Do any of spring lever group owners ever pull a full volume espresso shot? For my group that means 50-60 ml of water. If so, what basket do you use and with what kind of a shot parameters?

Once in a while I get distracted and don't pull the cup out of the flow so I accidentally create a full volume shot. This weekend it wasn't awful.

Interesting question! I am curious what others do as well.

While I rarely use the full piston volume (mostly using singles), I notice some lever users were utilizing the full piston volume (Alan/Almico and Orphanespresso in some of their videos). When I do use the double basket (18g basket), I tend to cut it after reaching a certain brew ratio (1:2 mostly with about 25-30 sec flow time, not counting the preinfusion time).

I noticed the shots pulled using a full piston volume tend to provide a smoother first sip experience (presumably due to dilution resulted from the decreased pressure from the last bit). But they tend to have some overextraction notes - perhaps because my extraction parameter isn't optimized for pulling that much water through.

I'm still in the learning phase with a new to me La Cimbali M20 lever. This is a dual spring group, and I always pull shots when they start to blond, even with a darker roast such as Lusso GMC. I would guess I'm usually at 1:2 with a 16g dose. I've found an 18g dose has headroom issues on this group, even with a larger basket.

Yesterday I inadvertently let a shot run all the way through and it didn't seem dramatically different to me - I've been getting great results with Olympia's Big Truck and it seems to be a very forgiving blend. I didn't get any over extracted notes, more just diluted.

I usually pull SOs and wouldn't really ever consider letting those run full volume on this group. I'm using a blend I know well to learn a solid workflow with this machine, and when I have that dialed to my satisfaction, I'll go back to SOs.

I've actually gravitated to different machines to answer exactly that same question...
for singles of around 8.5g, I use the Londinium I (2012 machine) which produces very good singles but struggles to give enough volume for a double. It can do a double, but that was much easier when the pstat was up near 1.3-1.4 area. The shots seemed slightly harsher up there, so I have turned the pstat down to 1.1 or so... but noticed that when the pstat is lower, the lever 'grab's lower as well. I've gone from 10:30 back to 11, which is fine for a single but will struggle with a double.
For doubles, I just use the Strega, I don't know the 'full volume' because I use Nuova Pointe Sorrento demitasse cups, which only hold maybe 45g? of liquid. I usually try to pull the doubles at around 35-36g (19g in for the strega). For sure it can produce over 55-60g if I use a bigger cup, the stream trickles for some time after withdrawing my cup.

I pull a full shot on my Pro 800 for cold coffee. I use any left over coffee I have. I use the included 21g basket. I fill the basket about 20g and let the lever do its thing. I cool the espresso, then add cold milk - no ice. A full pull on the Pro 800 is 45 gram of liquid, approx.

I always pull a full volume shot but the grind is optimized for it.

What basket and dose do you use and how long does the shot run?

The only situation I have pulled an espresso shot with my former spring lever machines (applies to my manual levers too) using all the water in the group head was when a "Fellini" type pull was required where more brew water was needed. But, most normally when my grind was properly dialed in, I removed the shot with plenty of water left in the group head.

I just pulled 4 shots on the M20. All 16g. Two were Slate's Under Pressure espresso, which is a blend of Central American and African coffees. It's a medium roast, very similar roast level to Olympia's Big Truck. The other two were Olympia's El Socorro Maracaturra. I've found this pretty difficult to pull as espresso as it's a very hard bean and has low solubility. It has to be ground very fine and it's a chore on the MG-1.

I've never weighed shots, but there's no time like the present to try something new. The Under Pressure blonded at about 20g liquid, the El Socorro at about 17.5g. So I wasn't even l PSE to my assumed 1:2 brew ratio even on the east-to-pull blend.

I then pulled another 16g shot of the Under Pressure. I let this one run all the way and it was 36.5g.

Seems for true ristrettos (as I understand them anyway) I need to grind finer. I can't imagine letting even the blend run all the way as a matter of routine - too dilute at my current grind and dose.

My conclusion is that to pull full volume shots, you need to adjust your grind tighter, or updose. I prefer to not do the latter as I really like the results I get with 16g in a 14g EPHQ basket.

For my La Peppina and Faemina, I dose at 14 g and swap the cup for a Fire King bowl when it blondes.