Lyle,
I had the same question a couple of months ago, & decided to change out my recoil spring at 200 rounds instead of the recommended 250 because it had shortened up by two full coils compared to new.
The next couple of range sessions saw me go from completely satisfied (zero failures to feed) to real concerned because I had multiple double feeds, the hardest kind to clear. After another 100 rounds things have smoothed out to the point where I trust the pup again. I posted my results yesterday - my gun had two FTF with one particular magazine and only with GDHP rounds.
I had decided to make sure that new spring was exercised by cycling it about 50 times by hand and then leaving the gun locked open with a wide hunk of wood. Now with a total of 380 rounds the new recoil spring is still a full coil longer than the used original.
If your current spring is within a coil of a new one in length, I'd say to leave it in the gun.
BTW: I found an easy (and safe!) way to clear those double feeds real quick. I had a hunk of chop stick with me, so I just pushed down on the round in the magazine forcing it back into place. That allowed the slid to come forward, and the stick prevented the firing pin from getting anywhere near the round in the chamber. In a real world scenario, I'd just use a key in place of the wooden dowel.
Hope the above helps.
Steve
