I decided to replace the recoil springs on my M41 S&W and a recently purchased M46. The M41 was an 80’s model and the original owner had not fired it much, the M46 was of 1968 manufacture pistol and had been fired very little.
The recoil spring from the M41 was not significantly shorter than the Wolff replacement spring.
The recoil spring from the M46 was.
I took the M41 to an indoor range 22LR Bullseye match with its new Wolff recoil spring. I brought the old recoil spring, just in case. While I was there one shooter was having malfunctions in the rapids. Being a nosey person I had to find out what was going on. His M41 was failing to chamber the round. I pulled on his slide and there was hardly any spring tension. I took his old recoil spring out and it was shorter than my M46!. He had been shooting his pistol for decades and never replaced the recoil spring. I gave him my old M41 spring to try, and that had more tension than his old, and he was able to finish out the match without any more alibi’s. I got my original M41 spring back later.
I have a M586 that had been fired so much it would misfire, particularly in cold weather. A new mainspring fixed that. My Kimber M82G misfired and I replaced the mainspring and that fixed that malfunction. I recently replaced the recoil spring on my Les Baer Wadcutter 1911, the pistol was functioning fine but I can say the original recoil spring was shorter than the factory replacement. I replaced every military Mauser mainspring with Wolff standards springs and I can tell the difference in firing pin energy. Ditto for my M1903’s and A3’s.
You shoot enough, you will find that springs loose tension and that causes problems. Replacing springs is a good idea, just when, heck if I know. Pick your own maintenance schedule.