Pardini SPBE_Replacing worn magazine springs

During a recent local Precision Pistol match, I experience two alibis in 1st and 2nd strings of timed fire, a first with my heretofore trusty Pardini. In both cases, the second round failed to pick-up. Having one instance of the problem previously, I'd cleaned the mags with dry-lube and slightly stretched the springs to revitalize them. This worked for all practice secession but as such things do, the fix failed in a match. As a GSP shooter chided me noting he has never experienced a failure with his mag springs and he knew the pistol had been used for 30 years in German club matches prior to his buying it. (The GSP shooter probably lives with his Mother). Sensitive gun insults aside, I've never replaced a mag spring either in my model 41 and I flat wore out one firing pin and ejector & spring in that gun.

Besides not looking forward to paying for the over-priced replacement springs from Pardini, I discovered that none would be available in U.S. until late May or thereabouts, which in the lingo of a club shooter, sucks.

So, I ended up buying High Standard and S&W 22A replacement springs for 10-round mags, cut them in half, and installed them in my 5-round mags. The spring resistances on the follower feels about right, but more importantly, the fix works. Both springs are silicone steel (Wolff Springs). 

Note: I may have exacerbated the problem by loading mags prior to match so that all my 3-min prep time could be spent on dry firing. This could have contributed to a premature set in the mag springs. A mechanical engineer acquaintance told me that springs become stiffer as they fatigue over time (loose resilience). 

I have been shooting Aquila SV in all practice and find it to be accurate but noticed one batch seemed to leave a lot of very grity residue and have decided to return to CCI. I do clean fairly regularly mags with a q-tip and use dry-lube. I don't know if this will help anyone or raised more questions than answers.

Any similar experience? Thanks, dipnet

I had the same problem but in my case I had two mags that started to not pick up the third round consistently. It didn't matter what ammo I used. I have six mags. I used three all the time. The other three just stayed unused. Obviously when the match season started I went to the new mags. I also have a Pardini HP 32 S&WL. I also have a 32 ACP conversion. I was told I needed to replace the 32 ACP mag springs with SP 22 springs to have good feeding. I ordered a pair but never used them. When I started having issues I replaced the offending mag springs. Problem cured. I noticed the new springs were over an inch longer than the old ones. Still I don't understand how a mag spring can cause the third round from not getting picked up. I guess it's time to get in line and put an order in for springs.

Bill

How did you wheedle your way into two alibis? The rules only allow one.

Greetings,

As a temporary fix, try this.

Pre-heat the kitchen oven to 450 degrees.

Remove the discrepant spring and stretch it to the length you think a new one is.

Place stretched spring on cookie sheet and cover with a second cookie sheet.

Place in hot oven for a minimum of 30 minutes. (This is IMPORTANT, you need to stress relieve the spring after stretching)

Allow to air cool.

Cheers,

Dave

First, per the rules, I didn't get a 2nd alibi; I potentially lost 50 points and ended up with an 815 for the match.

Big thanks to Dave for the oven heating suggestion. Cheers, dipnet