Not only for the good of the community, and the brand, it's really important to give accurate information about a situation if you expect accurate feedback, and hopefully a solution. Had the OP stated that he cut the spring, most of us here (anyone who understands how a striker fired pistol operates) would have immediately suggested swapping a stock spring as a first take at resolution. Good on the OP for still having a stock spring...but not so much for blaming/questioning Ruger before swapping back to an unaltered state of function.
As to cutting springs and modifying any firearm. Remember, a firearm is a tool that can save or take lives. It's a tool that when improperly modified is very likely to injure or kill the operator or someone else when you don't intend to....or fail to injure or kill when you intend to.
Today's firearms are built and tested by engineers. To think that a layman can improve a firearm by "willy nilly" cutting a spring, is very wishful thinking. Gunsmiths that cut springs, usually do so after years of experience and/or vigorous controlled testing. Same goes for the aftermarket guys like Galloway and Ghost. They put in the time and resources to create repeatable test scenarios. They don't just draw up a design, digitize it, blast a piece out of a CNC machine, install it, shoot a couple hundred rounds, and then say it's good to go.
They create repeatable testing scenarios...like using a Ransom rest or better, to eliminate the changes in a human trigger pull. They use testing equipment that costs more than most of the guns they're testing. They create 10s if not hundreds of small variables in their designs to get the best performance without a compromise in safety or reliability.
After they've put thousands of rounds through several test guns, THEN they hand it off to humans. Then, after thousands of rounds with several test guns and several skilled testers, that is when they release the mod to the public.
I'm not saying people shouldn't do their own mods, but if you do, you should EXPECT and look for a compromise in safe and reliable function.
A mod that is only checked for meeting the original goal of the mod (lighter trigger being the most popular) is a failure. To be a success, you have to prove to yourself that there is no compromise in safe and reliable functionality....over THOUSANDS of rounds...not just a box or two.
Even though I trust Galloway and Ghost, when I install one of their parts, I have the benefit of having my wife's identical firearm to do side by side comparisons with both in hand manipulation of the parts, dry firing, and on the range. That kind of testing allows me to critically evaluate modifications. I can see and feel the differences in movement of the trigger group, or the slide components, side by side. I don't have to rely on how I "remember" it feeling or moving before the mod. I have the before and after in my left and right hand, not in the subjective grey area of my mind that's concentrating on how much lighter the trigger is. I can see and feel the changes throughout staging, trigger pull, firing, recoil, reset, follow-thru and subsequent shots. I've been known to spend more time FEELING the subtle differences in my before and after guns, than the time it took to swap the new part in. It's that important to me. As Certified Instructor, people expect me and my firearm to be safe and reliable...so I don't think of hours of testing as something extra; to me it's the required minimum effort.
If I was ever going to cut a spring, I'd order at minimum 10, and then see what the differences were with various measured cuts, and continuously compare them to a stock spring...side-by-side...over at least 500 rounds of varying weight, and by varying manufacturers (I'd even throw in some stuff known to be crap) and then I'd test with 500 rounds of high pressure loads I cooked up at home. That would be the minimum testing before I'd use it for target practice, competition, or self defense.
That's just me. I like my tools to function safe first, reliable second, and smooth third. A simple definition of safe is, it never fires when you don't want it to. Reliable is that it always fires when you want it to. Having the smoothest trigger that's less safe and less reliable, doesn't cut it with me (pun intended).
- chip