Colt "Gold" extractor spring vs Sprinco 4 coil

[IALoder]

I just used my last Colt gold/copper washed ejector spring on one of my ar's that was showing weak and erratic ejection, and it fixed the problem. While I was looking through my "box-o-parts" I found a baggie of 3 sprinco "enhanced" 4 coil ejector springs, inserts, and o rings that I don't remember buying. I searched, and pretty much everything was about the Sprinco 5 coil XP springs, not much about the 4 coil. My question is, how do they compare to the Colt springs? Are they pretty much the CS version of them? Do I need to use the o ring, or is just the insert enough?

Thanks in advance!

[Disciple]

From a prior discussion.

I remembered having tried a Sprinco 5-coil at some point, and when I went to look for it in the parts box just now, I found that I had one of their 4-coils as well. So I measured….

Colt copper-washed: wire diameter .026, ends ground, approx 3-1/2 turns by my count. Free height ~.175

Sprinco 5-coil: wire diameter .025, ends not ground, approx 4-1/2 turns. Free height ~.225

Sprinco 4-coil: wire diameter .026, ends ground, approx 4 turns. Free height ~.190

Damage Industries copper-washed: same measurements as Sprinco 4-coil.

Old-style from unknown mfg: wire diameter .022, approx 3-3/4 turns, ends ground. Free height ~.160

ETA: I’m glad I did this because until now I had assumed that the Damage Industries spring was the same as Colt’s. Not quite.

[Clint]

They're both very similar in strength and dont need the oring

[lysander]

From a prior discussion.

Sprinco 4-coil: wire diameter .026, ends ground, approx 4 turns. Free height ~.190

Those are the same requirements as the Colt Gold spring, at least they fall within the tolerances.

[IALoder]

From a prior discussion.

They're both very similar in strength and dont need the oring

Those are the same requirements as the Colt Gold spring, at least they fall within the tolerances.

Awesome, don't know how I missed that post. Thanks guys, I'm no longer hurry to order anything from Brownells, I'll just get some next time I'm there.

[IALoder]

I know it's not super scientific or anything, but yesterday at the range I shot a bit off a rest with the Colt spring in, then swapped to the sprinco 4 coil and the brass was landing in the exact same spot with both springs.

[Cane55]

Both are great and are absolutely worth the upgrade imo. The only difference is the Sprinco will last significantly longer because it’s made out of chrome silicone.

[Todd.K]

And corrosion causes spring failure.

[1168]

And corrosion causes spring failure.

Sprinco is the only extractor spring I can recall completely breaking. I thought I had a post in here, but I can’t find it. It broke after shooting in a downpour for a couple days, though it could be a fluke. It broke leaving almost exactly one coil in the extractor, which makes me wonder if the unground end somehow introduced a stress on the coil above. Every Sprinco action spring I’ve used rusted, even just from humidity from the gun case coming in and out.

So, if there’s no difference, then that could be the difference. Maybe. Or not.

[the AR-15 Junkie]

Sprinco CS Springs = SOTAR Hype.

Though I dont have any pics of broken Sprinco extractor springs I have several pictures archived i have seen of the Sprinco buffer springs broken where they corroded thru.

Just run the Colt stuff and forget about it.