Science tells us that a fully depressed mag spring will lose it elasticity over a number of years. So it makes sense (i think ??) that if you have a flush mag with one in the chamber (added pressure on mag spring) in your EDC and it's been there forever you may want to purchase a new one.

Any scientist here on the forum that can comment on this?????

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Hipcocked45

Actually science tells us that a spring in USE will loose elasticity over a number of years. A compressed spring does not. (Assuming it's a quality made spring from a know manufacturer with a history of good quality)

My carry mag has been continuously loaded since 2004ish.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

I never have replaced any carry on

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Spin The Wheel

I have 5 mags for my 6906. I shoot the 12 rds (11+1) twice a year and load another mag with 12, chambering the 1st rd. So each mag spends 6 mos out of 2 1/2 years in the gun with 1 rd less than capacity. Been working 100% since 1994. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Ditto... number of threads on this subject.... and anecdotal stories of magazines loaded for 20 years- WWII and even IIRC WWI or shortly after........ that still functioned...........

I've got an old Ruger P91DC that has had the mag fully loaded since 1992 and it still runs 100%. Don't see it being a problem.

I have multiple mags for my Shield, and i use each about the same in range trips (at minimum its monthly) and practice to ensure they all are consistent and work with no issues. I figure when i'm at the point of carrying, then occasionally i'll run thru the mag w/ the SD rounds while at the range which allows me to get some add'l practice in and rotate the mag and ammo as well.

At this point I don't see me having one designated carry mag

Never. Although I have replaced springs. Actually I disassemble, clean, inspect, and put new springs in any used magazines I acquire.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

How does having one in the chamber add pressure to the mag spring?

I was kinda lost on that too

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Cite please?

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Retired Career Security Guard

My perception...no tech basis for comment..based on the fact of loading a full mag and the pressure to seat mag..then racking one in chamber and removing mag adding one back to mag and reloading mag..seems to require more pressure to seat mag after putting one in chamber..

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Hipcocked45

I'll bite. I front end load the magazine purchases w/ the EDC.

My current EDC came w/ one 6-round magazine w/ an extended grip base plate. I ordered two 7-round flush mount mags w/ the pistol. After a successful break in period, I ordered two flush mount 6-rounders specifically for concealed carry.

I carry the pistol w/ 1 round chambered & 6 in the low profile mag. I carry one 7-rounder in a mag pouch. I store the "spare" 6 & 7-rounder empty, switching them after shooting at the range -- about every two weeks. I mainly use the original 6-rounder w/ extension for dry fire practice.

I load & fire all the magazines while target shooting, cleaning them with compressed air, a cloth & nylon brush between reloads. I always strip & clean new magazines but take apart used mags only after considerable cycles or massive dust exposure.

Youtube..fully loaded mags stored for 5 years..vs not loaded for 5 years..about 12 mags in all..3 different guns...6 or 8 loaded for 5 years and 6 or 4 not....all 5 year springs removed and compared with non 5 year springs of same gun and cal....all 5 year loaded springs were shorter than the non loaded springs and a few were mis shaped....

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Hipcocked45

Here's a post from THR from an Engineer named Walt Sherill. It's typical of his posts but I would suggest you go to THR and search Walt SheriLL/ Springs and sit back and read.

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Retired Career Security Guard

And, you lost me right there

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Retired Career Security Guard

My carry magazines get randomly rotated every time I go to the range but they essentially stay loaded for years at a time. I have yet to have one fail on me

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Retired Career Security Guard

To understand why i asked the original question look at a youtube vid by shadetree armor...you will know which one by the pic of 12 mags lined up on a chart.....

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Hipcocked45

All of my carry mags are the original equipment, when I go to the range I use a "range" mag. One of my odd personal habits is to replace the ammunition in all loaded weapons on my birthday, new ammunition every year, regardless. I am also anal about cleaning, I clean all firearms after use...unless I am shooting again the next day, then they are only wiped clean. I've always been very careful about over lubrication around magazines or in cylinders where ammunition is going to be sitting for any length of time, lightly oiled is the rule, no synthetics.

I would but i am on a smartphone and the vid has no addressvshowing on my phone and i really dont know how to get it here......

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Hipcocked45

Springs have been around for centuries. And today's springs are better than ever. Everywhere you look something has a spring in it.

They wear out or break due to repeated use. Also known as metal fatigue. You would be hard pressed to wear out a quality magazine with routine use.

All of my carry magazines sit fully loaded. Never a problem. Never worried about it.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

So... You're not as smart as your smart phone?

WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

Once every hundred years, whether it needs it or not.

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Retired Career Security Guard

Re: "Wolff Springs Website..."

"Rocker valves..."??? Never have seen such a thing on the couple of hundred engines I've rebuilt. Lotsa valve springs and rocker arms, though. Maybe UFO technology? I'll have to check with my buddies at Area 51...

ANY spring will eventually lose it's engineered specs. That being said, I won't lose any sleep over swapping out mags on any specified date. I do it when I think of it, maybe every six months to a year. Thumb the rounds out, inspect the loads and stuff them back in a "rested" unit. Good to go!!!

Just thought of something: I hope none of this gets everyone worrying about the springs in their revolvers. Things could get panicky in a hurry...

Bet you've never had a typo either

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Retired Career Security Guard

Would have to guess it has more to do with the alloy, quality and processing of the spring than anything.

I've 1911 mags that are 100 years old which work fine. As well as 1980's vintage Glock mags. But whilst I was working at Glock in the late '80s, they made several changes to their mag springs as some were failing in a year or two. (All I remember at this point is there were "copper washed" springs, "dark" springs and "bright" springs.)

Oldest semi-auto mags I have are from the early 1900s: Colt .38 ACP 1902 and some .38 ACP 1903s. With a Military Model .38 ACP mag thrown in. They all still work just fine!

Same for the various WWII Inglis 9mm 13 rd mags.

BTW, I can't recall ever having a STEN, M3 or MP-40 mag spring go bad, and they're all very high capacity.

It's a sample of exactly one, which is not a statistical proof of probability. But this gun was kept loaded in a car for 12 years by me, no lube or mag changes, worked fine.

1994 SW9V fired after being loaded for 12 years

I remember Bob Bell, who used to write the optics column for Gun Digest fired a magazine of .45 ACP that had been loaded since he brought it back from Europe after WWII on (I think) the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, and had no problems.

It obviously never hurts to take care of your equipment, but I do think the modern trend is to overthink a lot of things. That's never been a problem for me.

SMOKE:

Occasional brain fade, but I usually proof read.

exactly what he said.....I bought some used hi caps that were 25 years old. cleaned them up and put fresh wolff springs in them.they will last me another 25 years of use. i wouldn't be worried about any mag springs wearing out in modern firearms.

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S&W BG380, S&W 915 9mm

We see lots of comments like this where people use the term "science" or "physics" but never actually do the science or even read the articles published by scientists. In fact, science tells us the exact opposite of what you just said.

Springs held compressed will indeed lose power over time. This has been proven many time. I did my own test that showed just that. Also, I've worked in a calibration lab where we calibrated torque wrenches and could measure exactly how much power a compressed spring from a torque wrench lost over a specific time.

The video Smoke posted is a decent example of a reasonable test.


The question is not will they lose power, but how much power do they lose? Is that loss enough to affect function? There are multiple examples showing that in most cases it is not enough to reduce the function.

So, leave your mags full. Leave the hammer cocked. The gun will work fine if otherwise properly maintained.

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Freedom isn't free.

I have had the same three colt 8 round stainless mags loaded for almost 20 years. I shot them last week, and reloaded them. No telling when I will shoot them again

Revolver. No wuckers.

But when I owned and carried automatics I heard a lot of conflicting opinions on this. It's been a number of years, but I think I compromised by loading magazines one round light. I wouldn't do that today. I'll be dead and gone before a mag spring would have time to think about weakening, if that's even a problem.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I have two 45 magazines that are left over from when I shot competition in the late 1950s. They've each had at least 10,000 rounds run through them and they each funcion peerfectly.

What does science tell me about the springs in my couch?

You need to lose some weight?

/ducks

Correct. Now that I have lost some weight, my couch works a little better. Still not optimum, whatever exactly that is. However, changing out the springs is more trouble than it's worth. Much easier to maintain mags with decent springs.

BTW, I have been playing with guns for over fifty years, and have had no need to replace even ONE mag spring, ever, of the many dozens that I have owned. I did once replace a trigger spring on an FN LAR with a cut-down rebound slide spring from an S&W, but that was because the stock spring was unnecessarily strong for its function on a semi-auto (may have been unnecessarily strong, altogether, but I don't know much about that).

People have shot mags that were loaded in WW2 and they worked fine.....Compression or decompression does not kill a spring.....constant(many times) compression.decompression is what kills a spring......I am using mags from the 50's and WW2 that still work fine......So its a non issue...........

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S&W Accumulator

While it is often written about in Gun-rags, I can not say that I've personally experienced Spring fatigue. When my Dad passed away 6 years ago I found a half dozen or so loaded WWll vintage Gov't issue 1911 Mag's fully loaded with vintage Military .45 acp hard ball rounds. I can not state with exact certainty how long they were loaded but would bet at least 60 years or so. I brought them to the Range 6 years ago and shot them all out - NO FTF, NO hick-ups, and the Mag springs were like they were made yesterday. In actuality, they felt much stronger than my commercial Colt springs that came with my Gold Cup & Gov't model. I also own many ORIGINAL Colt magazines for Model M 1903's 1908's (.25acp, .32acp, .380 acp) that are almost 100 years old. The original springs work perfectly!

Just my personal experience and can not state that every single mag spring will exhibit similar properties - so do what your common sense tells you.

The recoil springs in my autoloaders cycle a ton more than the mag springs do.