How do you fit the Wolffe XP Tubular mag spring?

[Minnow]

Into a Mossberg 590 with the 8 shot tube? I'm waiting to hear back from Wolff tech support, but thought I would ask here as well...

[G19freak]

Just a regular mag spring??

Start feeding it in slowly--use your finger to catch the coils---and hold on tight.

[Minnow]

The Wolff spring comes 40" long and needs to be cut to fit the gun it goes in...

[MAX100]

If you plan to get 8+1 capacity you will need to trim it to about 6" to 8" past the muzzle, 26" or 28" long.



GC

[Minnow]

Hello MAX! I have a couple of questions. 1. At 28", will I have any trouble with shells deforming? 2. Is there a formula or method for determining how long the spring would need to be in any given gun? Thanks for the help...

[MAX100]

There is no formula that I am aware of. Each brand mag tube spring is a little different. The power of the spring is determined by the length of the spring, wire thickest and coil separation.

You want the spring to be powerful as possible without it limiting the mag capacity and without causing reliability and reload ability problems.


Shells will be deformed in most fully loaded 8+1 & 7+1 shotgun if you leave it that way for long periods of time.

Start with around 8" or more past the muzzle and see if all 8 rounds will fit. If not, clip one coil at a time until 8 rounds will fit. Then leave it fully loaded for a few days to see if you get any spring shorting by compression. Then check to see if it is too powerful.

Put the cut end of the spring at the mag cap end of the tube.


GC

[Minnow]

Perfect timing because I was just in the middle of fitting this spring. I cut the spring to 28" long and the 8th round fit "very tight". Then I cut to 27.5". The first time I loaded to capacity at this length, the spring binded up and failed to feed the 5th round. At that point I took the spring out and reinstalled it. It seems to work fine now. How much clearance should I use for the 8th round against the spring? I can insert a 9th round about 1/8th of an inch, so the spring is still very tight. Thanks for the help!

[MAX100]

Leave it fully loaded for a few days and check it again. You can always clip another coil if needed. You don't have to use the spring retainer if you don't want too. It will give you a little more room in the tube without it. But as you know it keeps the spring from flying in your face. I take them out of my shotguns.


GC

[Minnow]

My shotgun did not come with a spring retainer. I bought it new during the late 1990's, so maybe Mossberg did not include them then.
I loaded the gun up to capacity and will leave it in the safe for a few days. Then I will check to see if the spring retains its original length of 27.5". Thanks for all your help! It's greatly appreciated...

[MAX100]

I forgot to mention, make sure you are using standard 2 3/4" shells that will measure about 2 1/2" long. Shells that are roll crimped like Wolf will be longer and cause you to clip the spring to short to fit 8 in the tube.

I include this info if you didn't know it or for anyone else who may read this.


GC

[Minnow]

I checked the fit using Winchester Super X 2 3/4", so I'm good to go. Thanks again for all the help!
I also did not see any threads previous to mine regarding fitting Shotgun magazine springs, so I include these words to help anyone who does a search for the topic.