New poster here. Just got my 40 cal Sigma for Christmas. I love the gun and am surprisingly accurate with it (for me). This will be a "nightstand" gun and my first striker type auto. My question is will I degrade the spring tension leaving it cocked with shell in chamber and loaded magazine. Thanks for the help.

You will do no harm. It is repeated cycles of compression/extension that eventually wear out a spring. Leaving it compressed hurts nothing at all.

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Pisgah

Your intended use is what the gun was designed for.

People who are obsessed over springs should own revolvers.

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VIVERE MILITARE EST

The springs on your car won't degrade if don't jack it up every night...

Well-made springs, applied within their ratings, won't degrade for a long, long time.

Several years down the road, if you think your springs are degraded, send it back to S&W for a check covered under its Lifetime Warranty.

Now, go shoot it and try to wear it out!