Playing with custom springs

Springs can be pretty expensive, especially if you don't know exactly what you want and have to experiment with different sizes and spring rates.  Google to the rescue -- there was an Instructable on how to make your own springs!  It looked ridiculously easy, and it was!  I ordered some stainless steel spring back wire from McMaster and whipped up a test spring in less than 15 seconds.

When I figure out what I size and spacing I need, I'll print a custom drill jig so that I can make every spring for the magazine release as identical as possible.