A firm contact between the surfaces of the ball studs and those in the drag link is not the same thing as bottoming out the spring less a half turn. Sounds like a sure fire way to induce premature wear unless your springs are really tired.
Unless there is excess wear on the ball studs, there would be no movement fore and aft of the drag link through the entire right-to-left-to-right steering cycle.
The springs were 1 1/32" when new. Anything less that 1" would be increasingly suspect.