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"New spring", as in a spring that has never been in a magazine at all? Or, "new spring" as in a spring from a new magazine that has never been loaded? Or perhaps "new spring" as in a spring from a new magazine that has been used only once or twice?
For the first item above, unless you are sure of the source of both the new spring and the replacement spring, there is no guarantee that both springs were EVER the same length. It's not at all unusual for a company to "update" magazines and internal mag parts as a firearm/system matures in use and they get feedback from users. Glock did this a couple of years ago with the .40 mags; they increased the length of the springs to provide more pressure on the follower, to combat the problems of stoppages when weapon lights were attached to .40 Glocks. A few years before that, they increased the length of almost every Glock mag body by about one-eighth of an inch; no idea if they changed the springs during that upgrade. If you bought a new replacement spring from a gun company this year, there is no way to know if it ever was the same length as a spring bought 10+ years ago as a part of the firearm. Even changing suppliers may make a significant difference in spring length; as long as it does what it needs to do, then length is probably not critical (although a gun manufacturer may use a minimum and maximum overall uncompressed length as a way to informally spot-check quality/consistency from shipment-to-shipment or lot-to-lot).
On point two, if you take a new never-before-compressed spring and measure it, then install it in a magazine, then load the mag ONCE, then unload it, take the mag apart, and measure the spring, it will be shorter than when new and uncompressed. How much shorter depends on the amount of the initial compression, number of coils, and many other factors. So again, unless you know for sure what has and has not been done with a "new" spring, it may be difficult to accurately compare it with an older spring. If you just bought a new uncompressed spring, you can try this for yourself. Let us know what you find out; I have a P32, so I'm interested for general AND personal reasons, too.
Even in point three, you will find a difference in many springs' lengths, although it will probably not be as large as in the other two cases.
For the first item above, unless you are sure of the source of both the new spring and the replacement spring, there is no guarantee that both springs were EVER the same length. It's not at all unusual for a company to "update" magazines and internal mag parts as a firearm/system matures in use and they get feedback from users. Glock did this a couple of years ago with the .40 mags; they increased the length of the springs to provide more pressure on the follower, to combat the problems of stoppages when weapon lights were attached to .40 Glocks. A few years before that, they increased the length of almost every Glock mag body by about one-eighth of an inch; no idea if they changed the springs during that upgrade. If you bought a new replacement spring from a gun company this year, there is no way to know if it ever was the same length as a spring bought 10+ years ago as a part of the firearm. Even changing suppliers may make a significant difference in spring length; as long as it does what it needs to do, then length is probably not critical (although a gun manufacturer may use a minimum and maximum overall uncompressed length as a way to informally spot-check quality/consistency from shipment-to-shipment or lot-to-lot).
On point two, if you take a new never-before-compressed spring and measure it, then install it in a magazine, then load the mag ONCE, then unload it, take the mag apart, and measure the spring, it will be shorter than when new and uncompressed. How much shorter depends on the amount of the initial compression, number of coils, and many other factors. So again, unless you know for sure what has and has not been done with a "new" spring, it may be difficult to accurately compare it with an older spring. If you just bought a new uncompressed spring, you can try this for yourself. Let us know what you find out; I have a P32, so I'm interested for general AND personal reasons, too.
Even in point three, you will find a difference in many springs' lengths, although it will probably not be as large as in the other two cases.
