My grandfather once told me that "an egg-head with speck of schooling could calculate how fast you would have to run around a barn in order to see yourself from the rear". After reading all of this manure I know he was right!
Good grief guys - if you reload all of your life and end up dying of natural causes (like a rifle blowing up in your face LOL!!!!!) who gives an rats ass?
P.S. Hotcore, Where does this CUMULTIVE METAL FATIGUE play in the picture with spring steel, i.e. valve springs on engines, springs in rifle actions, etc.?

http://groups.google.com/group...8?hl=en&dmode=source

quote:

# Will the spring in the magazine of a semi-automatic pistol weaken or deform
# over time if the magazine is stored fully loaded?

There is no time variable in the spring stress
equation! The loaded magazine is an old
wives tale relative to spring compression.

An overloaded magazine takes a "set" the instant
the idiot tried to put the "One To Many" last round in it. Not
six months later when he finally got around
to shooting.


$1000 cash reward for the stress equation of
spring steel showing time as a variable. (For
those of interest - Marks Handbook or Harpers
Strength of Materials will provide some light
reading.


If you don't believe in rocket science -


Jack up your pickup each night
Unload all of your ball point pens
Take your flash light apart every morning


List all of the springs you have to replace
each year!

quote:

Originally posted by Rae59:
...Where does this CUMULTIVE METAL FATIGUE play in the picture with spring steel, i.e. valve springs on engines, springs in rifle actions, etc.?

Hey Rae, Interesting question! Might be a good Brain Teaser for the folks on the GunSmith Board. I'm glad to see tnekkcc post, because my experience with Springs going bad is fairly limited. I've been trying to think of any Spring I've been around that broke, sagged or weaked in any way.

1. The old Flat Spring(folded over) in the Colts would occasionally break. But I don't think they are the same kind of Spring Steel you are thinking about. "If that is WRONG, anyone that knows different correct me."
2. Had a garage door spring scare me pretty good one day. I thought a Claymore had gone off with stuff flying all over the place.
3. There is a HUGE Truck Spring company in Tampa called "Tampa Spring"(novel idea). The trucks which haul real heavy loads each day end up with sagging springs and they do need to be replaced. The ones I saw were Leaf Springs.
4. Have seen some pick-ups with what appeared to be broken springs.
-----

I've had a good number of 45acp magazines which are loaded, used and reloaded fairly often, since somewhere in the `60s. As a control sample I have at least one empty one like each brand of the loaded ones. I load the emptys ever 5 years or so to see if I can "feel" any difference in the last cartridge. So far I've not noticed any degredation that my (Calibrated ) thumb can detect. That is on both the El Cheapos and Wilsons(the Wilsons are not but 28 through 20 years old).

Never had a Coil Spring in a 45ACP pistol or their Flat Trigger Spring break. I do swap between two of the Trigger Springs, with one I set for Summer and one I set for Winter.

Never had a Coil Spring in a Ruger Revolver weaken or go bad. I've never had a Spring in any of my rifles go bad, but I have replaced some to reduce the Trigger Pull.

I've personally never had a Valve Spring go bad. Never had a Ball Point Spring go bad.

The Spring in my step has weaked a bit though.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:


The Spring in my step has weaked a bit though.

I totally understand that one, HC.!

quote:

The loaded magazine is an old
wives tale relative to spring compression.

Maybe not. I have a 107 year old Lee Enfield magazine with a weakened spring! I don't think modern springs have that tendency though (hard to tell - can't wait that long). Car engine valve springs do or did weaken sometimes but not always. So did clutch springs. It depends on the amount of stress the spring is subjected to. There is a formula for determining the max spring compression to avoid spring tension loss. Remember our old air rifles? The springs would weaken and needed to be replaced from time to time.

My understanding is a spring has a life span of X mount of cycles. Staying compressed or in a relaxed state doesn`t have much if any effect on them. Your car springs are compressed for the life of the car as long as you don`t lift it up off the wheels. The springs usually last almost forever, the shocks are what get wore from boucing on the road.

Car springs can sag. Sometimes they need re-tensioning and there are companies that do it. I think you only see it on rough roads. Sometimes valve springs need to be replaced. Specs are available to indicate when a spring has lost too much tension.

quote:

Originally posted by 303Guy:
Car springs can sag. Sometimes they need re-tensioning and there are companies that do it. I think you only see it on rough roads. Sometimes valve springs need to be replaced. Specs are available to indicate when a spring has lost too much tension.

That sort of reinforces what I`ve been told. The spring cycles and that is what weakens it. Or it gets over worked and stretched or compressed past its elastic limit. It doesn`t weaken from being held in normal compression.

on spring steel, its temper and temperature that make some last forever and some lose their springiness.

modern spring steels so much better than old spring steel. the amazing insides of oldbritish double sidelocks, which oft came with extra springs, is cause spring steel can be brittle as in hard and brittle, as opposed to soft and bliable.. its a balance.

heating, overheating, now that is the enemy of spring steel. high rise buildings that have a steel frame are in trouble if their I-beams get too hot, even in a local fire. bad juju even if a one room apartment in the wrong place has a hot fire...

enough enough..

Are you guys saying that "metal fatigue" is a bit over hyped in it's application to bolt action rifles.

quote:

Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
Are you guys saying that "metal fatigue" is a bit over hyped in it's application to bolt action rifles.

Not me. I just go back, take a look at this rifle, and none of the explainations fit anything except Cumulative Metal Fatigue - for me. That is whay I do not buy old "used" firearms, because I do not know what they have been subjected to, Pressure wise.

Maybe they are fine, or maybe not. I'll just let someone else find out.

When "I'm" talking about Cumulative Metal Fatigue in firearms, springs are not part of that thought, but the Receiver and Bolt are.