dmmorrd: I have not used the shock buffs before because I want to make certain my slide returns as far back as necessary to properly eject the empty. I have seen fellas who use them and some say they are ok, some don't notice any difference and some say they notice a difference.
I've had a lightweight commander for better than 35 yrs and have shot some fairly heavy loads through it but have always used a set of heavy Wolff recoil springs or one of their heavy spring kits (22 lb) to take up the additional recoil. But, my heavy loads were never went beyond the Lyman load data so I don't think I ever 'punished' that pistol. I do, however, prefer 230 gn ball or its equivalent in that piece, be it ball ammo, hollow-points er whatever, or cast with velocities to at least 875'/sec (book, not chronographed from the shorter Cmmr bbl but prolly 50'/sec slower).
I have always found the Wolff springs to be excellent in controlling recoil. They take a bit getting used to, as most 1911s leave the factories with 16-18lb recoil springs and the 22 pounders are definitely stiffer. I was bangin' away with the thing at the range a couple of weeks ago and let a fella try it out with his ball ammo (new stuff) but when he went to cycle back the slide to chamber the first round he thought there was something wrong with the piece as it was tough to cycle the slide back - then he shot it and felt the difference.
Regardless, the spring will compress properly to allow proper extraction and spiffy ejection. I think than when you add additional material (shock buffs) to that equation you may detract from the pistol's ability to funciton properly but, let's wait for someone with actual experience with thsoe things to help you better decide. HTH. Mikey.
