I'm no expert on these things, but a spring that is canted like that could gall the insides of the reciever and make a "screendoor spring" sound when you cock the gun. Again I'm no expert, but I would think loose fitting spring guides would do that as well as possibly some detonation of oils in the air chamber.....not so sure about the dry firing doing that, but I doubt it would help:) Best off to replace it, and if possible with tighter fitting guides, or if not available possibly the "shrinkwrap" guide treatment. Use only quality lubes and tars like the Macarri products, and keep that stuff out of the compression chamber. I pulled a spring out of a cheapo Chinese Fast Deer that looked like that and the gun was definately detonating prior to teardown, at dusk you could see a visible flame about 4" long come out the end of the barrel when it was shot. I'm sure someone with a little more expertise will chime in shortly. Happy tuning!