How long can you leave a loaded magazine before the springs fail?

[Andy54Hawken]

You are a trusted leader and voice of reason Andy. An example for all. At times.

Yep! I can always serve as a bad example!
Andy

 

[MrMillspecer]

Yep! I can always serve as a bad example!
Andy

You make me a badder person. So thank you. Society has taught me it's not my fault.
One of the few I know that could parallel park a train.

 

[Hedrin]

I've had a Smith 5906 as my bed side gun since I bought it new for just that purpose in about 1990. Take it to the range every year and shoot off the old ammo and replace with new, then a clean and oil. Factory spring seems just as good today as when I first loaded it.

 

[Alfonse]

There is so much internet misinformation on this topic. Loaded mag springs will weaken. The best write up I have seen on the topic is in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Wolf Gunsprings website:

How often should I change magazine spring? Should I unload my magazines, rotate magazines, load with fewer than the maximum rounds?

Under that question you will find the answer. In summary, mag springs will weaken when stored compressed. How much depends quite a bit on magazine design and how much stressed the spring is when compressed.​

<broken link removed>

 

[BigStick]

There is so much internet misinformation on this topic. Loaded mag springs will weaken. The best write up I have seen on the topic is in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Wolf Gunsprings website:

How often should I change magazine spring? Should I unload my magazines, rotate magazines, load with fewer than the maximum rounds?

Under that question you will find the answer. In summary, mag springs will get weaken when stored. How much depends quite a bit on magazine design and how much stressed the spring is when compressed.​

<broken link removed>

Soooooo, the company selling mag springs says they wear out, so you definitely neeeeeed to buy more mag springs...

Not saying there isn't some truth to that, just found it humorous. In general, fatigue (repeated compression cycles) is what wears out springs if they are designed properly with quality metal. If you really want to look into it, check out some spring design calculations.

 

[Alfonse]

Soooooo, the company selling mag springs says they wear out, so you definitely neeeeeed to buy more mag springs...

Not saying there isn't some truth to that, just found it humorous. In general, fatigue (repeated compression cycles) is what wears out springs if they are designed properly with quality metal. If you really want to look into it, check out some spring design calculations.

I guess it is funny. Of course, that is also one of the companies that has engineers and tests things. I don't know why they used the term fatigue, as it isn't really correct. Maybe they figured more people would understand it. The process is called creep, where a material elongates over time and stress. You can read more about it here https://web.iit.edu/sites/web/files...demic-resource-center/pdfs/MaterialsCreep.pdf and here Creep (deformation) - Wikipedia.

In gun mag springs, creep is caused by the relatively high stress over a long period of exposure. It has nothing to do with cycling, which might induce fatigue. You can test it yourself. Get two new magazine springs. Compress one to near solid (as they are in a loaded mag) and zip tie it that way. In a month, compare it to the new spring and measure its length. Tie it back up, repeat in 6 months, etc. It will get shorter every time. So, it would be silly to assume that does not affect the force the spring is exerting on the rounds in the loaded mag.

Anyway, now that I've said this on the internet, it must be true too....

 

[DB is Here]

I've always kept every Magazine topped off, I've only had one "go bad". It was a magpul. The only reason it went bad is I drove over it with my Dodge...bad Dodge.

 

[XManSV]

Until way past the powder has changed into something else and is not usable (decades+)

 

[Velzey]

Certain Mags for certain firearms have been known to have springs that go bad after time weather loaded a lot of stored loaded! FN/FAL were/are known for springs going soft! I have replaced all my FAL mag springs with new HD replacements, AND keep "Kits" for them! I would say that most new mags care probably fine, no real need to worry!

This is funny, I have a batch of 10 FAL surplus mixed mfg mags. That I bought in the early 1980's. I have kept them all loaded to the max, and have used this batch of 10 mags as my main mags.....AND they just wont die lol
I have all the spare springs and followers for them, and they just keep on working.

On another note I have 3 1911 magazines that my gpa brought back with him from WW2. Yah same thing I keep them all loaded and used as some of my main mags. They to will not die.

I have some Tapco AK mags that are brand new in the wrap, and the springs have gone to crap with no tension on them.

 

[Dan Adams]

The springs wear out because of repeated compression and release, not generally from just static compression.
I've read stories of WW2 1911 magazines that were fully loaded and stored till 1990 and functioned 100% when tried.

A couple of magazine articles in the last year support that fact: repeated compression and release cause spring wear. Springs in loaded or unloaded magazines do not wear out.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I have a bunch of Imbel's that I picked up from Sarco several years ago, and they came with brand new springs, so I have not had to replace any of them! I have several more from all over the world and most have had to have the springs replaced except for the Rhodesian mags, they have never had any trouble, so I leave them alone! I keep 16 mags loaded and I keep One Brit 10 round in the gun at all times, and it has not gone soft yet!

 

[Stomper]

 

[2Wheels4Ever]

The only time you are going to have a potential problem is if you are using a polymer mag, like a pmag, and it gets really hot. i.e. sitting out in the sun or a hot car. The feedlips might deform.

 

[Stomper]

Unless you use OEM Glock mags, because they're metal lined from the feed-lips to the end-plate.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Yep! I can always serve as a bad example!
Andy

Not you Andy, when I look at your moniker I always see a halo over your head.....
But then again I know that you are a combat veteran and that halo is actually barbed wire...

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

Can Gun Magazine Springs Wear Out?

 

[Caveman Jim]

Unless you use OEM Glock mags, because they're metal lined from the fee-lips to the end-plate.

I wouldn't know because I have never owned a Clock but thanks for that information, good to know these things.

 

[Stomper]

I wouldn't know because I have never owned a Clock but thanks for that information, good to know these things.

They run like precision Glock-work.... LOL

 

[ChiefStealth]

I would not say that any of my mag springs have ever "failed", or "worn-out." They do get less strong after being compressed down by full ammo loads.
Once a month, or when I go to the range, I empty the mag, pull the spring out to a longer length, put the mag back together. Works fine. I've got some good mags from H&K that are working fine since 1995.
I do mags for a Shield 9 the same way. I do the 5.56 PMags about every three months. Hence, why I built the speed loader.

 

[crstrode]

Once a month, or when I go to the range, I empty the mag, pull the spring out to a longer length, put the mag back together. Works fine.

Stretching a spring beyond its normal range of motion is certain to accelerate failure. A good spring will not "take a set". A spring made of poor material will.

Think about the springs in a magazine - even when a magazine is empty the spring is under compression. If that was not so, the follower would be loose and free to rattle.