I used to shoot IPSC with some of the Detonics guys in Washington and in Vancouver, Canada. That "mystery Richard" would probably be Richard Neimer. Great guy, and excellent pistolsmith, who understood the mechanics and dynamics of the Detonics CM very well. I've had a few conversations with him on how to make a very light slide work properly.

When I was pistolsmithing, I shortened and lightened the slides on all my compensated RACE guns. This allowed me to use a full powered recoil spring for reliability. It also meant the slide reciprocated fast enough that a fast shooter could no longer beat it, and get jammed up by the disconnector. I always wanted to run a Commander length barrel with a coned Comp in a CM, but the DETONICS guys said the ultra short barrels locked up a LOT more abruptly than the Govt length ones, and the barrel lockup wouldn't last too long, or be as reliable as a full size. I see several varities of comp for the Colt Officer's, which is only a bit longer, so I guess it can be done.

You might check out what recoil spring set up Para Ordnance is using in their P-10. I'd bet it would be close.

I think I still have some Detonics recoil spring bits in my parts box ... I'll go check.

Nope, they were SCOREMASTER pieces, a double wound guide rod stepped down for the steel/plastic/steel sandwich they used for a recoil head. The steel piece is pretty darned hard - definitely NOT thin sheet metal. I can't see it bending or breaking.

Seems to me I remember making a few Detonics CM style guide rods out of allen bolts. The heads were just the right size to fit back into the frame, and bottom out on the slide stop just like the Detonics ones. Filing the heads to fit the same shape as the DET CM wasn't too difficult. I never got around to making the Seecamp type "stacking" recoils spring plugs, but it shouldn't be too difficult. Heck, my Glock 26 had them in plastic, and I shot at least a couple of thousand rounds of HOT 9 MM Canadian IVI NATO Ball out of mine before I sold it.