I recently acquired a 4566 and was interested in reading that with a spring (or few) change, you can load up 45 Super, that is 230 grains at 1150 fps, or 185 at 1300+. Some places say that all you need is a 20 or 21 pound recoil spring, others say that extractor and firing pins springs need beefed up as well. Either way, has anyone tried this on a 4500 series pistol? And if so, what kind of results did you experience?

I did it to a 4546 and 4586, back in the '90s when the conversion was quite popular. You basically just use the springs that are rated for the 10xx series. I don't believe you need to change the extractor spring, but the firing pin spring is recommended.

The kit I used contained a guide rod that also had a shock buffer on it. I'll try to post the name later.

Recoil is about the same as full house 10mm loads, with a little more torque.

was it a Menck recoil guide rod?

__________________
if you're gonna be a bear...

Yes, that was the name. He told me to use the one he made for the 10mm.

I bought of a couple of them years ago for SW 45's. they are extremely well made (Menck) guide rods and do reduce slide to frame battering.

I think I still have mine. I spoke to Menck yearssssss ago and he stopped making them because of a lack of interest. in order for him to make money on these parts, he would have to buy a large quantity of small parts to piece them together however they were not selling. he sold his last supply of them when I spoke to him.

I think I have one for a 5" and 4.25" large frame SW. I ran one on my 4506 and it ran flawless.

__________________
if you're gonna be a bear...

is there a kit available for the conversion on a 4506 to shoot 45 supers?

Ace Custom was the gunsmith source I was familiar with for the conversion kits. I think Garey Hindman retired a while back and his web site is parked now. But through the magic of the Wayback Machine, you can still look through archived pages from his old site. I'll link it below. You can navigate the site like it was still live and find some related info on the 45 Super. I have on occasion seen conversion kits or converted guns pop up on auction sites, but you are probably going to have to do some serious hunting around to locate one.

See: https://web.archive.org/web/20031217...m/gunsmith.htm

Sprinco makes a recoil reducer but I've never checked with them to find out more. I have something similar on my 1911 that's setup for 45 Super, but mainly it's heavier springs, recoil & main, & a small radius firing pin stop on the 1911.

Sprinco USA -- Recoil Reducers
17354 Smith & Wesson 4" Barrel (All Generations) (Older Pistols) (Indicate Caliber and Model When Ordering)
17454 Smith & Wesson 5" Barrel (All Generations) (Older Pistols) (Indicate Caliber and Model When Ordering)

It was suggested that a 10xx recoil spring be used on the 45xx but I doubt whether that would be enough spring. The standard 1076 recoil spring is 17# & I run a 22# on mine with the standard 20# main. My 1911 has 24# recoil & 28# main, plus the recoil reducer, and radiused FPS.

.

__________________
Waiting for the break of day