guide, you need to start with stock that is 1-1/8” in diameter, and then turn the vast majority of it down to 1/2" or less in diameter. That converts a lot of stock into chips and involves additional machine time to do all that turning. Reduced weight – The hollow 3-piece design weighs less than a solid 1-piece design. How does the old saying go? If you watch the ounces, the pounds take care of themselves. At any rate, I am hoping we can use that weak design to provide us with useful data about how the various components behave during firing: Does the recoil spring oscillate and get pinched between the back of the bolt and the nose of the recoil spring guide – damaging the nose of the recoil spring guide? Does a shorter recoil spring guide give that oscillation more time to dampen – leaving the nose of the recoil spring guide undamaged? Or does a shorter recoil spring guide make the problem worse? If we can figure out the optimum length for the recoil spring guide, it may help to further improve the reliability of this gun. How long are your two damaged recoil spring guides? Like three levels above my pay grade! Agree totally on the three piece design considerations, but the rest, while interesting to me, does not impact how my gun operates. It shoots! My hunch is that a shorter recoil spring will exacerbate any potential damage to the spring guide by allowing the bolt travel to increase AND allowing the bolt to potentially impact the rear surface of the guide. For my gun, I installed a 1/16 inch rubber washer around the recoil spring base (fits nicely, HD!). Frankly, I don't know if it does anything, but considering that most SMG's have buffers, I figured it could not hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillinBama Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 I got my new Navgunner guide yesterday, already installed and hopefully I'll try it out in a couple of hours along with the new aluminum can he sent me. I failed to write down the length of my OeM guide, will do that when I go down to get the gun out of the safe. Austin is providing great parts to extend the life of our guns, much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillinBama Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 Just measured mine, 3 3/4”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Texas Posted March 1 Author Report Share Posted March 1 Bill: Thanks for the additional info. I agree that Navgunner’s one-piece recoil spring guide is a significant upgrade, particularly because I now suspect the root cause of the damage to the original spring guides is looseness or misalignment between the two pieces of the original guides. The one-piece design like Navgunner is using should prevent that process from ever starting. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snhar15 Posted March 7 Report Share Posted March 7 On 1/28/2026 at 9:17 AM, Rekraps said: Like three levels above my pay grade! Agree totally on the three piece design considerations, but the rest, while interesting to me, does not impact how my gun operates. It shoots! My hunch is that a shorter recoil spring will exacerbate any potential damage to the spring guide by allowing the bolt travel to increase AND allowing the bolt to potentially impact the rear surface of the guide. For my gun, I installed a 1/16 inch rubber washer around the recoil spring base (fits nicely, HD!). Frankly, I don't know if it does anything, but considering that most SMG's have buffers, I figured it could not hurt. Do you have the part number? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekraps Posted March 7 Report Share Posted March 7 1 hour ago, snhar15 said: Do you have the part number? No I don’t. I just took the buffer to the store with me and found a matching rubber washer on the rack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snhar15 Posted March 8 Report Share Posted March 8 Okay, thanks for the reply. My plan B was to bring the guide to HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekraps Posted March 8 Report Share Posted March 8 15 hours ago, snhar15 said: Okay, thanks for the reply. My plan B was to bring the guide to HD. I was amazed that there were washers off the shelf that fit. Mine shows no sign or wear yet.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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