Magazines!

In a word...yes.

Yes, in the long run it can be harmful. As for ruining the mag in one month, almost certainly not with quality mags. Just empty the mags for a day or so every now and then and you shouldn't have a problem.

loading and unloading wears out springs. leaving them loaded is better for them than unloading and loading every month. leaving them loaded is the same as leaving them unloaded. over loading springs does kill them. most magazines have somthing built in so the springs dont get over compressed.

marksman13, your just plain wrong. im sorry to have to be the one to tell you but flexing a spring wears it out, not leaving it under load.

others will chime in soon, but trust me, springs dont know if they are compressed or sprung.

I too have heard that it is better to simply keep magazines loaded (or unloaded, as the case may be). As the prior poster said, it's the constant flexing that wears the metal. (It's called "metal fatigue.")

I've got a Glock 27 like you mentioned and I bet I've had it stuffed full of ammo for months without any spring issues. Don't worry about the springs.

That's an old wives tale from WW1 and WW2.Metals technology has improved immensely since then.Don't worry about your springs,they'll be fine...

A spring properly designed for it's application will never wear out from being compressed. Its a urban legend/internet myth.

A spring will wear out after repeated compression/decompression cycles, but were talking LOTS of cycles. On the order of 100,000 to 10 million cycles.

My job involves assemblies that use springs as components. I have frequent interactions with companies that design and manufacture springs. Any spring designer/manufacturer will tell you the same thing.

Let me guess -- this person also told you that you could get pregnant from setting on a dirty 1911 and FALs will give you a 'social disease'?

For what it's worth, I have a pre-ban Glock 17 that was basically just a nightstand self-defense weapon for years. My first semi-auto handgun purchase. I eventually ordered two extra mags, loaded 'em up and put 'em in my safe. This was a long, long time ago! I'd practice fire with the original mag from time to time, but the spares sat undisturbed for years. Took the 17 to the range about a year ago, with the two "neglected" mags. I was totally prepared for a FTF, or worse. No problemo. The mags fed the weapon flawlessly, and continue to do so to this day. Just an observation.

springs do not get worn out being kept in any certian position, overloaded might wear them out faster but thats about it.

What wears out springs is constant cycling. Think of the springs on your car as a very big magazine spring. It will eventually wear out over time reguardless, but the one that is used more will wear out much faster then one who is say a garage sitter.

Unless you know for a fact the guys in the gun shop know what they are talking about take every single thing you hear there with a grain of salt. I have met very very few I would trust to give me serious advice I would question minimaly.

In this case I probably just wanted to be able to sell you mags sooner or just didnt know what he was talking about.

I was in a shop this morning and a fellow told me that I should not keep rounds of ammo in my magazines because it is bad for the springs. He also told me if I keep a magazine loaded for over a month, the mag will be completely ruined and I must get a new spring before I take it out and trust my life with it.

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Many times refuted baloney.

somthing ive experianced that resembles a weak spring(on a ruger mark1 or 2 magazine) is that some lubricants will evaporate over time and the wax coatings on the bullets will bind the stack from comming up. causes failure to feed and other things. so, when feeling the spring strength, always do so after cleaning the magazine and lightly lubing it. that was you get a true test of the strength of the spring.

i assume that a magazine thats oiled and then sits for a few months may have the oil evaporated away and seem weaker.

Cycling wears out springs...eventually.

Normal loading does not, or your car's springs would fail within a month, by this argument.

It's not a bad idea to cycle ammo through, though. It's not a good idea to have ammo sitting in storage more than 20-25 years. The cheaper ammo will start to go bad about then.

And a Glock can take a LOT more abuse than what those guys apparently think.

that guy should shut the hell up if he don't know what he is talking about :banghead:

Glock makes very good mags.

I have heard that some double stack mags have issues with the mag body getting deformed. There are other things, but they are specific to certain guns. I doubt Glock has those issues. If you are really concerned, download you mags by 2 rounds so you know the springs are not overloaded.

OR Exercise you mags frequently and keep spares in the closet.

It is a Myth period! 80% of the stuff they tell you at gun shops is BS.

Cycling of the spring wears it out over 1ks of cycles. I leave my mags fully loaded for years with no ill effect. I have a Mechanical Engineering degree.

IN, you know the answer as you alluded to it in your post. You were in a gun shoppe, right? And someone who probably also told you, in between his mouthfuls of Cheetoes and Ding Dongs, about his service in 'Nam (he was born in 1964) in SEEL Team 37.5 and who topped the scales at 353 elbees that inane drivel. You know in your heart that you don't believe him.

It's patent nonsense. Anything you hear in a gun shoppe is nonsense.

GSCs have to do this to feel important. Smile, nod, say "thanks for the advice" and then leave.

Other clues to gun shoppe commandoism:

"It's highly accurate"

"I can shoot a dime at ____ yards.", or another claim of incredible marksmanship

"My third cousin who knows a guy who is best friends with a cop in another city said that it is illegal to _______."

"That gun will knock you on your _____."

"________ don't jam."

Anyone that refers to a slide-action weapon as a "pump."

Anyone who refers to the slide stop as the "slide release."

Anyone open carrying a goofy, customized look-at-me pistol.

Anyone that says to you "oh, I don't need no training, I got training at _______ in the service" or, my favorite, "I go to the range a lot."

Hang in there, you must learn to tolerate their nonsense.

The more definitive the answer, the more likely it is to be nonsense Listen for "well, some people say ______", or "in my experience", you're getting the straigh scoop there.

About 1999 or so, my dad broke out his old P-38, last time he fired it was in the 70's some time. Both mags were fully loaded during the whole span (20 plus years). Mags worked fine and still do.

Didn't Jeff Cooper write an article once on a .45 he acquired from some one who had it in storage with the mags loaded for something like 50 years?

Quote:
A spring properly designed for it's application will never wear out from being compressed.
This is true.

However, they're not all properly designed for their application nor are they all top quality. Leaving a spring compressed CAN weaken it if it is overcompressed or poor quality. I've posted the proof more than once.

Some of the earlier double-column magazine designs overcompressed the springs to squeeze in an extra round, but that's not at all common any more and even the magazines that used to have this problem seem to have been tweaked to eliminate the problem.

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Overcompressing, even once, will definitely damage a spring. Avoiding this is part of the "proper design" I mentioned. That's why magazines have magazine followers of a specific height; so the spring can't be compressed passed it's limits.

I can say without a doubt that the springs in military issued M4/M16 mags will become absolutely useless if not unloaded occasionally. Can't speak for all mags, but these and the mags issued with our M9s had to be maintained very well in order to keep them functioning.

The article VorpalSpork posted covered an alternative problem with Beretta mags.
I can't say I have ever heard of any problems with M16 mags.

Never had a problem with loaded AR mags either. Had some that have been loaded for years and they have worked perfectly each time.

Of course, I do have some old, old 20's who's springs are likely shot, but after so many decades of military range useage I'm confident it's because of normal wear and not 'spring set'.