Storage of an auto pistol for ready use

[Combat Controller]

Funny enough but those springs Mike posted were done by me. I do all of the Springco stuff actually.

[Kommander]

You had defective factory product. It happens. Just another reason to test your stuff. Also the lack of spring set in quality mags is not merely a theory. Plenty of people have left mags loaded for years, in some cases decades, with no problems.

[blackeagle603]

elasticity, plasticity, stress/strain curves... class is in session.

[Combat Controller]

If you want to get a good springs don't buy Wolff, they are just piano wire. While they make a spring for just about everything and therefor provide a valuable service what you really want under most situations is a spring made out of chrome-silicon. For recoil and mag springs if you get them your troubles are over. Most modern guns have "good enough" springs. It's like MIM, you want to replace it all.

Whereas it never hurts to rotate springs for new ones if you would like more surety I would get GOOD springs and worry a little less at night.

[Netpackrat]

If you want to get a good springs don't buy Wolff, they are just piano wire. While they make a spring for just about everything and therefor provide a valuable service what you really want under most situations is a spring made out of chrome-silicon. For recoil and mag springs if you get them your troubles are over. Most modern guns have "good enough" springs. It's like MIM, you want to replace it all.

Whereas it never hurts to rotate springs for new ones if you would like more surety I would get GOOD springs and worry a little less at night.

I never had any trouble with the Wolff springs I put in my Glock .40 magazines.

[Combat Controller]

They will work most of the time but like MIM can fail at the worst time.

[Netpackrat]

I suppose you can recommend an alternative?

[Combat Controller]

I suppose you can recommend an alternative?

Chrome Silicon from one of three or four makers.

[Whirlibird]

You had defective factory product. It happens. Just another reason to test your stuff. Also the lack of spring set in quality mags is not merely a theory. Plenty of people have left mags loaded for years, in some cases decades, with no problems.

I've left various mags loaded for years myself.
I fired a 1911 mag that was loaded in the 40's not that long ago, still loaded with EC43 marked ammo. It and the ammo worked fine.
I've shot P-08 Luger's and Smith 39's that were loaded in the early 60's and were found in the late 90's and worked fine.

However:
My Benelli scattergun needed it's mag spring changed a couple of years ago, it had been left loaded for @10 years with only occasional hunting season use getting it unloaded and reloaded, I ain't a scattergunner normally so it don't see much use. The mag spring had taken a set, causing failures of the last round when using 3" hulls. 2 3/4" ran fine. A quick change of the mag spring to a HD spring solved that issue. The mag spring couldn't keep up with the fast cycling action, the shorter hulls cleared the mag tube and would cycle when the longer hulls wouldn't.
My department Ithaca 37 recently needed it's mag spring changed out. Loaded and unloaded 4 times a year, it took a set, shortening considerably having been left fully loaded for who knows how many decades.

But sorry you can't prove that spring set doesn't happen, therefore it's a theory that it doesn't happen.
I've had springs fail to spring set, be they factory, bad springs or moon phased issues, it doesn't matter why, it's proven that it happens.

And how long should a test period be?
A month? A year? Should a person buy magazines to test them before they buy the gun just to make sure the mags won't fail?

Me I consider "use" the test period. And I've had and seen failures over the last couple decades that trumps you theory.

As one who deals with LEO's weapons daily, I can honestly say that I've seen more worn out magazine springs than recoil springs. Most LEO mags are loaded once a year and the ammo rotated out sometime the next year (hopefully). Your normal LEO has a couple of 'range' or extra mags so he/she doesn't have to load and unload the duty mags.
What happens? The mag springs get weak and it ain't from use just compression.
I've seen it on Beretta, Smith, Glock and others.

I said it before, I'll say it again, I've seen more double stack mags fail than single stack.
Because of the spring design, the double stack mag springs tend to collapse upon themselves over-compressing. Some are actually designed that way, leave it to an engineer to mess up something so simple as a spring.

Defective factory product? Could be.
Again I don't care why. The spring failed under compression.
The sheer number of times I've seen it, shows me that it's more than theory unlike the dream that mag springs don't fail under compression.

I have too many years behind a gunsmith's bench and behind the badge to believe any theory that can't be proven.

[Netpackrat]

My Benelli scattergun needed it's mag spring changed a couple of years ago, it had been left loaded for @10 years with only occasional hunting season use getting it unloaded and reloaded, I ain't a scattergunner normally so it don't see much use. The mag spring had taken a set, causing failures of the last round when using 3" hulls. 2 3/4" ran fine. A quick change of the mag spring to a HD spring solved that issue. The mag spring couldn't keep up with the fast cycling action, the shorter hulls cleared the mag tube and would cycle when the longer hulls wouldn't.
My department Ithaca 37 recently needed it's mag spring changed out. Loaded and unloaded 4 times a year, it took a set, shortening considerably having been left fully loaded for who knows how many decades.

I almost forgot that I had to change out the magazine spring in my 870 a year or so ago. Not the factory spring, but the one that came with the magazine extension. It doesn't get unloaded very often, either.