Actually, (jeez I hope you don't mind me quoting the master,) it isn't the spring per se that jams your snaps - if what I understand from different boards is true. Florida has a high level of a particular mineral (silica? quartzite?) or mix of minerals and clay in its waters. There is no doubt someone on the board who can either find the article by George or some quotes, who will have the proper geological name, etc. But basically its an extremely fine grit that you find in caves and some places in open water, and it will hang in the water for a long time if disturbed. My understanding is that because brass is such a soft metal, this fine grit embeds itself in the brass and over time will cause the bolt to first jam up and then finally freeze in place. This was one reason why George was death on metal to metal connections: he'd had enough boltsnaps load up with this grit and freeze on him that he had to then cut free when switching sling bottles. It isn't that this substance doesn't impact the SS boltsnaps, but the chromed SS boltsnaps are far harder and more resistant to the grit than the much softer brass. Thus they tend to 'jam' (or suffer the effects of the embedded grit) far less frequently than the softer brass boltsnaps.
At least this is my understanding, Andy...its not the springs, its the movement of the bolt itself within the channel that is degraded over time by the embedded grit.
(YMMV...)
Doc
