Breaking In Springs???
Uplula solves all sore finger problems, and indirectly, by firing the weapon a lot, solves the "stiff" recoil spring problem. Recoil spring rates are high on small semi-autos because the mass of the slide is small. They are also perceived as stiff because you are grasping small slide and frame surfaces, same as the perception of high trigger pull weight with a skinny trigger. S&W has well engineered pistols with springs that last tens of thousands of slide cycles. I am very skeptical of anyone saying that their recoil springs have "softened" or relaxed after repeated cycles, whether by firing or manual cycling. Our perception of the springs "softening" or breaking in is caused by polishing and smoothing of the wearing surfaces. I also believe that most of the perception of "softening" or "smoothing" is from hand muscles strengthening and "learning" how to cycle the slide. If I don't pick my little Ruger LCP for a while I struggle to easily cycle the tiny slide, but pretty quickly remember where to pinch the serrations very hard while pulling back. Voila, my LCP springs "soften". If recoil springs "softened" or suffered a reduced spring rate, they would allow the slide to recoil to its stop without absorbing as much stored energy as a new spring, and not having as to return the slide to battery. Thank goodness that coiled springs don't really soften up, at least not in a sane number of displacement cycles. I'm sure to hear from posters who swear by changing springs every XX thousand rounds or so, but I have yet to see someone actually measure a spring rate changing, or the relaxed position of a spring shortening.
