How often we need to change springs?

[Magictalent]

Hi 

This is Jim from Canada. I have shoot IPSC for 2 years now. Lots of fun. 

I have shoot Classic/SS, Standard/Limited, Production, and Open. I love them all.

Because I have keep changing equipment in the last 2 years, spring never become an issue to me. And many of my shooting friend told me not to worry about it, spring can last forever.

 

Lately I have read online that all spring need to be replace after X rounds of usage.

Is there a reference to how often we need to change out recoil/mag spring?

I have 1911, CZ shadow, CZ TSO, CZ Czechmate, and SPS Vista long 38 Super.

Thank you very much for your help.

 

 

[Sarge]

I change mag and recoil springs in my STI Open gun every year during the off season.  I don’t shoot more than 7500 rounds a season so they could probably make it two or three seasons. I rarely have mag or gun problems so it’s cheap insurance.

 

As for Glock mags etc, I have never changed a mag spring but do swap out recoil springs every 3-4 years. Those last forever.

[yigal]

used few j941   build by tanfoglio  open gun with minor loads 

i used original factory springs on the gun for 10 years .70k  thru each .never changed nothing.even no one mulfunction. replaced only slide stops after 40k

 

[IHAVEGAS]

Shooting IPSC in Canada I'm assuming you are loading high capacity mags to only 10 rounds and not compressing the spring more than about 70% of where it would be with a full magazine (same am me shooting production class USPSA) .

 

I do not plan on ever replacing a magazine spring. I will typically replace a slide spring once per year (10,000 rounds or so) but this is probably more than neccessary. 

[jcc7x7]

Recoil spring with every case of bullets 45-2000, 40-2500, 9-3000

Mag springs once a season

[Magictalent]

16 hours ago, jcc7x7 said:

Recoil spring with every case of bullets 45-2000, 40-2500, 9-3000

Mag springs once a season

That mean I need to change spring every 1 or 2 months?

I will need lots of spring on hand.

 

 

[jcc7x7]

32 minutes ago, Magictalent said:

That mean I need to change spring every 1 or 2 months?

I will need lots of spring on hand.

 

 

Cheap insurance

[IHAVEGAS]

50 minutes ago, jcc7x7 said:

Cheap insurance

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Bathtub_curve.svg/350px-Bathtub_curve.svg.png&imgrefurl=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve&h=247&w=350&tbnid=NzU1wEucAhlKcM:&tbnh=154&tbnw=217&usg=__kf7YKrQj4Q0oFzpv_EAn9uyKUuo=&vet=10ahUKEwj36prX_KzXAhXC7CYKHUT4CZUQ9QEILDAA..i&docid=TDAEIXodY51QkM&client=safari&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj36prX_KzXAhXC7CYKHUT4CZUQ9QEILDAA

 

It depends. 

[jcc7x7]

42 minutes ago, IHAVEGAS said:

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Bathtub_curve.svg/350px-Bathtub_curve.svg.png&imgrefurl=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve&h=247&w=350&tbnid=NzU1wEucAhlKcM:&tbnh=154&tbnw=217&usg=__kf7YKrQj4Q0oFzpv_EAn9uyKUuo=&vet=10ahUKEwj36prX_KzXAhXC7CYKHUT4CZUQ9QEILDAA..i&docid=TDAEIXodY51QkM&client=safari&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj36prX_KzXAhXC7CYKHUT4CZUQ9QEILDAA

 

It depends. 

I took a bath last month, so the curve is all set lol

[WhoIsPat9]

Every two to three thousand rounds is early but everyone has their own opinion on when to change them. I typically change my recoil spring every 10k rounds or a bit earlier along with the firing pin spring. The generally consensus seems to be 8-10kish. If you're shooting a lot of majors then you might want to change them sooner rather than later especially when they around $10.

[Joe4d]

Measure where your brass lands. If you grip and loads are consistent, brass should land about the same spot all the time. 
When it starts getting thrown farther away ? Time for a new spring.
I'm with Sarge up top though. When I was competing, my game gun got new springs and mag springs beginning of the year. I only had one gun to worry about though.

[zombywoof]

I'm running springs on the light side. I change recoil every few thousand rounds to keep it fresh. Seems to be working.

Edited November 11, 2017 by zombywoof

[jcc7x7]

On 11/6/2017 at 6:11 PM, jcc7x7 said:

Recoil spring with every case of bullets 45-2000, 40-2500, 9-3000

Mag springs once a season

 

4 hours ago, zombywoof said:

I'm running springs on the light side. I change recoil every few thousand rounds to keep it fresh. Seems to be working.

Yeah buddy

[g.willikers]

About like changing oil in our cars.

Mostly we do it far more often than is actually needed.

 

 

[mike4045]

Between 3k and 5k on the recoil spring. Mag springs about 3 x a year. Firing pin spring a couple times a year. My action get replaced about 40k. Probably more often than needed, but it's cheap insurance for major matches.

[IHAVEGAS]

11 hours ago, mike4045 said:

but it's cheap insurance for major matches.

 

Anybody ever had a gun fail because of a spring?

 

 

[jcc7x7]

Yes

My Akai limited gun had a ftf when I let the recoil spring go to long.

and my 9mm SS gun had the same

i.e. both in matches, changed the recoil springs and never a hiccup after the fact.

Both guns are run with light recoil springs for caliber

[IHAVEGAS]

Good info. 

 

[Sarge]

3 hours ago, IHAVEGAS said:

 

Anybody ever had a gun fail because of a spring?

 

 

Mag springs will have a large impact on ejection sometimes as well. Especially when it comes to 9MAJOR hitting scopes etc. And they don't have to be "wore out", just get weaker. As for recoil springs, I change mine every year but only shoot about 10k a year so I don't think they really wear out that fast as I don't have failures. Only time I had problems with recoil springs is if I run a 7lb in Open and don't clean the gun every match.