Many were made without them. Either way, with or without the spring will be fine.

I have found that the Dremel cut off wheels make a perfect sized slot in the body of the nose to accomodate the spring if you desire to modify the existing one. If you have one available, you should use a factory slotted hammer nose as a template for determining the placement of the spring cut.

__________________
Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer