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"the biggest proponents of spring replacement are the spring manufacturers and sellers"

Sure, and most companies will tell you to change, maintain, upgrade, repair, etc. way ahead of the product's actual life. They also have to factor the average life of said product, under the worst of conditions. Maybe for guys shooting competition pistol, 1 yr may be excessive to expect that spring to last. For most of us, several years under good conditions are probably fine.



Springs should last a long time, no doubt. But I change the tires on my truck before they blow out or the steel belts show through. Ammo from WW2 is still fine, most of the time, yet I doubt any of us carry vintage ammo outside of the range. If you wait until you have a failure, it might happen when your life depends on it. From what I read, a good many failures are mag related so this is like cheap insurance. Besides, a couple mag springs cost less than a box of range ammo- I don't mind changing them after a few years. YMMV.


Regarding bullet set back, if I have to clear the weapon I always pull that chambered round off and put into a bag of range ammo. That way I never chamber a round more than twice. So far, I've never had a KABOOM!!

For a carry gun (the only one I've had this many years) and a spare carry mag, I change the mag springs after a few years. (I've read of reliable mags after 10+ years of sitting loaded but I am not that confident in someone else's word on the matter) Haven't had an issue myself, but as my carry mags, I can't afford to wait for a spring related failure. Besides, springs are cheap and those I take out of my carry mags go into the oldest range mags... which should be the worst, since use wears a spring more than sitting compressed.