Does anyone know how to stiffen up the springs in a mag? I have two single stacks and one of them seems to be looser, and has a tendency to stop feeding when there's about 3 round left. Wanted to know if there's a simple fix short of buying a new one.
Welcome to the FTF. Stop by our "Introductions" and give a shout. Most springs that loose their tensions are not easily fixed by the end user. Most magazines springs can be replaced with new ones cheaper than buying a new magazine. A couple of links for you: http://www.ismi-gunsprings.com/ http://www.gunsprings.com/
how does it work though? I have a few mags that the springs feel VERY weak in them, but despite the feel, they still feed ammo and don't cause malfunctions at all, so I've left them as is for now.
replace the spring with a new one. I could go into a lengthy discussion on physics, spring steel, deflection vs the point of permanent deformation, but I'll sum it up as this: a magazine spring is designed to work within the range of "empty" to "full" if the spring is old and worn out, taking the magazine apart and pulling the spring back apart does nothing,because as soon as you load it back full, you've compressed the spring back to where it was before. also, USE is what wears out a spring. meaning the transition from empty to full back to empty in a magazine. a magazine left empty and a magazine left loaded, the spring will not "age" and the loaded mag, the spring will not "deform" or "compress" and a magazine that's used on a range, every day, constantly being cycled back and forth from empty to full will wear out the spring in short order. Think of a pop can. crease it down the middle. bend it one way. leave it there...nothing happens. bend it the other way, leave it there...nothing happens, but when you bend it back and forth over and over, eventually the metal cracks. THATS what wears out a spring. anyway, if a magazine spring is worn out, there is no band-aid. simply replace the spring.
Replacing the spring is a viable option, but... The spring is not the only thing that wears over time. When replacing a spring in the mag, that is a good time to look for small cracks in the mag body, bent lips, worn followers, rust, dirt, stones and sand, and any other gremlin that could create problems later.
Most OEM magazine springs (until recently) had a limited life span. They would "take a set" or lose some of their tension. Newer materials like Chrome-Silicon were introduced. The new springs should last a lifetime.
