Anyone want to take a guess on how far a spring from a 25 round magazine will go if the magazine is taken apart w/out it being in a bag?

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... a little behind in my work

I'm guessing just about far enough to make you say "@%#$&$%^# !!"

It doesn't have to be in a bag, you just need to make sure you are in control of the floor plate, and not the other way around

15 feet, under the car.

My money is on..... far enough that I never will take another one apart

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07/SOT2
NRA Instructor

Hummm! My experience is the last place you look!

I'm sure the flight of the "spring" was impressive. I have also learned of the power of the spring.

About 2 months ago, I had just finished cleaning one of our 15-22's mags. I was admiring how nicely the follower moved up and down, by holding the "load assist button". The fresh Teflon and spring tension when the follower was at its lowest potion WON, and slipped from my fingers. The follower shot to the top and stopped, one of the side buttons did not (did not stop at the top of mag). One of the side buttons of the load assist sheered clean off and kept going. I heard clang, clang, click, clang, as it bounced from wall to ??? in my garage. Distance start to stop, I have no idea, never found it. Most amazing thing was, I called S&W to see if I could get a new load assist pin, they said no, they don't sell those, so they just sent me one for free. I was very happy. I felt very compelled to buy a M&P15OR, so when they went on sale at CDNN, I did!

Seems springs do store energy.

So my guess is the spring flew further than one would believe, but not as far as my load assist button:-) Hope you found the spring.

Now there's a rationalization for buying a M&P15OR - S&W provides you with a 5 cent part that you don't really need to properly load a 15-22 mag. I can't argue with the validity of that rationalization (the end justifies the means in this case) but did your wife actually fall for that?