No personal experience with that product, but matching the correct spring weight to a suitable ammunition choice is likely to make for a better shooting experience. You'll also reap the benefits of additional weight.

The devil is in the details, though. You're also more likely to make the gun ammo sensitive and less reliable overall.

IMO, upgrades are fine but never forget the PDP is a fantastic gun out of the box. The only thing stopping you from becoming a Grandmaster is practice, not a guide rod or trigger.

 

Yes, I put a ZR guide rod and a lighter spring in my SD Pro. I like the idea of a stainless steel guide rod and a little extra weight didn't hurt. I've had complete reliability with the 15 lb spring, shooting 115, 124, 147, and 155 grain. A little less recoil, but it wasn't dramatic.

 

I went with the ZRTS brass rod and 15# spring. It made a difference.

I alternated at the range between the OEM captured rod w/the 18+# spring, a captured 50N tungsten rod with 18# spring (from Walther), a ZRTS stainless rod and captured 15# spring, and and the uncaptured brass rod with uncaptured 15# spring.

Regardless of the rod material, the 15# spring made things better. The extra weight in the rod calmed the muzzle jump a bit more.

 

I bought two guide rods/springs, a 23 round mag for my PDP + an optic plate from them. After I commented on a review they made on You Tube, they blocked me from buying anything else! I just bought a guide rod and spring from DPM. Ordered it all the way from Greece and it arrived sooner than anything I bought from ZRTS! It was refreshing dealing with grown-ups, instead of children.

 

I use the ZR 15lbs stainless full capture rod. I didn't notice any large difference.. but I do feel better not having a plastic guide rod in my gun.. 5000 rounds or so since installing, and its still going strong.

 

I run a ZRTS Ultra Mass guide rod with 17 lb spring on my comped PDP. I got some failures to go into battery with a 15 lb spring. I wouldn’t say it noticeably changed the feel of the gun, just helped it run consistently.

 

Stainless captured guide rod in my PDP Pro Compact. I don’t notice a difference, but I’ve had zero malfunctions. Personally, “recoil reduction” is a marketing gimmick. Does it work? Maybe on paper. It could also be placebo recoil reduction. Who knows. However, I do like the idea of a metal guide rod versus a plastic one.

 

Out of pure coincidence, I was in a shoot house last night, and had my first ever failure to go into battery. I got discombobulated mid run, and wussy racked the slide. The slide wasn't fully in battery, and the trigger breaking on my next shot just moved the slide forward fully. My well used ZR 15# stainless full capture assembly must be wearing out.

 

As a matter of pure coincidence, I was in a shoot house last night, and had my first ever failure to go into battery. I got discombobulated mid run, and wussy racked the slide. The slide wasn't fully in battery, and the trigger breaking on my next shot just moved the slide forward fully. My well used ZR 15# stainless full capture assembly must be wearing out.

What’s an approximate round count on the guide rod?

 

I replaced the stock RSA with a 15lb SS guide rod from ZR in a poly PDP. Shooting a Glock next to the PDP with OEM RSA installed, I felt the PDP was more jumpy compared to the Glock with the same ammo. After installing RSA from ZR on the PDP and repeating the experiment, I found the PDP and Glock felt the same in terms of recoil despite the PDPs slightly higher bore axis. The ZR Tact RSA is high quality and its been 100% reliable with my hand loads. The one con its a little expensive but a very nice recommended up grade. I would probably go with the ultra mass version for easy spring changes without dealing with snap rings. I purchased mine prior the ultra mass availability.

 

I just ordered the ultra mass rod with a couple replacement springs instead of messing with the snap ring replacement as you mentioned. I'm hoping the difficulty of install is somewhat comparable to a 1911.

 

"Recoil feel" is an individual "beauty in the eye of the beholder" situation. You can determine whether a recoil spring change makes a difference for you personally by making videos and doing a frame by frame comparison b4 and after change spring or between 2 pistols (Glock vs PDP. Best method I've found so far to cut to the chase.

I do use a zrt spring and drilled a 5/64" crosshole in the rod to wind the spring on the guide rod with a pin punch or allen wrence and just drop into place - makes changing springs pretty easy.

 

would like to see a pic of the mod you made to the ZRT guide rod, do I understand correct that the allen wrench is pulled out of the rod once the RSA is installed in the slide?

 

Pretty simple DIY. Drill the hole 3/8" from the bare end - put the spring onto the rod, insert the allen wrench and wind the spring enough to put the assembly in place (best to need a little compression to keep from pinching yourself when you pull the wrench) , and pull the wrench out. Insert the wrench when removing assembly to keep the spring captured - just unwind it to remove from rod. Not my original - picked up several yrs ago when I started using flat wire recoil springs. A round 1/16" rod works better the the multi-sided allen wrench as it has less friction against the spring coils.

 

I just put the new ZR Tactical 15lbs Captured Guide Rod in my PDP Pro X. I shot 50 rounds with it nd put the OEM rod back in and shot 50 rounds and put the AR Tactical captured back in and kept shooting.

Yes there is a small difference to me so it works. No issues today with 250 rounds. I used mostly Blazer Brass 124 and Fiochii 124 and I shot 50 rounds of Blazer Brass 115 with no issues at all.

 

As noted by other members above, upgrading recoil assemblies is a personal choice. Most companies that sell them state their improvements include a recoil reduction, less of a muzzle flip, & better follow up shots being spot on, for the most part. Of the seven Walther pistols in my inventory, all of them have upgraded recoil assemblies. I use DPM, ZR Tactical, & Lakeline LLC depending on the particular Walther model, & the availability for them. I also have upgraded recoil assemblies on my Glock 45 Gen 5, & H&K VP9SK OR as well. The only pistol I own without an upgraded recoil assembly is my Sig Emperor Scorpion Carry 1911. Walther an outstanding pistol right "out of the box" with stock industry leading components, in my opinion is the best in its class. But that being said, If I can gain even a little something to better my shooting experience, & a pistols performance, why wouldn't I do that. Adding the optics of your choice, upgraded components, better grips, & other things is what we do as shooting members of our industry to better our proficiencies. It's not for everyone, but for me I can see the advantages for a minimal investment.

 

Hey y'all!

All this talk about lowering RSA spring weight misses one very important point; when lowering rsa spring weight, you MUST also lower the firing pin spring weight!!! If you don't lower the firing pin weight, you risk out of battery situations. Be careful!

I run the ZRTS LS 14.5 assembly and run a 5.0 Glock FP spring. Perfection!!

 

I’m far from a gun engineer but put in the ZRTS captured guide rod with 17lbs spring. Didn’t change anything else. Gun shots great and I think the spring is right at or close to stock…correct? PDP Pro X

 

My understanding is that stock is 18#. 15# works fine in both my 4" Compact and 5" Full Size.

 

After I sold my Pro X PMM to Walther I built my own with my 4 and 5in PDPs and bought the PMM barrel and comp combo with the flat faced two chamber comp. I installed the ZRTS Ultra Mass recoil rod with a 15lb spring and it ran fine, but I could feel the slide clunk into battery, almost if something was trying to hold it up. I have a 17lb spring but I got the occasional stove pipe with it. Today I was headed to the range and decided to take out the ultra mass and shoot with the stock plastic guide spring. The clunk was gone which is great, but I also felt no difference whatsoever in felt recoil and performance of the gun. I’ll be sticking with the Walther guide rod.

 

As far as I know, they generally recommend to use the V-spec guiderod for the PMM Walther PDP. But glad you are satified with the stock walther guiderod.

 

I have used the ZR captured guide rod 15 and 17 lbs. Also the Walther 18 lb stock rod, all shoot fine with 124 gr.

 

Went back to the range on Saturday and put my Walther PDPD Pro X in the bag and shot Federal 115 and Blazer Brass 124 with out issues with the ZRT new Captured Guide Rod in the gun. Again zero issues. The guide rod might help a tiny bit but it is not night and day. The Surefire Turbo light on the gun helps way more as probably does the PMM Comp. Neat experiment but not needed.

For a comped gun I like my Sig P226 X-Five Legion a lot more. What a shout flat soft shooting laser of a gun. I normally do not sell my firearms but I might sell this Walther and pick up a SD version instead as I'd use that a lot more.

 

Went back to the range on Saturday and put my Walther PDPD Pro X in the bag and shot Federal 115 and Blazer Brass 124 with out issues with the ZRT new Captured Guide Rod in the gun. Again zero issues. The guide rod might help a tiny bit but it is not night and day. The Surefire Turbo light on the gun helps way more as probably does the PMM Comp. Neat experiment but not needed.
...

Bear in mind that the weight difference between the two rods is 29 grams. A single 9mm 115 gr. cartridge weighs 12.2 grams. A loaded magazine of 15 rounds, as it's fired, changes the weight distribution of the pistol by 183 grams from full to empty. How much detectable difference do you think the rod can make?

I think the money is better spent on ammunition for practice.

M

 

I’m assuming since Walther sell ZR rods on their website, that they are compatible n not prone to issues

 

What’s everyone’s thoughts on reducing the spring weight on a carry gun? Wouldn’t mind the reduced recoil but worry about reliability?

 

A lighter recoil spring doesn't automatically equate to less recoil, if I'm understand your post correctly.

 

Reliability is not something osmosed from the internet. It's determined by extended testing with the specific ammo you intend to use.
M

 

Most of the upgraded captured recoil assemblies are SS & use a "Flat" spring coil vs a rounded one. So, better quality internals equate to better performance. All my stock Walther recoil assemblies are plastic, & their replacements are SS. I believe they create better shooting characteristics, concerning impulse recoil, muzzle flip, follow up shots, & cycling. Just my opinion.

 

There is two actions involved in the recoil actions. First gasses from burned propellant move slide in a backward direction and recoil spring absorbed that energy to make it smooth transition, end your gun ejector ejected empty shell away. Second is recoil spring unsprun and put the new round in the chamber, return to battery and you ready for the next shot. Systems like Sprinco or DPM utilize two or three different weights spring system that allows to absorb impact when gun is fired and provides more smooth action when gun slide returns to battery. That protects your weapon from slide getting slammed as it's return to battery. It's mostly insurance for your gun, but you need to choose right one that allows your gun to function properly and avoid mailfaction.

 

I have two of the Stainless Captured Guide Rods with the 17# spring. One in a 4" F-series, and the other in a 5" full size. It made a noticeable difference staying on target with the 4". I haven't shot the 5" since changing the recoil assembly. Hopefully next week.