So I tested out my new compact Witness slide and I must say it did not go well. I can tell the recoil spring is much weaker, in changing the slides I can hold the compact one in place to line up the dots easily but the full size cramps my hand holding it in place. Inserting a mag will drop the slide on the compact half the time, but that or hitting the slide release leaves the slide stuck on the round at the top of the mag, only slingshotting it by pushing on the grip and pulling the slide surely gets it to load. It also fails to feed a lot to when firing. Based on the scalloped front and lack of front slide serrations it's an older model so maybe the recoil spring was meant more for "10mm in name only" .40 S&W loads in longer casings[?]
Would a weak recoil spring cause all these problems? I'm really hoping so since I love the way the shorter slide looks on there so I really hope it's not a lemon.