The online Parts Lists will
usually cover those sort of compatibility questions (except when they don't, of course
).
I've never bothered to start cutting coils on recoil springs (not when new springs can be bought). You don't want to make a mistake. Sometimes an aftermarket recoil spring might be longer in unsprung length, but made of different gauge wire. Also, if you leave too many coils and get a bad coil-stack condition, you might cause damage (crack) to the spring box of the slide when it bottoms out against the compressed spring before the slide has reached the end of its slide run distance. Not good. The slides are the second most expensive part in the gun, and spare/repair slides might be limited.
Sometimes the publicly listed website Parts Lists aren't going to be as current as the constantly revised in-house lists (don't ask me why), and you can get a more current answer for a parts question, especially when you're referencing different calibers/models and checking for compatibility.
There's been some changes in "repair" parts for different calibers & models over the years, too. The early repair spring kit of nested extractor springs for the 59XX guns was replaced by a pair of springs that could be tried (individually, being normal "size" springs of different tension, and not nested). I also once encountered a different extractor spring intended for a budget .40 (can't remember if it was a 410 or 411?) 411 (410?) which had a slightly different slide mass from a limited production run (the person helping me didn't know why), and that spring wasn't listed in any of my extractor spring lists. Glad I called and ordered a couple of them.
The sad thing is that as more of the older workers at the company are retiring, we're going to be losing the knowledge & expertise developed in the metal-framed 1st - 3rd gen pistols. Eventually, there may not be folks who can identify the machined cut in the slide, under the barrel in the steel separating the barrel and the recoil spring. It's sometimes been mistaken for a crack or break, instead of the deliberate machined cut needed to let you lift the barrel out of the slide for field-stripping.
I worry more about the loss of knowledge & experience than I do parts.