LOADED MAGAZINE SPRING COMPRESSION ON REMINGTON 870

[chief38]

I use a Remington 870 12 gauge with an extended 6 shot Magazine tube as my primary HD gun. I do practice with it several times a year and have never experienced any feeding failures of any kind so far. This 870 has been kept loaded for at least 15 years and the Magazine spring still seems fine and I never have any issues. That said, I would bet money that if I removed the spring and placed in next to a new one it would measure several inches shorter - maybe more.

I will probably just order a few new springs from Wolff and replace it as good measure, but don't really know of it is necessary or just a "feel good" thing.

I have many WWll era 1911 Magazines that were left loaded for umpteen years and still work as well if not better than modern commercial ones do - they still have the original GI springs inside.

I've read about spring fatigue and about the cautions of leaving Magazines loaded for long periods of time but have NEVER personally seen or experienced any failures to properly function regardless of age and storage with cartridges/shells inside. I am just curious if anyone here has PERSONALLY experienced any failures due to age, being constantly kept in a loaded condition etc.

Chief38

 

[chief38]

One though I just had - I wonder if the Spring Manufacturers build in extra power or margin of error for the first years "shrinkage" - since my experience has been that most springs do their lions share of shrinking in their early stages.

 

[KSDeputy]

I have never experienced it, and have left numerous magazines loaded for long periods of time.

 

[gonerydin]

Metal fatigue is caused by cyclic loading.


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[Texas40]

Id bet youd be wrong there would be little to no difference in overall length.


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[ggibson511960]

This Keeps Coming Up

If compressed springs shortened with age, the fenders on your car would droop with age. A firearm spring is a piece of metal, strained constantly and cyclically to do its job. All metals can fail from corrosion or cyclic strain beyond their yield points (fatigue). Metals can also creep over a period of time if strained, but this phenomenon happens over millennia if the metal in question is at room temperature or strained below yield. There is a large industry built around this enduring myth, and I would hate to sabotage anybody's business, but springs just don't "fail" or "sag" or "shorten" unless heated well above normal service temperatures or strained well beyond their yield point.

 

[ExcitableBoy]

I've had a magazine extension on my 870 since 1977, and it is rarely unloaded except for cleaning. It has had regular use year 'round and the mag spring shows no sign of losing any significant compression.

Ignore any hints of OCD and enjoy the benefits of modern metallurgy. There is absolutely no need to replace the spring.

 

[chief38]

Id bet youd be wrong there would be little to no difference in overall length.


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While I have admittedly never replaced the Mag. Spring on the Rem. 870 I have replaced Recoil Springs on my Browning A-5 12 gauge Shotgun and Recoil Springs on my 1911's and I can tell you that those springs have absolutely - positively shortened their over-all length over time.

I do believe you guys are probably correct that the Spring in the 870 will be fine for a long time to come, but just for grins & giggles the next time I order from Wolff I'll probably order a new one JUST for curiosity's sake. If there is any substantial "shrinkage" I'll post them side by side.

 

[Pisgah]

I guarantee you that a new spring will be several inches longer. I also guarantee you that if you install it and leave it in place for a while, it will be as short as the current spring. Coil springs are designed with the "set" in mind.

 

[SC_Mike]

FWIW, I'd go ahead and replace it with another just like it. Think of it as cheap insurance.

 

[chief38]

FWIW, I'd go ahead and replace it with another just like it. Think of it as cheap insurance.

I intend to order one next time I buy from Wolff. While I'd bet it is shorter (as other springs in other guns I've replaced have been) I have yet to have one fail to operate the weapon correctly. That is why I specifically wondered if anyone here has actually experienced a failure regardless of any spring shrinkage. I've heard stories but have never had actual failures myself nor do I know of any among friends.

The other guns I've replaced springs in are NOT primary defensive weapons that remain loaded. The 870 does and has been for a long time - so this one is being subjected to a different set of criteria. This is why I am being overly cautious.

 

[rjb1]

Listen to what ggibson said. He is right. There are no time-dependent terms in the static equations for stress and deflection in springs. If it's poorly designed and takes a permanent set, it will occur the first time it is loaded (yield strength/stress is exceeded), and the duration of the applied stress has nothing to do with it.

Fatigue failure is a different story, and to the (very) tiny extent that you would hurt the spring at all, it would be by the act of loading and unloading (repeated stress) or removing and replacing it (also repeated stress).

A typically-good machine designer will allow for at least 1,000,000 cycles for a spring.

 

[Muss Muggins]

That said, I would bet money that if I removed the spring and placed in next to a new one it would measure several inches shorter - maybe more.

What's your wager?

 

[chief38]

What's your wager?

I would wager $20 bucks. The only variable I can think of is that the replacement would come from Wolff Springs and not the original manufacturer. I don't know that what Wolff calls their replacement spring is an exact copy of Remington OEM. On the other hand Wolff might supply Remington - who knows who made the OEM 15 years ago (age of 870).

 

[chief38]

This is the description from Wolff's own website. It says they Springs are improve feeding and reliability so in all fairness to YOU, I don't know if they would be the same even if mine were brand new. What say you??





Magazine Spring

Magazine Tube Spring for Remington 870 - 6 & 7 shot capacity extended tubes improves feeding and reliability. No fitting required. These extended tubes are used on many law enforement guns. For use in Scattergun conversions as well

SKU DESCRIPTION PRICE ($) ADD TO CART
32712 REM 870 12GA 6&7 SHOT XP MAG SPRING Pak of 1 8.99
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32713 REM 870 12GA 6&7 SHOT XP MAG SPRING Pak of 5 35.99
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[Mike SC Hunter]

FWIW.....Engineers say springs weaken from working.....Not from compression or relaxed.........BTW my Win 1912 from 1917 and my Win 1897 from 1919 still have their original magazine springs and they still work as intended..........

 

[RobertJ.]

It could be one of those things (and there are quite a few) that someone, at one time, said "could" happen, and it snowballed into a full-blown thing. Like most, I've had magazines loaded for years with no problems, ever.

Just a possibility, of course!

 

[Warren Sear]

My 2003 Jeep Liberty is just about to turn 200,000 miles. I wonder how many times the valve springs have been operated. Hmmmmm????

Still working fine as far as I can tell.

 

[stykshooter]

The same 870’s have ridden in the trucks of our police cruisers since before I was hired in 1983. They may get loaded and unloaded occasionally when taking the vehicle in for service or after being deployed but rarely, if ever shot. I imagine the large majority of those shotguns have 2 or 3 hundred thousand miles on them and had never been fired. We had a rack of shotguns in the armory that we used for training and qualifications.

Several years back I started a drill where I would call the unit in off the road to the gun range. They had to park, retrieve the shotgun and fire the loaded rounds at steel pepper poppers in a tactical course under time. They then wiped the gun down, ran a patch down the barrel and reloaded with fresh ammunition. I was surprised to find that I had a 10% or higher failure rate of 870’s being able to fire all of the shells in the magazine without a malfunction. In looking into it I discovered that almost all of our shotguns had a large accumulation of rust inside the magazine tube and around the coil magazine spring. It was actually accumulated rust that was preventing the last shell or two from being pushed out of the tube with enough force to not cause a malfunction.

These guns had ridden in the trunks of cars for decades and although they had been wiped down and even taken down and cleaned, very few of them had ever had the magazine spring and follower out. Rain, hot, cold and humidity had corroded the inside of the magazine tube. We polished the inside of the tubes on all of our weapons and replaced the spring and follower and no more problems. Now removing that spring and oiling it down are part of the monthly maintenance check list.

 

[Jessie]

Great idea Stykshooter. That's how problems are found and fixed.
Who knows? It could have saved a life down the road.