You asked a general question about all autoloaders, but my answer only pertains to the 1911 Govt Models that I have.
I have a Clark .38 Special conversion on the 1911 frame, that I have shot thousands of rounds through. I just changed out the original recoil spring this year, when I started trying some different loads in it. I had it converted in 1984.
Because of the light loads, it never seemed to need to be changed out and if I hadn't starting experimenting, I would probably still have the same spring in it.
Ditto for my .45 ACP Clark Heavy Slide which I had done in 2004. It has exactly 8,593 rounds through it. I changed the spring out at 7,630 since I was trying some new, slightly heavier loads; otherwise, the original spring would probably still be in it.
Now, if I were shooting heavy loads out of a 1911, I might change springs on a more frequent basis. But who knows. Unless something weird happened, they would probably have the original springs in them.