Leaving Magazines loaded.

[Stomper]

Bah... engineers... LOL!!

I don't know about all the articles and engineers' input, but I have left a couple 15-round magazines for my Beratta 92F fully loaded for over TEN YEARS on the shelf (never ONCE unloading them) and just recently slapped them in the pistol and cylcled all the rounds through without so much as a hiccup, then promptly re-loaded them and put them back on the shelf!

 

[treemanx]

The only personal experience I can throw in here happened years ago with a Ruger P95DC that I used to own. I kept both clips fully loaded at all times, and over the course of about 3 years of not a whole bunch of shooting I noticed the spring getting a little sag in it. To the point where the last bullet of the clip had alot less pressure on it then it should have. They were factory mags, and I ended up replacing the spring to fix the problem. I have always stored my main pistol and rifle fully loaded, but since talking with my brother I have opted to pull out one round or have one in the chamber with the safety on. One round to me is worth maybe extending the overall life of my mags, but honestly its not that big of a deal. This is a less filling tastes great kind of conversation, and I dont think it really matters much one way or the other. Its all personal preference.

 

[Spray-n-pray]

I keep ALL mags loaded ALL the time. Zombies don't wait for you to reload.

 

[Kennedy]

Zombies...

 

[treemanx]

Zombies do rock. I have the best Zombie movie collection youve ever seen!

 

[Kennedy]

Yeah I have quite a collection myself.

 

[gallogiro]

You know, now that I think back, I did ruin a magazine once.

But it was a cheap steel mag for my sks. And it wasn't the spring that went bad, it was the lips of the mag opened up with the pressure, what junk.

 

[Artilleryman]

I was 'killed' twice back in my Army days during tactical training exercises due to failed mag springs. In both cases, the spring snapped in half in the middle of firing. But in all fairness, mags in circulation with the military do takes lots of abuse.

 

[Gunner3456]

JMHO, but I don't think that the occasional anecdotal happening can replace science. Just as with almost anything mechanical, you get an occasional lemon.

For instance, tear down a 50 year old car engine - say a 57 Chevy 283 and test the valve springs for pressure at the correct installed height. Maybe two of them will be weak, and the other 14 may still be within original specs. How many times did those springs compress, and never fully decompress? They were always under considerable compression, remembering that some cylinders had the springs fully compressed at rest since each cylinder was always at a different place in the four stroke cycle from the others.

Since those springs are captive and never get over compressed or stretched, they seem to last "forever."

I hope Cammenga and other manufacturers carefully test their springs, and I've been tempted to rig up a way to test them myself. (Compress each one to the same exact length, perhaps half-way compressed, and see if they require the same measured force to get them to that length, just as you would for engine valve springs.)

Any weak ones I'd throw away, and then I'd trust the others to retain strength indefinitely under normal compression.

$.02

 

[Artilleryman]

I don't doubt any of the engineering calculations that show the strength, resilience, or indestructability of springs and won't dispute that as designed & under ideal conditions that they have amazing capabilities. But as with any product there are some pieces that roll off the assemble line on a Monday or a Friday after Joe factory worker had a bad night....or somebody in QA was slacking...and would guess that with time & use any inherent flaws may be compounded. I don't think it would be outlandish to suggest that additional stresses such as remaining compressed might add to that. So while it may be a very rare occurrence, I can see how it could potentially be an issue. I prefer to err on the side of caution on this issue.

 

[DingoRacer]

As the others have said, it is NOT being under a constant load that weakens a metal spring but the number of compression and release cycles; aka metal fatigue.
However, failure to feed usually will come from either bent/cracked feed lips, or from misshapen cases in the magazine. This is one reason the PMAGs come with the cover that relieves the pressure form the feed lips.

And here's some extra reading material that goes into more depth and research:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_163_27/ai_99130369/

 

[spengo]

As many people have probably stated before me, the type of springs used in magazines will not be weakened when stored compressed. The thread is tl;dr though lol. An ancient 50yo magazine that has been kept loaded all that time will still work fine today, unless something else such as rust killed it of course.

I store my magazines loaded all the time, that said I store my 30rd AR-15 magazines loaded to 28rds to relieve pressure on the feed lips. With my pmags I load them to 30 cuz they have a feed lips protector.

 

[darkminstrel]

I've read this thread topic in every gun forum I've ever visited. The answer is; either leave them loaded, or leave them unloaded. The constant flexing of the spring will wear it out if you repeatedly put the spring under load, and then remove the load.

 

[dario541]

I read once that you should consider valve springs in your car's engine. They are ALWAYS under compression and when the engine is running, they are flexing in and out hundreds to thousands of times per minute. And, I have never heard of one failing! So, I say, it should be ok to leave them loaded and not worry about it.

 

[darkminstrel]

I read once that you should consider valve springs in your car's engine. They are ALWAYS under compression and when the engine is running, they are flexing in and out hundreds to thousands of times per minute. And, I have never heard of one failing! So, I say, it should be ok to leave them loaded and not worry about it.

You've obviously never owned a Bug.

 

[dario541]

You've obviously never owned a Bug.

As a matter of fact, I was a Volkswagon mechanic exclusively from 1969 until 1982 which was the "heyday" of the Volkswagon. I have overhauled 1000's of VW engines. Breaking #3 valve was the weakness of those air cooled engines. I have repaired untold numbers of broken valve engines, and I honestly do NOT remember any problems with the springs themselves, only the valve (#3) which runs hotter than the others and was prone to break. And I owned 3 bugs and 1 bus during that time.

 

[darkminstrel]

As a matter of fact, I was a Volkswagon mechanic exclusively from 1969 until 1982 which was the "heyday" of the Volkswagon.

You're my new best friend!

But I was more referencing the new SCAT springs that are reported to have droop after a short period of time. Original German is still the best!

But back to the topic; I do have one mag that was issued with my formerly police duty weapon that suffered from spring droop. But after how many thousand rounds and reloads I'll never know. I also have a 1942 Mosin Nagant that has the same floor plate spring(not a coil spring, but the same principle) which is as tight as new.

 

[dario541]

You're my new best friend!

But I was more referencing the new SCAT springs that are reported to have droop after a short period of time. Original German is still the best!

But back to the topic; I do have one mag that was issued with my formerly police duty weapon that suffered from spring droop. But after how many thousand rounds and reloads I'll never know. I also have a 1942 Mosin Nagant that has the same floor plate spring(not a coil spring, but the same principle) which is as tight as new.

I believe that anything that man makes could end up having a flaw that could shorten its life. But generall speaking, I don't think that keeping springs compressed will hurt them.
Anyhow, keep your powder dry and keep on shooting and I hope to communicate with you again sometime.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I've read this thread topic in every gun forum I've ever visited. The answer is; either leave them loaded, or leave them unloaded. The constant flexing of the spring will wear it out if you repeatedly put the spring under load, and then remove the load.

+1

A quality spring does not wear if it is compressed or not, what wears them is movement. I have my Granddads Colt vest pocket. He carried it when I was a kid in the fifties, I carry it now on occasions. The original mag functions fine and it's 90+ years old and has been compressed most of that time. YMMV