Life of Mag spring when kept full?

[JOERM]

I know that the spring material today is way better then 20 years ago but back then I think it was advised to not keep your mag loaded for to long, not sure what that time limit was though.

Is it ok to keep them fully loaded for long periods of time like 6 months? I have most of mine full but maybe I should empty them once in a while and let them sit a bit? Not sure why I do this, I guess just in case I need one quick? Not likely though. I'm sure there are a few here that can come up with a good answer.


Joe

 

[USAF385]

I don't like to leave my mags loaded either. If it's a gun I prefer to have a loaded mag for at all times, like my SW40VE, I change the mag every week (I have four mags). Despite how good the material may be, it's still a spring. Over time springs will loose their.. spring.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I like to rotate my magazines as well. In his book "Shooting to Live" William Fairbairn said they rotated magazines monthly. I recall reading in one of the gun magazines the story of an M1911 magazine left loaded for 50(?) years, worked fine. Probably depends on the quality of the spring.

 

[OKFC05]

"I recall reading in one of the gun magazines the story of an M1911 magazine left loaded for 50(?) years, worked fine. Probably depends on the quality of the spring. "

Give that man a cigar!!
If a quality spring is operated within its elastic limit, it is the number of cycles that wears it out, not how long it is left loaded. Springs cannot be "rested" by unloading them and letting them sit.

If is poor quality or poorly designed (operates past its elastic limit) leaving it loaded ( or just using it) will ruin it quickly.

 

[JOERM]

"I recall reading in one of the gun magazines the story of an M1911 magazine left loaded for 50(?) years, worked fine. Probably depends on the quality of the spring. "

Give that man a cigar!!
If a quality spring is operated within its elastic limit, it is the number of cycles that wears it out, not how long it is left loaded. Springs cannot be "rested" by unloading them and letting them sit.

If is poor quality or poorly designed (operates past its elastic limit) leaving it loaded ( or just using it) will ruin it quickly.

That about sums it up, thanks OKFC05. Joe

 

[USAF385]

Another reason I like to swap my magazines is because I can feel a difference in resistance when loading them if I don't use one as often as the others. Since I don't shoot my 40 as much as my other guns, and like to work my magazines equally, I do this by swapping them each week. Obviously not the issue you were originally commenting about though.

If you're comfortable keeping it loaded then go for it.

 

[ChadW]

Another reason I like to swap my magazines is because I can feel a difference in resistance when loading them if I don't use one as often as the others.

Ah! I have that problem too. I can tell which is which with my eyes closed just because of the resistance difference. I'll be swapping like that from now on.

 

[S/W - Lifer]

This may help. My issued Model 19 was replaced by a high quality, high capacity 9mm autoloader. I seldom shot it but all my mags were kept loaded. Seven or eight years later I went to a tactical team where we did a lot of shooting. My mags quickly showed the springs were done and I drew a double issue of new mags, which worked perfectly. I believe that leaving the mags loaded over time defeated the springs.

Another concern with the auto, not related to your thread, is that my unbreakable wonder nine, broke. The reason for the breakage was worn springs in the pistol. Armorers constantly check pistol springs to insure they meet specs. Springs are also replaced after a certain number of rounds are fired through the pistol. Springs, it seems, are critical in an auto.

Yep, I know revolvers have them, but unless someone cut or tampered with a spring or strain screw, I have yet to have a S&W factory installed spring fail me.

I suggest loading 2 or 3 rounds less than max in your mags. Those last few rounds in a high capacity 9mm mag really add to the spring load. I'd rather have a few less rounds available in a reliable mag than a mag I can't count on.

Just my 2 cents worth on the subject.

 

[Photog]

I bought a 1913 vintage Colt 1911 back in 1976. The seller's grandfather brought it back from WWI. It was loaded with 6 rounds of 1918 head stamped ammo. It had been loaded and kept in his truck since he returned from WWI in mid 1918. Along with the gun came an old sock containing about 20 more rounds of the vintage ammo.
I unloaded the magazine, cleaned the gun and magazine, loaded it with some early 70's ball ammo and went shooting. Functioned and fed fine. I ran many rounds through that gun using the original magazine. Worked fine, no problems. Still shoot it occasionally, using the original magazine. So that was just shy of 60 years for sure, and maybe longer!

 

[rburg]

I don't know if you read it in a magazine or not. You may have also read it here. When my father died in 1980, I inherited his odds and ends. One of those "odds" was a bunch of WWII vintage 1911 mags. All loaded with 1940s/ WWII vintage ammo, wrapped in their original oiled paper. As issued near the end of WWII. I had little use for them at the time, so they were sacrificed to the experimental Gawds.

My unscientific process was pretty simple. Some times when I went shooting, I'd take one of my mags along and shoot a few rounds out of it. Then I'd put it back in its oil paper until the next time. One by one, the mags were emptied. About one every year or two. By the early 1990s, I'd used the last one. So I did the logical thing. I found a box of Milsurp ammo and reloaded them, restarting the process. Those didn't last as long and by about 2000 I just sold the mags at a gunshow. Sure, I should have kept them. But after over 55 years of being loaded and slowly released, I saw no malfunctions. I won't live another 55 years. But new mags will. Loaded, unloaded, or partially loaded. So will the ammo, too.

All this fear of springs going bad, ammo only lasting a few months is just bunk. The kind you grow veggies in. American produced magazines, mostly, are made from top quality steel and springs. If anyone here has proof of mags failing, please present it here. I wouldn't be surprised it Lorcin, Jennings, or such produced some that were failure prone. But I've never seen a failed first line mag from a major maker. And even the second line makers (I kind of include Ruger in that, along with Bersa, etc.) seem to produce serviceable mags. There are some abusive parts of our sport who do seem to be able to destroy every and all mags they come into. But that happens quickly, not over time. And its not normal use.

 

[enfield]

"I recall reading in one of the gun magazines the story of an M1911 magazine left loaded for 50(?) years, worked fine. Probably depends on the quality of the spring. "

Give that man a cigar!!
If a quality spring is operated within its elastic limit, it is the number of cycles that wears it out, not how long it is left loaded. Springs cannot be "rested" by unloading them and letting them sit.

If is poor quality or poorly designed (operates past its elastic limit) leaving it loaded ( or just using it) will ruin it quickly.

Listen to the man!! This is the straight engineering answer. No amount of anecdotal evidence to the contrary can contradict this!

Good quality, well-designed spring systems will live much longer than you will. Poor quality or poorly designed springs will fail quickly. If you want to find out which you have in your magazines, leave them loaded. It's better that they fail in the safe than in your carry gun.

 

[Walter Rego]

There was an article published in the 1996/50th Anniversary Edition of Gun Digest by Bob Bell. He writes of taking a GI magazine that he personally loaded in 1945 with steel case ammo and had remained loaded ever since, and firing it out of his WWII bring back Ithaca M1911A1. He had 100% functioning.

 

[Storm52]

As previously point out, it is the action of unloading (firing) and reloading the magazine springs that cause wear. I keep all of mine full. Some get used a minimum of bi-monthly others not in 9 months.

 

[29aholic]

Personally I store all my 5.56 in AR mags in a couple of big ammo cans. FWIW I do short load them just in case. I put 25rds in 30rd mags, and 15 in 20 rounders. If the balloon goes up or the Zombies come knocking I dont want have to be loading mags.

 

[cshoff]

I have 6 mags for my SW40GVE's. All of them have been loaded since Feb. 2007 other than the time periods where they are unloaded while being used on the range, which has been hundreds of times. I have a suitcase full of various mags for our Ruger's, Glocks, Bersa's, Walther's, and Taurus' that we use for our CCW classes and they have been subject to hundreds of load/unload cycles since 2003 as well, and I've yet to have one fail at any time. By comparison, I've wore out several speedloaders over the same time period.

Springs, if of decent quality and not pushed beyond their design limits, will last for many, many years.

 

[7.62foryou]

I keep my mags loaded, never had a problem. Those that don't keep them loaded for fear of weaken springs, do you also store your firearms in the "fired" position,with the firing pin spring relieved for the same reason?

 

[Nightowl]

Other than shooting them about 4 times a year, I have kept my Glock 22 magazines loaded for more than 10 years. No problems yet.

With the price of a magazine less than a loaded box of 50 rounds, it really does not seem to be much of an issue, financially.

 

[GatorFarmer]

I can attest that Lorcin mags do indeed wear out, but they're made of ball point pen grade springs, so you can actually stretch them by yanking on them and get them to work again. Maybe not the best thing to do, but... well it is a Lorcin .25 that I have, so really, who cares what happens to it.

Anyway, don't leave things like BAR mags or the magazine in your old Combloc M44 loaded. Those mags will go bad owing to the leaf type spring. Regarding BAR mags, that's what I was told. Regarding an Combloc M44, I had it happen to me.

There's also some discussion as to whether certain makes of AR mags, usually the GI type ones, really ought be left fully loaded for a long period of time owing to potential issues with the feed lips. The Magpul mags that everyone is so fond of lately come with a cover that you're supposed to keep snapped in place if you leave them loaded to prevent this.

Some companies also cranked out magazines of full capacity prior to the 94 AWB and these sometimes still turn up new in the package as "new" mags, since so many were made. I received "pre ban" S&W 5900 series magazines as my "new" mags purchased from CDNN as late as 2006. During this "crank them out period", quality control seems to have slipped. One of the S&W mags seems to have issues with ejecting properly and quality is even visibly different than recent MecGar mags or 1970s 59 mags. The specs probably were off from time to time.

I see no reason to doubt S/W Lifer's experience, thus I'm wondering if it wasn't S&W 5900 series mags that went bad dating from the "crank them out" era.

The Check Mate Industries - CMI - Beretta 92 mags are also problematic. These are frequently encountered as military contract mags, but can cause problems if actually loaded to full capacity.

Then there is the matter of leaving tube fed shotguns loaded for prolonged periods of time. If you do, you may well soon notice that the plastic hulled shells can become notably deformed from the pressure. This might or might not cause a jam. It's been posted about before, usually reported by Mossberg 500 owners. I've noticed deformation myself of buckshot shells left thus loaded. This ammo gets pulled and throw in the practice pile.

 

[sjmjax]

This subject has long been debated.

It's my opinion that there is no single definitive answer. As pointed out by several posts, one important factor on spring life is the number of cycles. Another is the quality of the spring steel and its heat-treatment. One often overlooked factor is the design of the spring itself. Not all magazine springs are the same in how they handle and distribute their internal stresses. And the one I think most important is the design of the magazine and the intensity of the stresses a fully loaded magazine places on the spring.

Many older "traditional" magazine designs like the original 7 round, 1911 mags don't full compress and heavily stress the spring. As noted, it's not unusual to find one of these mags left loaded for decades and still function fine. On the other hand, more modern designs that stress maximum cartridge capacity, like a Glock 17, push the spring closer to it's physical compression limit. So, it's not surprising that these magazines left loaded for any extended length of time show signs of losing tension.

One more question to consider is just how much spring force can be lost without affecting function? Consider the difference in force required to overcome the weight and friction of lifting 17 rounds of 9mm in a double stack mag vs the effort needed to raise 6-7 rounds of .32 acp in a single stack. If a spring lost say 10% of its force over an extended period of time, it might not be noticed in the .32 but might result in complete failure to function in the hi-cap 9mm magazine.

So, that's a long winded way of saying.... "it depends".

 

[Texas Star]

I can attest that Lorcin mags do indeed wear out, but they're made of ball point pen grade springs, so you can actually stretch them by yanking on them and get them to work again. Maybe not the best thing to do, but... well it is a Lorcin .25 that I have, so really, who cares what happens to it.

Anyway, don't leave things like BAR mags or the magazine in your old Combloc M44 loaded. Those mags will go bad owing to the leaf type spring. Regarding BAR mags, that's what I was told. Regarding an Combloc M44, I had it happen to me.

There's also some discussion as to whether certain makes of AR mags, usually the GI type ones, really ought be left fully loaded for a long period of time owing to potential issues with the feed lips. The Magpul mags that everyone is so fond of lately come with a cover that you're supposed to keep snapped in place if you leave them loaded to prevent this.

Some companies also cranked out magazines of full capacity prior to the 94 AWB and these sometimes still turn up new in the package as "new" mags, since so many were made. I received "pre ban" S&W 5900 series magazines as my "new" mags purchased from CDNN as late as 2006. During this "crank them out period", quality control seems to have slipped. One of the S&W mags seems to have issues with ejecting properly and quality is even visibly different than recent MecGar mags or 1970s 59 mags. The specs probably were off from time to time.

I see no reason to doubt S/W Lifer's experience, thus I'm wondering if it wasn't S&W 5900 series mags that went bad dating from the "crank them out" era.

The Check Mate Industries - CMI - Beretta 92 mags are also problematic. These are frequently encountered as military contract mags, but can cause problems if actually loaded to full capacity.

Then there is the matter of leaving tube fed shotguns loaded for prolonged periods of time. If you do, you may well soon notice that the plastic hulled shells can become notably deformed from the pressure. This might or might not cause a jam. It's been posted about before, usually reported by Mossberg 500 owners. I've noticed deformation myself of buckshot shells left thus loaded. This ammo gets pulled and throw in the practice pile.

Gator-

Thanks for that data on the shotgun shells. And I do pull the trigger on my M-870 when putting it away, to avoid problems with leaving it cocked.

T-Star