Assuming you have 2 coil springs of comparable rate, wire diameter, and coil diameter.
The main difference lies in the number of free coils.
How exactly does reducing the number of coils affect spring rate? I recall that it would increase the rate (makes it stiffer) but others say that within a given amount of spring compression distance, reducing the number of free coils isn't the same as just getting a stiffer spring.
Can someone shed some light on this?
The specific application would be the recoil spring for a Glock pistol.