Magazine spring life

[Safcpt]

Been using MBX and STI magazines in my 38sc open pistol (170 and 140).  Having some feeding issues.  And yes, I know mag springs aren't the only cause of feeding issues.,    My question, how many rounds should one get on springs.  1500, 2500, 5000, 10,000,  more?    I also put  little stretch on them when I clean them.   Should I keep some "major match" only springs?   Thanks in advance.  

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by Safcpt

[Rnlinebacker]

Been using MBX and STI magazines in my 38sc open pistol (170 and 140).  Having some feeding issues.  And yes, I know mag springs aren't the only cause of feeding issues.,    My question, how many rounds should one get on springs.  1500, 2500, 5000, 10,000,  more?    I also put  little stretch on them when I clean them.   Should I keep some "major match" only springs?   Thanks in advance.  
 

springs and followers are affordable enough to have enough of a supply in your range bag. Invest a little more because it seems stupid stuff only happens in majors to us all lol.

Mbx followers are plastic just like any other so if you spend a little time rounding the edges it will greatly increase reliability. I tuned my followers quite a bit where they were sticking and now get 21 reloadable in all 3 of them

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[Posvar]

I run all MBX and change the springs in my match mags every 6 months regardless of usage. That way they will always work and it’s not much money anyways. Besides, MBX are a little weaker than others it seems. 

[Hi-Power Jack]

I run my springs for years - in STI 1st Gen and SVI 1st gen mags.     

[BigBamBoo]

 Bevan Grams once told me when I was wanting to buy new mag springs, that I should replace the mag springs every 4000-5000 LOADINGS of the magazine. Yeah....that is quiet a long time. 

 

Take this info for what you paid paid for it.

 

 

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by BigBamBoo

[Silverscooby27]

Sometimes the springs are crap from the get go......just something to ponder.

[Hi-Power Jack]

17 hours ago, BigBamBoo said:

 replace the mag springs every 4000-5000 LOADINGS of the magazine.  

 

Is that 4 - 5,000 rounds, or number of times you load the mag (100,000 rounds) ?

[Posvar]

2 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

Is that 4 - 5,000 rounds, or number of times you load the mag (100,000 rounds) ?

I think he means loading of the mags. Last night I did some math and I load my mags approx. 80 times a month. Holy Cow!

[Hi-Power Jack]

8 minutes ago, Posvar said:

I think he means loading of the mags. Last night I did some math and I load my mags approx. 80 times a month. Holy Cow!

 

That means you'd have to replace the springs every 5 years    

 

Sounds about right to me.     

 

I guess the Spring Companies are spreading the rumors that we need to

change our springs twice/year.      

[Safcpt]

FYI,  I have about 3,000 on all my springs . As I stated, I give a slight pull on my springs when I clean my mags. And I had issue with all my mags.  Anyway,   I just loaded a STI mag with new Grams spring with 27 rounds.    After 5 minutes the spring was 1” shorter.   I know this probably doesn’t mean much, I was just curious.   I had a terrible weekend at the Oklahoma Sectional.  My pistol has already hitched a ride to my  gunsmith .  I’m just trying to eliminate one of many possibilities.   

[ParaGunner]

I change mine a minimum of once a year. Mag springs are cheap.

[theWacoKid]

19 hours ago, BigBamBoo said:

 Bevan Grams once told me when I was wanting to buy new mag springs, that I should replace the mag springs every 4000-5000 LOADINGS of the magazine. Yeah....that is quiet a long time. 

 

Take this info for what you paid paid for it.

 

This is probably more correct than anything.  I can't remember the last time I changed a mag spring even though I keep plenty.  Anytime I have tried correcting a problem with a mag spring it's never been the culprit.  As I've said before, once a spring takes a set, that's it, it stays that way.  A well tuned gun shouldn't have any trouble continually running with an old mag spring and an old recoil spring.  In fact, that's a good way to check that your gun doesn't have hidden underlying issues.

[BigBamBoo]

9 hours ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

Is that 4 - 5,000 rounds, or number of times you load the mag (100,000 rounds) ?

 

I was told LOADING the magazine that many times. He stated today’s magazine springs are pretty robust and last much longer than most people believe.

 I had called to order more springs and he talked me out of it stating he was very confident I did not need new springs because I only had about 5000 rounds through them.

 

The springs in the magazines in question were his springs and followers so I trusted his advice. Ended up shooting those mags for about a year more and then sold the pistol and mags. They ran flawlessly the whole time.

 

Now I use MBX mags and do have a couple of spare mag springs I carry in my  range bag but will not swap them out until there is an obvious spring issue.

[accu9]

I’ve found MBX springs to crap out far sooner than Grams, TTI or Wolffs. I used to have to change MBX springs every 4-6 months before changing to Grams guts in my MBX mags. 14 months and counting with Grams internals and no more tilting followers. 

[Posvar]

3 minutes ago, accu9 said:

I’ve found MBX springs to crap out far sooner than Grams, TTI or Wolffs. I used to have to change MBX springs every 4-6 months before changing to Grams guts in my MBX mags. 14 months and counting with Grams internals and no more tilting followers. 

Are you also using Grams followers?

[accu9]

1 minute ago, Posvar said:

Are you also using Grams followers?

Correct. Grams springs and followers in the MBX tubes (as well as in Gen 1 & Gen 2 STI’s and Czechmate mags). Beven is the man. 

[zzt]

3 hours ago, accu9 said:

I used to have to change MBX springs every 4-6 months before changing to Grams guts in my MBX mags.

 

Interesting.  I've been using the same springs and followers in my MBX mags for three seasons (4 matches a month).  They are still just as good as when new.  No tilting followers either.

[verla]

you should consider changing your magazine springs every year- if you do not feed issues will occur

 

I use ISMI magazine and recoil springs and change the mag springs every year and the recoil spring approximately every 5000 rounds- if you follow this you should not have a problem with the springs

[verla]

after a match unload all of the loaded magazines until the next match or practice session- this will increase the life of the spring and reduce the number of gee-whizzes from the shooter

[Joe4d]

Stop stretching them.. springs are designed to spring,, not stretch, you are screwing them up and changing the tension.. basiclly killing an area of the spring.
They probaby last longer but they are so dirt cheap,,, beginning of year just change em out.. mags, recoil, MS, 

[Fo0]

How often do followers need replaced 

[Hi-Power Jack]

On 7/2/2019 at 6:50 PM, verla said:

after a match unload mags until the next match or practice session- this will increase the life of the spring

 

It seems that Grams indicates that it's reloading the mags that kill the spring,

NOT leaving the mag loaded.

[tha1000]

I’ve got a set of Sv mags with taran guts that I have been shooting for some years. I bought new springs when I bought the mags and never put them in.  I keep thinking they’ll quit working some day.... but alas. 

[RacerX1166]

What is this mag spring replacement you people are speaking of?  Shot a .40 limited for five years and a Pro Sx for another five, never once changed the mag springs in either gun and never had a spring related issue.  ~10k rounds / year out of each.  Admittedly, it was a matter of ignorance, that I didn't proactively replace springs, but there are some real world results.  My behavior now, is different, but not radically.

 

The only mag springs I've replaced, because they were causing issues, were in rather old single stack mags.  Not enough force to push rounds up far enough to slide up the feedramp.  

[M1A4ME]

On ‎6‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 9:17 PM, Silverscooby27 said:

Sometimes the springs are crap from the get go......just something to ponder.

 

Yup.  Ordered three Mecgar 14 round .40 S&W CZ75 magazines a few months back.  Noticed they would just barely push the slide stop up.  It was catching on the upper corner of the slide stop instead of moving fully upwards when the magazine was empty.  Concerned me.  I ordered some Wolf +10% magazine springs and they move that slide stop all the way up into the notch in the slide.

 

Plus, I even took the +2 base off the magazine and the factory springs still didn't move the slide stop fully upwards into the notch in the slide.

 

On the other hand, bought a new M&P 2.0 a few weeks back.  Had a big coffee container of 9MM magazines from my first round with M&Ps and got several of them out of the container to use with the new pistol.  I put some +2 bases on the 17 round factory magazines and had several failures to lock the slide back after the last round.  Again, ordered new Wolf +10% magazine springs and replaced all the old springs (which were never really used all that much due to the reliability and accuracy issues that drove me away from the 1.0's in the first place.)

 

I might have gotten a couple thousand rounds through the 1.0 before giving up on it.  That was through several magazines.

 

Picture of the old/used springs beside the two new S&W magazine springs (the two mags that were in the box with the new pistol).  Lots of "shrinkage".