Lever rifles' magazine feeding

[Naphtali]

I am aware that most regular users of larger caliber semiautomatic pistols routinely replace magazine springs to maintain trouble free feed from magazines. What about maintaining traditional lever rifles' reliable feeding?

I suspect those who participate regularly and often in Cowboy Action competitions, and those who routinely leave their traditional lever rifles with under barrel tube magazines loaded - as their home defense guns, for example - might replace feed spring as well. How often would these people recommend replacing magazine tube's feed spring?

[Wind]

Hey there Naphtali -- I'm running some 122 year old magazine springs, as well as extractors and ejectors in several Marlin 1893's and 1894's. Unmodified, they should last your lifetime.

Hope this helps. Best regards. Wind

[44man]

Depends on who made the springs. Old 1911's loaded forever never seem to go bad but just leave 5 rounds in a Ruger Mark and it can fail to feed.
Remington shotguns failed to feed very fast and I bought 12 packs of Wolfe springs to fix them. I never had a Marlin go bad.
A ML from the 1700's can still work but one made lately in Italy or Spain might not even fire.
Springs drive me nuts. Ruger hammer springs will take a set. I don't fool with them anymore and buy Wolfe.
Lever guns have never given me a problem.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I have several Marlin's - 336's and 1894 that have spent years loaded, same with a couple Savage 99's in .243, .308 and .300 Savage, behind the truck seat, in the entry closet, under the bed, behind the doors of the shop and garage. If one does not work, it is probably grit that from blowing dust and dirt. Simple cleaning to clean out dust and dirt keeps them going. Most of them are 40 to 60 years old, with no signs of the springs failing. Winchester, Marlin, Savage lever guns, Mossberg pump shotguns just work.

[georgerkahn]

Pistol Magazine springs are often "open", inviting attraction of everything from burned powder residue to even pollen at the range. The lever action has a closed tube, pretty much protecting the spring. I have a few levers, and as part of annual maintenance I remove the magazine, run a few gun-cleaner (I use G96) saturated patched through, and reassemble. On my Marlins I have replaced most of the plastic cartridge pushers at spring end (I forgot what they're called) with brass ones from Wild West Guns. The springs on these -- as well as Winnie's -- never have been any sort of a problem for me. Again, I believe cleanliness is the key to continued reliability.
BEST
geo

[Der Gebirgsjager]

In my experience it is almost never a problem. Part of it has to do with the mechanical nature of the springs in lever action mag tubes, loooong! A short piece doesn't give much push, which is derived by the length, but because a short section doesn't offer that much resistance it is less prone to fatigue. Dirt and rust can gum them up, but they're pretty well sealed in from exposure. There have been 1911 mags found loaded in desk drawers that dated back to WW II that fed perfectly when test fired. The failure of some pistol mags' springs is often due to different ratios of push such as in a double stack mag more weight is being compressed, and the wire-type springs are of different design than the accordion-type of the 1911 which is only lifting a single stack. All in all, for lever actions, not a problem.

[Naphtali]

Many thanks, guys, for this useful information.

[Speedo66]

127 year old spring in my Winchester '73 is still pushing just fine, thank you. Might possibly need replacement in another 100 years or so. lol