Any reason not to keep FAL mags loaded to max?

[The Real Hawkeye]

I'm referring to 20 round mags. Anyone do that and have any reliability problems? Just wondering if I should load them up to max capacity or one or two down from max. Thanks.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

I haven't had any problems with my FAL mags (metric). I keep them all but one loaded to max capacity and the other empty. Each month I unload one and load up the empty one. That keeps them in rotation so one is always resting. Worst case scenerio, you will have to replace the magazine spring every couple of years. So far I have only replaced a follower, all the springs have been great. I bought all my mags used. Remember, it is the action of compressing and decompressing the spring that wears it out faster, not constant compression.

 

[MechAg94]

If it is not constant compression that is a problem, why do you care of one mag is resting?

To me, the only way it would be bad is if the max loaded compression point was close to the max compression for the spring. If that is a concern, you could load to 18 or 19 rounds in the mags that you are not using. That is easy to do and doesn't give up the utility of having loaded mags available.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

If it is not constant compression that is a problem, why do you care of one mag is resting?

To me, the only way it would be bad is if the max loaded compression point was close to the max compression for the spring. If that is a concern, you could load to 18 or 19 rounds in the mags that you are not using. That is easy to do and doesn't give up the utility of having loaded mags available.

I agree with you, but I was wondering if anyone had any hard data or personal experience with failures due to over compression over time. My mags are all Argentine military manufacture, by the way.