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Posted: 10/30/2006 12:47:21 PM EDT
| Okay, please forgive another noob question. I tried to search function, but didn't turn anything up. What is the advantage of using a chrome silicon spring vs a regular ss spring? Any disadantages that outweight the advantages of a chrome silicon spring? |
OK, now I'm all confused!  I thought the CS was good for repetitve use & not for keeping loaded. That SS was the ones to keep loaded cause the constant compression would not cause a memory. (for lack of a better word) Anybody know for sure, maybe Larry from C-Products? |
Larry through E-mail told me that CS springs can handle constant compression just as good if not better than SS springs. |
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you can keep a SS spring mag and a CS spring mag fully loaded and it won't hurt either, heres the main difference between the 2: a SS spring will take a set and continue to to so with use until it ultimately fails. A CS spring will take a initial set and that's it, it will not continue to weaken. Both springs work very well, you pretty much don't have to worry about a CS spring except for maybe a little surface rust that just wipes off. A SS spring will last a long time for just a regular gun owner. Almost all of my mags are SS |
I've heard that many times on this forum and in the marketing of some mag manufacturers. It's easy to assum this is correct, because it is stated so many times. Unfortunately, I've seen no test or evidence of such a result, rather to the contrary. Since I'm also a degreed mechanical engineer with experience designing/manufacturing springs (including those of the M16)..... I'll also add that 99 % of what I hear about AR springs and materials is pure baloney. There is a reason to make all these fabulous claims....surprise...to sell you more stuff, different stuff, etc.....it is part of what makes america great, but at a price (your $$). I've seen dozens of std 30 round magazines used in repeated (years) of extended firing tests..To the point that the bullet tips had worn through the front of the magazine....and never seen a "weak" magazine spring among them. Respectfully, Hotgun |
The CS spring and the SS spring cost the exact same from CProducts. Edit: But I do understand what you're saying. |
Wow, that's interesting. Anyone else have anything to add to that? |
My initail post was pretty much what is being said by those who sell CS springs and not from my own experience. I do beleive that a CS spring will out last a SS spring but CS springs also haven't been around that long to make my own conclusive comparison. I don't think people are saying SS springs are junk compared to CS (I personally prefer SS springs) just that they will last longer. I don't know how much of it is to just sell something new and I imagine that some of it is but I'm sure that there has been a good bit of testing done to make the claim that a CS spring will last longer. Again I personally prefer a SS spring and I do beleive that they last a long time but I'm going to take the word of at least one company that sells CS springs that they last longer. |
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If he says that CS springs last longer, you can believe him. Like was said, they are the same price. So it would not make sense in this case that they are making these claims to sell more mags. Many people on here do make bogus claims Im sure (noone in mind though). But if I said something I was selling would outlast something else I was selling wouldn't you expect a price differnce between the two?? I was thrown off by the surface rust issue at first as well. I also keep spare SS springs. But for Range mags especially I have had no spring related problems with the CS, and if you wipe them down a couple of times with CLP you can control the rust. Buy what you like, but have evidence before saying someone is making Bogus claims. Lack of evidence isn't quite the same thing. |
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Okay....Here is an example of such a claim (and I'm not trying to pick on the poster for repeating an approximation of wht he has heard): "a SS spring will take a set and continue to to so with use until it ultimately fails." "A CS spring will take a initial set and that's it, it will not continue to weaken." For the record, this is "bogus". This is a simple statement and taken at it's wording is false and misleading. Good golly, get a design handbook and read up on Chrome Silicon material for spring use, and compare. "Mechanical Design" by Shigley is one source. As for company's marketing different paroducts.....well, they're trying to expand their market........I don't consider it a deception .....In many cases they're merely keeping up with the "Jones's" in the industry....same with finishes....or materials.......are they really better than the other? If you don't offer a similar product, option, or feature as your competitors, it could mean losing a sale or reputation. Consumers often base choices on emotion, rather than fact, so no foul.....but it can be annoying to those with better information. From my experience, lots of folks in the "industry" believe they have all the answers and it's interesting when they tell me in-person one of the the common-knowledge "fables" (often word-for-word) seen on the AR-15 site. Trust me when I say everything you read on the board (or the internet, for that matter) is not accurate or complete.  Hotgun |
How many compression/firing cycles must be completed before a USGI magazine fails (mean time between failure)? Will the feed lips go out-of-spec first? Suppose you cycle an 840 round can of M855 through one new magazine. That's 30 X 28 rounds or 28 X 30 rounds. Do you think the mag will fail? Me neither. How many of us can afford to find out when it fails. It's mostly about "upgrading" to increase sales. That said, I use Wolff spring when I take a class. Just to be sure.
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24 years in the army, 5 combat deployments, hundreds of non-combat reforger type deployments I never even worried about the springs in any mag I ever carried. But, I have no trust in our ability to keep buying 30 round mags in the future so my stash mags are all stainless springs because I don't intend to get into them for maintenance. I plan for them to be stashed for my grand kids to get to if needed, along with 2 receivers and an entired set of 2 packaged unopened entire AR spring kits from Larry. My ready mags are CS because I can wipe them once in a while. I buy 5 mags a month mostly SS. Actually I have 12 red springs from Defense Specialists put away also and have 5 marked mags with them in just for shits and giggles. I've also saved every spring from every mag I've updated. So there. I'm a retired 19 Delta and that's how my E-7 brain works. 
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