M4A1 buffer spring?

[Dr. Bullseye]

Thanks guys for the discussion; it was helpful.

As I understand it, chrome-silicon springs really shine in applications with high temperatures and high cycle counts. So it’s probably a good choice for extractor and ejector springs, since the bolt is the hottest area of the rifle with moving parts, and it cycles with every round fired. And mine at least is usually wet with oil, so I’m not too worried about rust there.

Magazine springs by contrast don’t get hot, don’t see the same cycle count (once for every thirty rounds fired —- and that’s if you only have a single mag). And I don’t really like to oil them. So here I think stainless likely makes more sense.

The buffer spring is an intermediate case: cycle count is high, temps are low, and oiling is reasonable. I was kinda surprised to hear that the service life of the milspec stainless spring is apparently only a few 1000 rounds.

I do like the way the Sprinco blue + H2 feels (on a carbine-gassed 14” barrel). And I like the idea that there’s a little extra oomph available to strip the first ornery rounds off a full mag. I think maybe I’ll try one of the Tubb flat-wires and compare. (The new stainless version; they used to be chrome-silicon I believe.)

CS Magazine springs? I ordered four of these from Brownells as a mag option thinking they were cool. They were not as the mags were miss feeding. I switched to Mcarbo extra power stainless steel springs and never had a miss feed after that. No more CS springs of any sort for me.

[1168]

Fair enough. Corrosion issues aren't much of a concern for me in the civilian context.

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We’ve talked about corrosion before, so I’m curious about which region you live in, and if you shoot or carry your rifles in the rain, or in conditions that cause condensation inside the rifle. When I disassemble my rifles, I tend to find a light bit of corrosion on my Sprinco springs, although it hasn’t presented any problems thus far. I’ve only been using them for a year or so. I doubt this is an issue at all for most people.

[Sry0fcr]

We’ve talked about corrosion before, so I’m curious about which region you live in, and if you shoot or carry your rifles in the rain, or in conditions that cause condensation inside the rifle. When I disassemble my rifles, I tend to find a light bit of corrosion on my Sprinco springs, although it hasn’t presented any problems thus far. I’ve only been using them for a year or so. I doubt this is an issue at all for most people.

I live in south east TX. Rifles are kept in climate controlled environment. I'm very often shooting in hot/humid conditions, sometimes misty or drizzling but not very often in driving rain.

Fortunately, I have the luxury of being able to tear guns down for cleaning and lube before putting them away and will often re-lube before taking them back out. Carry gun gets wiped down and lubed regularly as well. Damn lint.

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[Curlew]

Magpul found through extensive testing... the CS springs fail corrosion tests

Would anyone happen to know whether Magpul ever used CS in their PMAGs? I just took a look at the spring in one (Gen M2), and there’s something dark that rubs off on my fingers— rust? mill scale? dry-film lube?

[lysander]

The Action Spring part number has not changed. This means the spring has not been switched to a different configuration.

[Rifleman_04]

You obviously do not know the military. At least have no clue about reserve/national guard weapons my friend. Garbage is common.

You are confusing what MarkM was saying with negligent command and poor leadership. Been there.

[17K]

Would anyone happen to know whether Magpul ever used CS in their PMAGs? I just took a look at the spring in one (Gen M2), and there’s something dark that rubs off on my fingers— rust? mill scale? dry-film lube?

I don't think they ever did. The regular mil-spec spring was always mentioned back when they first came out and were handing out mags everywhere.

Is the mag used? Could just be fouling/soot from firing.

[Curlew]

Is the mag used? Could just be fouling/soot from firing.

That occurred to me after I posted my question (Doh!), but I then checked another mag that was still in the original plastic wrapper— same thing.

It seems like many CS springs have something on them that leaves smudges on my fingers, and the Magpul does too, hence my wondering.

Whatever’s on the Magpul spring is kinda charcoal grey, not reddish, so at this point I’m figuring that it’s either oxidation that occurs during heat-treat or a moly-based dry lube.