Lubing mags for semi auto handguns

Clean them and keep them dry. Lube attracts dust, a bad thing in a carry piece.

Dirt, grit, crud, lead, etc.....

I suggest taking apart the pistol magazines & using a light amount of CLP or cleaner.
I use FrogLube www.Froglube.com liquid CLP now but I used LPX www.Mpro7.com & Ballistol in the past.
Some suggest not using oils or CLP which is fine. Lint, dust, grit etc can collect in these tiny cracks or springs.
Professional gunsmiths & LE/military armorers often say improper cleaning or use of excessive cleaners/CLPs is one of the biggest problems with sidearms or issued firearms.

I would learn how to field strip magazines & at least wipe off the crud/carbon/dirt. I got a GTUL for my Glock 21 .45acp gen 04. It helps take down the magazine.
Smith & Wesson M&Ps are fast and easy to take apart. Beretta(PX4s/92FS-M9) are great too.

Having metal pistol mags treated is smart; Metalife, NP3+, Bearcoat, etc . The shops charge anywhere from $10.00 to $25.00 for the treatment. Some include a free pistol magazine with a custom job. See the firm for details & prices.

Rusty

use a mag brush

I reload on the go so the mags get dropped in the dust, dirt, grass, mud, puddles even. At a club match, mags get dismantled & brushed out between stages. This prevents the follower from getting hung up by grit.

A day's end each mag gets taken apart, the parts brushed/wiped, the tube brushed out. If the mag is muddy or was dropped in water, everything gets run under the tap; paper towels through the tube dries it. Finally a quick oil spray then a wad of paper towel to remove all excess inside and out. The mag then feels dry to the touch but there remains a micro film of oil (or so I tell myself).

"Arredondo" makes a good mag brush for dbl stack mags.

I lube them internally with Remington Dry Lube spray.

It isn't tacky and does not attract dirt.

Sure makes for slick working mags though!

rc

rem dry lube is a teflon base. good stuff.

I put a few drops of cleaner on the mag springs to clean/prevent rust. But lubrication? Nope.

Dry Lube or simply cleaned out & blown out with air.

My dry-lube of choice is "Liquid Wrench with cerflon" ... goes on wet, dries FAST, leaves a slight white film.

As many have posted already, putting oil/grease in a mag will work for a while, until it catches dust & lint, becoming a gritty paste that hinders function.

Your mag WILL get firing debris. Being located right below the chamber makes that unavoidable. What you want is for that debris to blow OUT as fast as it blows IN - and putting anything tacky in the mag will capture the crud.

Someone gave me an out-of-spec magazine once that didn't want to drop free. I lubed it (as well as trying some minor filing) to see if it would fall free. I never got it to work, but that's the only time I've ever done that.

Wipe down mag with a patch lightly covered in slip2000. That's it.

I try to keep my mags completely dry.

I use Blaster brand Teflon dry spray.

Metal frame with a metal magazine, I might use a dry-lube of some sort, but a plastic mag in a plastic frame shouldn't need lube at all; part of the beauty of a polymer material is its lack of friction against another poly surface. The poly magazine can be polished with 1000 grit or finer sandpaper if it tends to be tight in the mag well. Sometimes plastic mags will get small burrs on the edges from rough handling, drops, etc.

Ever drop an oiled mag in the dirt?

At most use a dry film lubricant but nothing more. To clean mine, I use a long brush commonly used to clean refrigerator coils to get dust bunnies out. Works great and inexpensive, and certainly long enough to work even on SMG magazines.

I blow glock mags out with compressed air every time I go vote. Stainless mags get no lube at all, SV/STI mags get brushed out often. Blued mags only get "lubed" to prevent them from rusting and that is wiped off before shooting.

When i get a magazine, new or used, I disassemble it and clean it.

Used magazines get cleaned, inside and out with a CLP, Hoppes #9 or whatever I have around. This includes the follower, base plate and spring.

New magazines just get wiped thoroughly with a dry cloth on the inside and the outside. This includes the base plate, follower and spring.

I then put two coats of paste wax on them, again, inside and outside. I also wax the base plate, follower and the spring (as best as I can). After wiping off the dried excess wax from all surfaces I buff all of the components and reassemble.

This works for blued, stainless, aluminum and plastic bullet feeders. Dirt doesn't stick to them and it provides some level of rust/corrosion protection. It is also cheap.

Paste; brush....

I would not go the sticky paste route for magazine parts but that is for each owner to decide.
Some people put Glocks in dishwashers too.

Id agree that buying a well made brush(nylon) or a Kleen Bore magazine brush(swab-cotton) is handy. I got a GTUL kit with a big Glock tool/brush from www.midwayusa.com . It's great.
A GI toothbrush or a few old toothbrushes can help too. Youtube gun channel host; Hickok45 advises keeping old toothbrushes to clean guns.
I've been doing that since the late 1980s.

Mags aren't complex or hard to maintain or clean. The rub is making sure they function or work properly. A jam or misfire due to a broken or dirty magazine isn't a good thing.