[gearchecker]

Ginny, Stretching the spring out to the "max" won't have any affect on being to be able to get the full 8 rounds in the mag. The springs are designed to collapse to a certain point, and making it longer by stretching has no real effect. In reality he has weakened the spring but extending it beyond it's design. Much like bending a paperclip, he has twisted the hinge curve surface of the metal past the design.
I lived up in Michigan, and worked as an engineering assistant for Saginaw Steering Gear (Delphi) for around 5 years. Steering Gear manufacturers their own springs because outside vendors couldn't get the spring tensions right. I discussed the design and manufacturing process about the springs a great length with a couple of engineers that managed the spring lines. They taught me a great deal about them.

One thing I was taught that most don't understand is that springs are better kept under tension, than not.
To cast a couple examples look at the springs in a cars suspension system. They are always loaded under stress, and the spring tensioners for the serpentine belts are always kept under load as well. That's by design, and not by happenstance. So, it's better to keep your mags loaded as much as possible to keep the springs under tension to get them to last their longest.

Regards,
Gregory

 

[gearchecker]

I bought my wife a new 380EZ about a year ago. First trip to the range and about five or six times in 50 rounds, the last round would hit the top of the barrel hood and jam the slide open and on one occasion, the last bullet in the mag flew completely out of the top of the slide and landed on the ground. On all of the occasions, it was always on the last round in the mag when it malfunctioned. Went back to Bass Pro Shop where I purchased it new and a salesperson gave me a new mag off of the rack to try. Same results as before with the new mag; no improvement. I read an article about another shooter having the same exact problem as my wife's gun. He put in new springs and the problem continued. He then scratched the top of the follower in the magazine, roughing it up with a nail. He said problem solved and his gun had no other incidents of malfunctions. I did the same with both of the magazInes for my wife's pistol, and in over 300 rounds of ammo so far, the problem has never surfaced again. It has been flawless since then.

Is there any way to get a photo of what you did to the follower? Looking at the scratches you did might give somebody the info to resolve their problems too.